In what could easily have been an entry-level thriller set in a frigid climate, the filmmakers behind Dead of Winter did an astonishing thing and hired Emma Thompson to play widowed Minnesota fisherwoman Barb. She is traveling alone through the snowbound northern part of the state and inadvertently interrupts the kidnapping of a young woman named Leah (Laurel Marsden). Complete with a delightful, location-accurate accent, Barb uses her skills as a nature lover, hunter-gatherer, and general survivalist to out maneuver the kidnapper, who seems to want Leah for her organs.
Barb is just in the area to do some ice fishing, in honor of her late husband Karl. We see flashbacks to young Barb and Karl (Gaia Wise and Cúan Hosty-Blaney), both in their courting phase and in their younger days, living mostly alone and clearly quite happy to have found each other. Barb actually has her recently deceased husband’s ashes with her, but we’re not quite sure what she intends to do with them. When she stumbles onto a property looking for directions, she immediately doesn’t trust the man she meets there (Marc Menchaca). She heads out on her way, sneaking back to discover Leah chained up in the basement, held captive by someone Barb refers to as the Purple Lady (the great Judy Greer). Soon, we find out she is quite sick and in need of a transplant that she plans on performing in the cabin. Seems like a perfectly reasonable plan.
Fueled by the memory of her late husband and what he taught her, Barb wants to help this poor girl escape, while also destabilizing the threat these kidnapers pose to her and Leah. Greer is absolutely ferocious in this role as a woman who would certainly throw over her husband and probably her own grandmother to make this transplant happen. There’s zero guarantee that such a surgery would help her at all, but the Purple Lady is a classic example of someone who has convinced themselves that this scheme is going to work and anyone who stands in her way is going to die.
Directed by Brian Kirk (21 Bridges), Dead of Winter takes full advantage of the extreme cold environment, and everyone in this movie looks like they are near death from the temperatures. The film never lets us forget that Barb is struggling emotionally throughout this entire ordeal. She just came here in memory of her husband, and even though she couldn’t save him from the ravages of old age and dementia, she fully intends on rescuing this poor girl. Needless to say, Thompson is extraordinary, as both a grief-stricken widow and the exact right person to pull this off and fight off these people. The film is a classic example of phenomenal acting taking an average screenplay and truly elevated it.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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