Dead of Winter

With the ice on a remote Minnesota lake thick enough to need a saw to cut through it, “Barb” (Dame Emma Thompson) heads, replete with her handy little heated hut, to do some fishing. Her solitude is disturbed by a young woman who is forcibly returned to a nearby house, and upon some sleuthing she discovers that not only has she been kidnapped, but that her captor (Marc Manchaca) and his even more desperate wife (Judy Greer) have a dastardly plan for her that it’s going to fall to this ill-equipped woman to thwart. There are no phones and they are both armed, dangerous and soon aware of her presence. Can she stay one step ahead of them, rescue the girl, get to the bottom of their malevolent intent and fulfil her own purpose for being here at this inhospitable time of year? The cinematography of this bleak and chilly wilderness is gorgeous to look at and there is something quite original from a plot that maybe doesn’t go into too much detail, but that provides an interesting vehicle for a star who quite literally has a drip on the end of her nose as the snow gradually takes on a more menacing hue. There isn’t a great deal of dialogue to worry about, just some chilly photography and a sinister plot that I felt definitely at the better end of the genre from 2025.

**DEAD OF WINTER** isn't groundbreaking in its premise or bursting with originality-- but for fans of Emma Thompson's body of acting work, her performance alone carries the film throughout in this cat and mouse suspense, survival thriller. With a smart, linear story, and Thompson playing a more than meets the eye widow who stumbles upon a backwoods kidnapping -- **DEAD OF WINTER** delivers in every way films of this genre do, but usually with male protagonists. Thompson's character may just as well have wandered off the set of the Coen Brothers 1996 **FARGO** film. Co-starring Judy Greer in her most unhinged role to date and the always fantastic Marc Menchaca -- with Finland standing in for the subzero Minnesota -- grab a heated blanket, a nice cup of Hot Chocolate and try not to chew your fingernails off. Streaming now on HBO, it is well worth a watch.

At one point Judy Grears character reveals that the plan is to perform this illegal life saving surgery on the ice only becauae then once she and her husband are done they can easily dump the body into the frozen lake. Or, ya know, wait until it's warmer, do the surgery in a sterile environment, then dump the girls body in the lake by boat. And even after watching I still have no idea what illness Judy Grear's character was suffering from that seemed to necessitate her doing an illegal organ harvest. That had to be done in winter?