Warmth and Hope in the Bitter Cold — DEAD OF WINTER
by Danny Mendes, TheCinebuff.com
Academy Award winner Emma Thompson takes to the cold forests of Minnesota (shot in Finland) in Brian Kirk’s action thriller Dead of Winter. Thompson stars as Barb, a recent widow traveling through Minnesota, when she discovers a young woman (Laurel Marsden) who has been kidnapped and trapped in an old cabin. Hours away from town and with no backup, Barb must use the resources at hand to rescue the girl and help her escape from her kidnappers (Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca). On paper, the premise is generic, and in some instances, it does fall prey to the genre’s tropes. Still, it’s the execution and performances that elevate Dead of Winter.
Emma Thompson is perfect for this part because, much like her character, she’s an unlikely action hero who’s simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Thompson injects the character with a lot of charm and vulnerability that makes you instantly fall in love with her. In place of curse words like “fuck” or “shit,” Barb uses “frik” or “shoot.” The character of Barb is also very resourceful and manages to use her wits to not only outsmart the villains but the audience as well. In a film so cold and dark, set in the dead of winter, Emma Thompson is the ray of light and warmth that puts you in a state of ease.
Judy Greer is stellar as the film’s main antagonist. Most thrillers make the mistake of casting great actors as two-dimensional villains, but Judy Greer actually has a character she can sink her teeth into. The motivation of the character isn’t purely evil for evil’s sake, but it stems from a place of desperation, which you don’t often find in movies like this. Very few films have been able to properly utilize Judy Greer’s acting chops, but Dead of Winter allows her to give the character a believable motivation. She’s still evil, and her actions are unforgivable, but you can at the very least sympathize with her.
While the film moves at a steady pace, it takes a minute to gain its momentum. Dead of Winter has a series of flashbacks that work for and against it. While the flashbacks are crucial to understanding Barb and her backstory, they also rob the film of its tension and rhythm. Dead of Winter keeps its audience in the dark on the villain’s motivation until the third act, but it feels unnecessary when most of the clues have already been laid out during the first two acts.
The biggest sin of Dead of Winter is how it utilizes Laurel Marsden’s character as nothing more than a plot device. Except for one scene, Thompson and Marsden barely share any dialogue, which makes it hard to fully invest in their relationship. Once the film reaches its conclusion, it feels slightly unearned because the groundwork for it wasn’t properly laid out.
Dead of Winter doesn’t reinvent the action-thriller, but it’s executed very well. It gives Emma Thompson and Judy Greer some solid material to work with. It’s thrilling and has a handful of memorable sequences, but it fundamentally works as a character piece rather than an all-out action film.
Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on September 26, 2025.
