Movie Review: Dead of Winter (2025)
Synopsis: A recently widowed Barb drives to a remote lake in Minnesota to honor her late husband's final wish and stumbles upon a kidnapping. With no cell signal and the nearest town two hours away, she attempts to take matters into her own hands against the well-armed kidnappers.
Who's in it? The movie stars Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden and Gaia Wise.
Review: My wife was scrolling through our movie channels while having breakfast this morning and came across Dead of Winter. At first, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a movie I would enjoy enough to justify it making me feel cold (I had enough of snow and cold this year). However, it turned out to be an interesting watch.
There were a couple things that really stood out for me about this movie. One of the main ones was the choice to have the main protagonist, Barb (Thompson) be someone in her 60s rather than in her twenties or thirties. This added a whole new element to the character because, in addition to the danger the two kidnappers (Greer and Menchaca) offered, she had some limitations from her age as well (though she did admittedly move around a lot better than I could).
Greer, in comparison, made an excellent antagonist because she was both dying and desperate and because there was nothing in the movie to even hint at her being a good person even without that as an excuse. This made her unpredictable and, in movies like this, unpredictable makes the villain even more dangerous.
Also adding to the movie was the overall remoteness and, as indicated in the title, the season. Barb couldn't go for help because her truck was stuck in the snow. She couldn't call for help because her cell phone had no signal and when she did finally find help via a CB radio, it was some of the ineptest help imaginable. There was, of course, also the risk of her simply freezing to death if the kidnappers didn't get her first.
I did have two complaints about the movie. The first one was the kidnapping victim, Leah (Marsden) was kind of useless throughout. I get the whole being scared thing but considering there was no doubt the kidnappers planned on killing her, you would think she'd be making more of an effort to escape or fight back. Barb had to do all the work even when it was 2-on-1.
My wife and I also weren't big fans of the ending. It wasn't a terrible ending and certainly was unexpected. However, the sacrifice that's made at the end did seem a bit unnecessary, especially since it felt like Barb finally had enough of an upper hand to save the day without that extra step and it went completely against the "never give up" attitude she showed throughout the film up until that point.
Final Opinion: I would have re-written the ending and maybe would have given Leah a bit more to do. However, it is an entertaining thriller that was better than I was expecting and one I would recommend.
My Grade: A-
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Here are some reviews of other 2025 thrillers:
Movie Review: Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
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