Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden

Written By: Nicholas Jacobson-Larson

Directed By: Brian Kirk

Release Year: 2025

Studio: Vertical Entertainment

*Audio Description Was Not Provided At Time Of Screening*

What Is It?: A Minnesotan (Thompson) realizes that she may have just witnessed a kidnapping, and may be the girls only hope of survival between her captors, and the harsh wintery landscape.

What Works: I go into most films with very little knowledge. So, I really had no idea Judy Greer was playing one of the bad guys. I had this initial visceral reaction to it, like I was about to watch a car crash. I know she’s done some dramatic work, and has even done the mean girl thing in comedies, but to see her play this type of character was unexpected. Even without audio description, by the end, she won me over. I believed her. I bought her character’s story arc, her reasons, and her overall demeanor. She isn’t a career criminal or serial killer, but rather someone who finds themselves the bad guy simply out of necessity. There’s a part of Thompsons’ character that even understands it, even though she clearly disagrees with her on how to go about it.

The movie is a surprisingly tight thriller, and rather than Thompson playing a woman with a particular set of skills, or a strong female lead, she’s actually more along the lines of a regular person whom feels called to action. She just happens to be uniquely equipped, because she is familiar with the area, terrain, and weather. She knows what cold can do, and uses it to her advantage. Had this had audio description, I might have been able to truly find more to like, since there is not a lot of dialogue.

What Doesn’t Work: the lack of audio description cripples a film like this, and sucks the tension out of every moment. And while I will say Thomson nails that really thick Minnesotan accent, no one else in the film, supposedly from the same area at least, has anywhere near as thick of an accent. so while Emma Thompson is one of my favorite actresses, and i would have given her Oscar nominations for Good Luck To You Leo Grande and Love Actually, this accent comes across as hokey. she is like the Foghorn Leghorn of her regional accent. either match it with other characters, or dial it back. To her credit, I couldn’t hear her at all her accent was that distractingly thick.

I also wasn’t a big fan of Marc Menchaca as “Camo Jacket”. Part of team bad, Marc’s character seemed to have shifting personalities, starting out a little more menacing, but then having all the effectiveness of David Arquette in Scream. The film could have used a stronger character actor to feed off of Greer.

Why you Might Like it: If you aren’t reliant upon audio description, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a serviceable thriller for you. Plus, then you get more of Thompson’s performance, instead of just the grating accent.

Why You Might Not Like it: It’s a hard one to sit through without audio description. Even if you’re a fan of one of the lead actresses, it is just frustrating more than anything.

Final Thoughts: A surprisingly effective turn from Judy Greer can’t save Dead Of Winter, which is dead in the water without audio description.

Rotten: Final score: 5.3/10