REVIEW: Dead of Winter – Emma Thompson Brings the Ice but Can’t Save This Sluggish Survival Thriller

Emma Thompson returns to the frozen lake where everything fell apart in Dead of Winter.

Vertical Entertainment – In Theaters September 26

★ ★.5 ☆ ☆ ☆

You might struggle to remember the last time Emma Thompson appeared in a horror or survival thriller—and for good reason. It’s not her lane. But in Dead of Winter, the celebrated actress trades her usual prestige fare for frozen lakes, survival stakes, and a loaded hunting rifle. While she brings plenty of class to the wintry thriller from director Brian Kirk, the film ultimately settles for being “just fine” when it could have been far more chilling.

Thompson stars as Barb, a grieving widow returning to the remote frozen lake where she and her late husband used to ice fish. The wintry solitude is meant to bring healing and closure, but that’s short-lived. During her quiet memorial, Barb stumbles across a terrifying scene: a young woman (Laurel Marsden) being held hostage by an unhinged couple played by Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca.

The tone quickly shifts from introspective grief drama to a survivalist rescue mission—and this is where Dead of Winter starts to lose its grip. Greer is at her manic best here, chewing up scenes with chaotic energy that the film frankly needs more of. Menchaca, meanwhile, delivers a quietly conflicted performance that suggests his character may not be entirely on board with the sadistic plan unfolding.

There are layered flashbacks throughout, including sequences with Gaia Wise as a younger Barb, showing her emotionally guarded past and the love story that once bloomed between her and her husband Carl. These scenes add some depth, but they’re also part of what drags the pacing into familiar Lifetime movie territory.

The Finnish-shot landscape stands in beautifully for Canada (accents and all), giving the film a sense of biting realism, but Dead of Winter never leans into its atmosphere the way it could. It lacks the tension of something like Wind River or the desperation of Frozen (the 2010 horror film, not Elsa and Anna). Instead, it plays more like a CBS Sunday Night Thriller your aunt would love—snow, survival, guns, and women of a certain age standing their ground.

It’s not without its charms. Seeing Thompson and Greer in a rugged backwoods standoff is, at times, a blast. And it’s hard to knock a film that at least tries to put older women at the center of the action without reducing them to caricatures. But once the mystery behind the hostage situation is revealed, the air goes out of the film fast. The final act lacks the punch it needs to justify the long, chilly setup.

Final Score: 2.5 out of 5

A serviceable winter thriller with some solid performances, but one that leaves you wanting more bite from its bark.

Directed by Brian Kirk

Co-Written by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson & Dalton Leeb

Produced by Greg Silverman, Jon Berg, Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo

Executive Produced by Emma Thompson, Gideon Yu, Chris Bosco, Elizabeth A. Bell, Oana Iancu, Jonathan Saubach, Klaus Dohle, Michael Rothstein, Samuel Hall

Starring Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Gaia Wise, Cuan Hosty-Blaney, Dalton Leeb, Paul Hamilton, Lloyd Hutchinson, with Brian F. O’Byrne