DEAD OF WINTER (2025)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Brian Kirk
Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Brían F. O'Byrne, Cúán Hosty-Blaney
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 5 March 2026

Synopsis: Barb (Emma Thompson), the widowed owner of a small fishing tackle store, sets off on a pilgrimage to Lake Hilda, in remotest northern Minnesota. This is where she took her first vacation with her recently deceased husband and this is where she has promised to scatter his ashes. Hit by a blizzard, she gets lost among backroads near the lake and stops for help, at an isolated cabin in the woods. Here she discovers a young woman, Leah (Laurel Marsden), is being held captive by a desperate armed couple. The kidnappers, known only as Purple Lady (Judy Greer) and Camo Jacket (Marc Menchaca) are armed and intent on murder. Spurred on by the memory of her husband, but hours from the nearest town and without any cell phone service, Barb realises she is the young woman's only hope of survival. What follows is a merciless thriller that plays out in an epic wilderness, with a beautiful love story at its heart.

Movie Review:

It’s not likely you’ll find the names of Emma Thompson and Judy Greer plastered across the poster of an action thriller. But at the ripe age of 65, Thompson finally plays against type as an unwilling, aging heroine in a story set near a barren Minnesotan lake.

The movie opens with a woman named Barb (Thompson) heading toward Lake Hilda in northern Minnesota. She is there at her late husband’s request, to scatter his ashes in the lake. After witnessing a young woman, Leah (Laurel Marsden), being abducted by a man dubbed Camo Jacket (Marc Menchaca), Barb follows them back to a remote cabin. Once her instincts kick in, Barb realizes she must rescue the poor woman unaware that a far more ruthless enemy, Purple Lady (Greer), is also closing in.

The story by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb is simple: an aging woman embarks on a rescue mission in honor of her late husband, who taught her everything she knows. That pretty much sums up the theme of Dead of Winter. But this is no Fargo-inspired copycat. Standing in for Minnesota is Finland, which provides a solid, desolate, icy environment for the story to unfold. The result is a film that remains thrillingly tense for most of its runtime.

Director Brian Kirk (21 Bridges) knows how to pull off a grounded actioner, even with a leading lady in her 60s. Barb is a believable character who makes daring decisions with extremely limited resources. There are no fanciful gadgets or kung fu moves here just a virtuous person trying to do the right thing. Frequent sentimental flashbacks to Barb and her husband in their younger days reveal how deeply in love they were. These sweet moments lend emotional authenticity to the character.

Compared to Thompson’s Barb, Greer’s Purple Lady feels slightly shortchanged by the script. Her motives are morally questionable: suffering from a deadly liver condition, abducting Leah appears to be her only option to prolong her life. Still, Greer delivers a cold, desperate performance unlike anything you’ve seen from her before.

If you’re expecting Barb to go full Rambo, Dead of Winter is not your cup of tea. Instead, it strikes a solid balance between tenderness and tension, even if the story is as simple as it gets. Thompson and Greer are perfectly cast. The action is restrained but brutal, and the icy location is a huge plus. In the end, there’s very little to complain about.  

Movie Rating:

(Catching Thompson and Greer in a cat-and-mouse action thriller should be high on your 2026 must-watch list)

Review by Linus Tee