STORYLINE: A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope. (IMDb)

     Kidnapping is a common storyline, at the heart of many films in cinema.  The Oscar winning features The Silence of the Lambs (1991) & Fargo (1996), the Denzel Washington revenge thriller Man on Fire (2004), the action packed Liam Neeson, film Taken (2009) and the horror feature The Black Phone (2021) show the diversity of the storyline. Dead of Winter (2025) is a new thriller to feature a kidnapping storyline. 

    In the lead is Emma Thompson, famous for period pieces such as Howard’s End (1992) and the holiday classic Love Actually (2003).  She stumbles on the crime after it has happened. From here the film is told in real time as she attempts a rescue. 

    Dead of Winter plays out  like the crime in the television show True Detective, if True Detective showed you the crime instead of jumping straight into the investigation.  Dead of Winter aims for the same level of suspense as the TV show, without fully creating it.  When crafting that suspense the film went for the typical thrills thay can be found in a kidnapping or murder mystery film. 

    While I enjoy sitting on the edge of my seat while watching a thriller, Dead of Winter mostly kept me comfortably slouched in my seat.  I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the film, I just wanted a bit more out of it.

    Until next time I will see you at the movies!