Dead of Winter (dir. Brian Kirk)

by Jack Martin | Sep 28, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 98 mins

UK Distributor: Vertigo Releasing

UK Release Date: 26 September 2025

WHO’S IN DEAD OF WINTER?

Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Brían F. O’Byrne, Gaia Wise, Lloyd Hutchinson

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Brian Kirk (director), Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb (writers), Jon Berg, Jeff Boulton, Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo, Greg Silverman and Gideon Yu (producers), Volker Bertelmann (composer), Christopher Ross (cinematographer), Tim Murrell (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A widow (Thompson) stumbles upon a brutal kidnapping…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON DEAD OF WINTER?

Often in highly suspenseful kidnap thrillers, there’s almost always a moment when it seems as though the day is won when a hapless outsider stumbles upon the situation and begins to help the abducted individual(s), until they’re unceremoniously bumped off by the kidnapper for poking their noses into other people’s business. It’s a trope often used to give false hope to the viewer and keep the suspense moving, but Dead of Winter flips that on its head by positioning the outsider as the protagonist while all the kidnapping stuff is mostly seen from afar.

Such a shift works surprisingly well, because not only does director Brian Kirk manage to craft a compelling thriller around a pretty grim crime plot, but also has the advantage of casting an endlessly watchable actor like Emma Thompson that can transform a straightforward lead character into a compelling and realistic person who you can easily root for. They all add up to a pretty solid movie that is genuinely gripping in a lot of places, even if in other parts it’s a bit less sturdy.

Directing from a script by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb, Kirk’s film opens with Barb (Thompson), a recently widowed woman in snowy Minnesota, making the journey to a frozen lake with her husband’s ashes in tow, as per his final wishes. Shortly after arriving, though, she witnesses a young teenager (Laurel Marsden) being held at gunpoint by a mysterious man (Marc Menchaca) and follows them back to the remote cabin where he and his sickly wife (Judy Greer) are holding her captive. With no phone signal and very few materials to fight back, Barb does whatever she can to rescue the girl from meeting a cruel fate and see that her captors are brought to justice.

The fun thing about this plot is that it’s one where it feels as though a completely different movie has accidentally stumbled into a much more sinister one that’s already in progress, but not in a way where it feels like it’s two separate films competing for equal screentime. Kirk treats scenes of Thompson reminiscing about her former life as though they’re scenes from a Nicholas Sparks romantic drama, especially when said life is shown in several flashbacks wherein Thompson’s actual daughter Gaia Wise portrays the younger version of Barb. Yet, when both Kirk and the writing duo of Jacobson-Larson and Leeb abruptly steer the movie towards the darker kidnapping plot, it doesn’t feel as though something like Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners has suddenly car-crashed its way into the story, as the filmmakers maintain a consistent tone throughout that compliment the polar opposite strands with shared themes of grief and acceptance which are accentuated by the bleak but vaguely hopefully overcast skies.

Furthermore, Kirk is a strong enough director to combine both competing plots into a singular experience where you are often genuinely unnerved by what’s going on, especially as he gives characters on both sides moments that remind you of how remarkably human they are, even when in impossibly stressful situations. Thompson’s Barb, for instance, is no former commando or highly lethal superspy; she is just a regular middle-aged woman who happens to be incredibly resourceful and able to think on her feet, and when she gets shot or badly injured it lingers throughout the rest of the movie as she squints in pain whenever she tries to sneak around. Similarly, the villains aren’t criminal masterminds but rather regular folk that are just as vulnerable if not more so than Barb, ones who show such extreme vulnerability to where you can understand why they’re doing all of this and even feel sorry for their own predicament, even if their ultimate objective is truly diabolical once it’s slowly revealed.

Needless to say, Thompson is great here, immersing herself so deeply into her character’s Minnesotan mannerisms that you can pick up nary a whisper of her trademark British dialect, while also passing herself off well as a formidable action lead who holds her own opposite her slightly more agile co-stars. It’s also encouraging to see Judy Greer play a much meatier role than the stock wife/mother character she’s often stuck as, and there are times when she gives off a pretty menacing vibe, especially as the film veers into climax territory. However, it’s also the part of the movie when the narrative takes a few more stumbles, particularly when indulging in a few familiar tropes of its own and stretching believability as certain revelations border on utter ridiculousness. But the performances keep the material afloat as they commit firmly to delivering a range of intensity that makes for strong entertainment, no matter how silly it is always on the verge of becoming.

Comparisons between Dead of Winter and Fargo are inevitable, given not just the kidnapping plot but also the heavily chirpy Minnesotan accents that the likes of Thompson chatter with, which like the Coen brothers classic provide some light humour that makes light of how comically polite people like Barb are (she cannot ever bring herself to use profanity, even when alone). Beyond that, though, Kirk ultimately delivers a different type of movie that doesn’t shy away from the pitch-black nature of the plot while also making it enjoyable to watch, thanks to its character-centric approach and consistent tone which captures the fun from such a mish-mash of premises but also the surprising emotional weight that comes with it.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Dead of Winter is a solid character-centric thriller that maintains a consistent enough tone across its mish-mash concept thanks to strong direction by Brian Kirk and a chameleonic lead performance by Emma Thompson, which help the film propel beyond some of its more conventional and borderline ridiculous turns.