Written by Sam Clark 

Certificate: 15

Running time: 97 minutes 

Director: Brian Kirk

I always love it when an actor goes so far against their usual norm and type and surprises everyone. When watching Dead of Winter, I couldn't help but instantly think of Bob Odenkirk abandoning his funny guy reputation and image, and instead turned into a complete badass hitman in Nobody. Another comparison, although not as extreme, is Hugh Grant giving horror a go in Heretic, and in turn gave one of the best performances of his career. And finally, Dwayne Johnson swapping popcorn blockbusters for dramatic biopics in A24's The Smashing Machine, for which Oscar hype is reportedly high (did anyone of us ever think we'd ever say that about him?). Whose next then I wonder? It turns out Emma Thompson. 

Dead of Winter comes to us from TV director Brian Kirk whose only film credit is 21 Bridges starring Chadwick Boseman. Emma Thompson is Barb who, after her husband dies, decides to honour his last wish: she wants to scatter his ashes at ''Lake Hilda'' which is where they had their first date. She is en route but gets lost and drives by a local cabin to ask for directions. When speaking to one of the residents leaving at the cabin (Marc Menchaca), she notices blood on the ground. She asks where it's from, and he says a deer, although we've seen this film before and we certainly know that's not the case. Judy Greer also stars as his wife who also lives here who seems to be the mastermind. 

Later on, when they are not around, Barb investigates and finds a window next to the basement, looks inside, and sees a young woman tied up. Barb promises to help her and set her free, but must survive various vicious and lethal encounters with Greer's character as she soon learns the couple's true mission. I found Dead of Winter to be closely comparable with The Long Walk recently: I had no real anticipation for either and paid no real attention to any trailer, but when I saw how well each been received, my hopes were raised significantly. Not only was this the case, but I confess that at first I thought Dead of Winter's trailer made it look like a straight to streaming , B-movie thriller that just so happened to have an A-lister star in it. 

Much like The Long Walk as well, it is able to make a truly gripping and interesting films out of such a small plot. This is an frosty thriller which gripped me from the get go and leaves you wondering what happens next, and I did remind me of how well The Revenant uses it's geography to tell it's story (although both are quite visceral, very few can come close to The Revenant as no film explores the battle against the elements like that does). Dead of Winter is one of those films which utilizes it's environment and location to it's absolute maximum. Films like these never tend to have the biggest budget, so rest assure they use their surroundings as much as they can. Some of it is pretty breathtaking, and it's one of those films that instantly becomes less impactful and effective at home on TV. I suspect this will not be around for long in cinemas, so I do urge you to check this out before it's gone. 

Emma Thompson is brilliant here, and does channel Francis McDormand's Marge Gunderson from Fargo (I would say the film in general is like a sister piece). But what Thompson does so well is how on the surface she appears as this soft, innocent character (and she is), but when it comes time to survive the winter and the wilderness and rescue the young girl, she steps up to the mark in some fashion. The fact she does it as naturally as she does and makes it look as easy as she does speaks to her range. In some cases with films in the past, a normal character would pull of something mad and heroic from nowhere and we are left wondering: ''when or where did you learn how to do that exactly?'' and it doesn't feel believable one bit. Thompson makes it look effortless. When it finally comes down for the revelation as to why this couple of keeping the girl in their basement, I was quite impressed by just how dark and rather nasty the avenue they take is and how it's not afraid to get it's hands dirty. I do love the unexpected surprises that put most of mainstream offerings to shame. 

In cinemas now