The wilderness thriller Dead of Winter (2025) has been a thrilling and unexpected new direction for one of Hollywood’s most beloved dramatic actresses. Playing two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson is Barb, a recently widowed fisherwoman who has set out alone on a journey through the rugged and snow-covered wilderness of northern Minnesota to scatter her husband’s ashes. Her solemn quest for closure is violently interrupted when she discovers a teenage girl who has been kidnapped and imprisoned by an armed and desperate couple in their isolated cabin, led by a chilling Judy Greer. Miles from help and with no cell phone service, Barb is just an ordinary woman, forced to rely on her wits and survivalist know-how in a high-stakes battle for her own survival and the safety of the terrified girl against the harsh wilderness and even more brutal people.
I must say I loved it. Of course, it’s not without its faults but as an engrossing and suspenseful creature feature, Dead of Winter is a can’t miss. Here’s my full review. Spoiler-Free.
Best part: Emma Thompson as the unlikely heroine
One of the best parts of Dead of Winter (2025) is watching Emma Thompson inhabit the role of the film’s lead, Barb. Thompson inhabits this small-town Minnesota widow to her core. The character is charming and sassy, wise but also kind of dim. Thompson puts it all on display.
The most tense moment in Dead of Winter is the prolonged showdown between Emma Thompson as Barb and Judy Greer, who plays the villainous “Purple Lady.” This is a brutal, old-school cat-and-mouse game. We spend the entirety of this film building tension between these two adversaries, and the actresses deliver on this promise. Greer is an absolute monster as the villain. She’s a mess, unhinged and desperate, while Thompson plays the quiet, savvy hero, as mentioned above.
What the movie got wrong
Flashbacks and pacing.
Dead of Winter spends a healthy portion of its runtime jumping back and forth between what seems to be present-day Barb’s mission and her happier memories with her late husband. While these help to explain Barb’s quest to rescue her family and friends from the monsters, the timing feels off. This may have been the issue contributing to what I felt was pacing that was a bit wonky.
This film gets several things very right and is a perfect choice for fans of the survival thriller genre. Dead of Winter is an engrossing, tense, and very pretty horror story. In a summer dominated by CGI action blockbusters, Dead of Winter is a breath of fresh air.
What I like most about this film is the commitment to character over everything. In Emma Thompson, we are given a hero for the ages, vulnerable and yet very tough. Her performance elevates the material.
