If you’re looking for a thriller to liven up your weekend (and you’ve already seen “No Other Choice”), HBO Max just added an icy 2025 thriller with Emma Thompson that you might well have missed in theaters — and it shouldn’t be overlooked. This is Brian Kirk’s “Dead of Winter,” an intense film that sees Thompson tangling with some seriously suspicious characters in frosty northern Minnesota.
I remember leaving the theater pretty impressed when I saw “Dead of Winter” last year, and I’m still surprised that I’ve seen very little buzz about it online. Sure, it’s hard to cut through when you come out in the same year we’re all glued to megawatt movies like “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” and “Marty Supreme”, but Kirk’s thriller still deserved way more attention than it got.
What is ‘Dead of Winter’ about?
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“Dead of Winter” centers on a fisherwoman and grieving widow, Barb (played by Emma Thompson), travelling to Lake Hilda in northern Minnesota, so she can fulfill her late husband’s last request and scatter his ashes at the spot where they had their first date.
En route, Barb gets caught in a snowstorm and stops by a remote cabin to ask for directions. There, she meets a suspicious man and soon discovers he harbors a dark secret: the man and his wife have a young woman, Leah (Laurel Marsden), held captive inside that selfsame cabin. Barb resolves to free her, throwing herself and Leah into a desperate scramble to save Leah and escape these dangerous foes.
In addition to Emma Thompson and Laurel Marsden, “Dead of Winter” also features Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Gaia Wise, Cúán Hosty-Blaney, Brían F. O’Byrne, and Lloyd Hutchinson.
Should you stream ‘Dead of Winter’ on HBO Max?
If you’re in the mood for a stark, intense small-scale thriller, then “Dead of Winter” deserves to be on your weekend watchlist; there’s a reason I recommended it as one of the top new movies to stream this week, after all. This frosty offering is simple but effective, and functions as a great vehicle for a very different kind of Emma Thompson performance.
Here, the British star is transformed into a resilient (but endearing) unlikely hero, putting her knowledge of the area and ice fishing tools to use in a scrap to save a young girl, all while uttering the occasional “Uff da.” It’s an incredibly likable turn, and one that plays nicely against the raw menace of a similarly against-type turn from Judy Greer.
Plot-wise, it does occasionally feel a tad ploddy, owing to the deployment of flashbacks; yes, they add some emotional stakes, but also interrupt the momentum of what becomes a scrappy cat-and-mouse hunt. However, the chilling motivation behind “Camo Jacket” and “Purple Lady’s” (as they’re credited in the film) kidnapping, the twists, and the shocks of violence make “Dead of Winter” a thoroughly compelling survival story.
If you need a second opinion, the movie comes reasonably well-recommended and holds 75% and 79% from critics and viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively, with a critics’ consensus that reads: “Emma Thompson takes a polar plunge into action territory with “Dead of Winter,” a chilly thriller that wears one too many layers of backstory but still satisfies as a tense showcase for its estimable star.”
RogerEbert.com’s Christy Lemire offered a 3-star verdict, pitching the movie as “a cross between ‘Taken’ and ‘Fargo'” and praising Emma Thompson’s performance in particular.
It also earned a 5-star review from The Guardian critic, Peter Bradshaw, who called the film a “quite outrageously enjoyable suspense thriller,” adding: “‘Dead of Winter’ has an old-school barnstorming brashness, some edge-of-the-seat tension, a mile-wide streak of sentimentality, a dash of broad humour and a horrible flourish of the macabre.”
Fellow TG writer Rory Mellon also recommended the movie when it came to Premium Video-on-Demand platforms last month, too, writing: “‘Dead of Winter’ might not be the most groundbreaking thriller you’ll watch this year, but it’s got enough tension to keep you hooked, and its bittersweet conclusion sends you into the credits on a high note.”
In short, while it may not be the highest-rated addition to HBO Max’s library, “Dead of Winter” is absolutely deserving of your time.
Stream “Dead of Winter” on HBO Max now
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