Dead of Winter (15)

A grieving Minnesota widow, played by Emma Thompson, stumbles into mortal peril in Brian Kirk's polished, icy suspense thriller.

With her recently deceased husband, Barb (Thompson) ran a fishing supplies store and like him was keen on ice-fishing. She’s about to make a pilgrimage with his ashes in a tackle box at his request.

Equipped with little more than a rugged pick-up  and a placid determination, Barb follows the trail to a cabin where, minutes before, she had stopped for directions. The bearded gentleman (Marc Menchaca) who answered her queries, is holding a teenage girl (Laurel Marsden) captive in his basement, but his gruff demeanor quickly belies a reluctance to proceed with whatever nefarious plan he’s signed up for. It’s his wife (Judy Greer), instead, who appears to call the shots.

So has Thompson’s widow chanced upon the local equivalent of psycho hillbillies? In fact, these people’s personalities and motivations are more complicated.  Thompson’s relatable presence and likability-aura make a very good solvent for the concentrated nastiness of Greer’s desperate villain and what she has in mind for her teen prisoner. There’s a distinct chill in the air.