On D List of Movie Reviews

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Dead of Winter (1987)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 3/18

3/18: If I can immediately recognize Mary Steenburgen no matter how hard she tries to disguise herself as three different characters, then anyone else can, too.

That's been the downfall of the vacuous mystery in Dead of Winter. There's hardly any suspense or challenge. Mary Steenburgen is terrible. So is everybody else. Nobody knows how to create an effective horror film.

The story is never believable, and it's obvious the two guys were going to use the female lead character for something sinister. There were several moments when she had the chance to escape the house and seek help, but she never took it.

All of what I said is a big surprise considering the fact that Arthur Penn directed this clunker, but it'll be nearly the final film of his career, having seen a massive decline in his talent since 1975. In fact, this is what happened as according to Wikipedia:

"Despite the credits, Arthur Penn was not the film's original director. Co-writer Marc Shmuger, a classmate and friend of Penn's son Matthew Penn, began directing, but soon ran into difficulties. Producer John Bloomgarden took over directing in the interim. Studio executive Alan Ladd, Jr., asked Arthur Penn, who had initially brought the project to the studio's attention, to direct. Penn reluctantly agreed."

All in all, Dead of Winter is poorly written, full of bad acting, and not as suspenseful or chilling as the silly critics have made it out to be.

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