Emma Thompson once again wonderfully morphs into character in Dead of Winter, seen at The Light, Wisbech

Our reviewer has been to see this suspense thriller. Read his review here…

Film review: Dead Of Winter (15) - seen at The Light, Wisbech

Starring: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca

Director: Brian Kirk Run time: One hour, 38 minutes

Discussing this suspense thriller in the office today, I expressed surprise at how few films I had seen with Emma Thompson starring in them.

Within seconds, colleagues put forward Matilda, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, The Bridget Jones movies and Harry Potter.

Turns out I’ve seen loads with her in, but she’s such a marvellous actress that she just becomes whichever character she is portraying, so you end up thinking of her as, say, Nanny McPhee rather than Emma Thompson.

This latest film is a perfect case in point. Thompson plays affable Barb, a middle-aged woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota to scatter her late husband’s ashes.

However, she inadvertently witnesses the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realises that she is the young girl's only hope.

But this film is more than just a cat and mouse thriller, it’s also a sentimental love story as Barb looks back on her life with her husband, from their young courting days through to his dementia-riddled death.

And it’s not just Thompson who shines here. Marc Menchaca is at first menacing but then almost endearing as ‘Camo Jacket’, and Judy Greer is superb as the desperate and slightly deranged ‘Purple Lady’.

There’s some uncanny casting too, as Gaia Wise, who plays the young Barb, shares many facial features with Thompson.

It’s real edge-of-your-seat stuff as the kidnapped girls’ fate hangs in the balance, and the ending is not what you’d expect either.

By Jeremy Ransome

Rating: 8/10