Dead of Winter

Your typical cut-off-from-the-world, getting-hunted-and-picked-off-one-by-one horror. Still, the scenery and dialogue are great, the acting... well, it's acceptable. The story itself makes sense in the end, which is great; most horrors leave you hanging or give you the finger. It was a fun watch.

An extremely improbable assemblage of obnoxious d-bags head out into the snow for a scavenger hunt. Who will win?

Who cares.

Not the director, because the plot is quickly abandoned once the bodies start stacking up. In short order essentially nameless cast members are decapitated, ripped limb from limb, pincushioned with arrows, and so on. The big mystery is: who is responsible for the murders?

Who cares.

It turns out the director doesn't care about the mystery either, because the killer is shown firing the cross bolt halfway through the film. So much for the mystery. Half the movie to go and we have no plot and no mystery. Oops.

Poor acting, though that is more due to the "and then" nature of the script than a lack of effort from the cast. And then the bus blows up, and then a girl has her arms tipped off, and then a guy is decapitated, and then... No story, no plot, no rising action. Just a series of unconnected scenes. And then a guy is shot with arrows, and then...

The music is laughably bad. The less said about it the better.

On the plus side the scenery is pleasant and the threatened found footage video cam filming from the beginning was mercifully quickly forgotten.

Four stars.

Countless horror films deal with young people trapped in a remote place, and getting killed off one by one. Dead of Winter is yet another example...

The story starts out simple enough. Recently paroled "John Garber" (played by Damon Runyon) lives in snowy Colorado. He is unemployed and desperately needs a job. His sister suggests he work as a bus driver for a local company that sponsors treasure hunts. John agrees to do it.

These treasure hunting events are specifically called "Geocache Treasure Hunts." It is similar to looking for Easter Eggs. Strange clues will indicate where to find them. There is a prize of $25,000 for the person who finishes first.

John takes a busload of treasure hunters on a drive up to the mountain. During the several-hour drive, we meet different characters, all hoping to win the prize money. The character of "Bradik" (played very well by James Wallis) is particularly obnoxious, annoying people as well as making moves on an open lesbian couple.

The bus finally parks. The wintry destination is truly breathtaking, as well as freezing and desolate. The treasure hunters then break into small groups, and set out to search for clues.

Very soon, it is apparent that things are not as planned. People are starting to die, and then they unexpectedly lose the bus! The are stranded far away from civilization, have no phone signals, and must find shelter. Who wants them dead? It is unclear if any of them will survive.

I enjoyed watching this movie though I have seen variations of it many times before. For a relatively low-budget film, they did a great job. The acting was convincing enough as well.

This film is entirely Canadian-made, location as well as actors. Interesting that they set the story in Colorado (USA.)

THAT'S NOT a bad thing these days but its odd not to just set it there. So obviously Canadian...anyways yeah.

The Geo Cache thing is so 2005! & not too funny. The usual types likethe older guy seems way too cool about sudden decapitations and booby traps. Thats not a spoiler its in the first 20 min lotsa dumb jokes when they should kinda strategizing what the best way outta this melting forest trek. Its boilerplate "in the forest horror" film design, just add snow avoid too many accents & call it Colorado.volume goes from 3 to 50 alot. No subtitles either!

However, stunts were a bit on the 'bloodbath' level. ( not quite torure porn like Saw- same characters tho!) Still good to nod off to on a rainy afternoon. I'm finding it harder to locate new films on my new Prime app so that is my excuse. Oh & beware a character whose going pee..bad things happen.

If you can bear the early caricature introductions, poor plot development and lack of real suspense, you might enjoy the wintry scene and last until the final few minutes where some action finally breaks the tedium.