In New York, the unemployed actress Katie McGovern (Mary Steenburgen) is invited to an audition to replace the actress Julie Rose that had a nervous breakdown in the middle of a filmmaking. She gets the job and travels with Mr. Murray (Roddy McDowell) to a remote manor upstate to meet the producer Dr. Joseph Lewis (Jan Rubes) that prepares footage with a test to be sent to the director. She is lodged in the mansion but when Katie sees her driving license burning in the fireplace, she finds that all her documents and credit cards are missing from her wallet and the telephone line is actually cut off the wall. Soon she finds that she was lured by the two men and is trapped in the house in a blackmail scheme.
"Dead of Winter" is a great suspense in one of the best performances of Mary Steenburgen in a triple role. Despite a couple of bad reviews, the theatrical and claustrophobic dark story of murder, greedy, blackmail and a stiletto is one of the best thrillers of the 80's. The few external locations are awesome and unfortunately the VHS does not highlight the cinematography. This is the fourth or fifth time that I watch this film and I still like it. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Morte no Inferno" ("Death in the Hell")
Note: On 23 January 2021, I saw this film again.
