The Last Winter

It took me two watches to finally come around and give this movie credit where it was due. The first time I didn't see it all and I judged it unfairly as a result. It may not have helped that I saw it on the Horror Channel, which I only flick through out of boredom! It's a well crafted tale reminiscent of The Twilight Zone and with hints of Lovecraft, but also mostly steeped in reality with good use of psychology and paranoia like John Carpenter's The Thing.

You can't go wrong with it's cast, notably Ron Perlman, James Le Gros and even Kevin Corrigan and Jamie Harrold, who provide solid backing.

The theme is notably environmental horror with a big hint of the paranormal, which you can't tell in the Alaskan wilderness without a couple of natives on board. That theme, when it all mixes up with escalating events proves very atmospheric, and so whether you like the ambiguous ending or not, there's little denying that this slow-thawing chiller does a good job!

The American oil company KIC Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote Northern Artic National Wildlife Refuge seeking energy independence. Independent environmentalists work together in a drilling base headed by the tough Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) in a sort of agreement with the government, approving procedures and sending reports of the operation. When one insane team member is found dead naked on the snow, the environmentalist James Hoffman (James Le Gros) suspects that sour gases may have been accidentally released in the spot provoking hallucinations and insanity in the group. After a second fatal incident, he convinces Ed to travel with the team to a hospital for examination. However, weird events happen trapping the group in the base.

"The Last Winter" is intriguing, beginning like "The Thing" blended with "An Inconvenient Truth" in wonderful locations in Iceland. Then the story shifts to a rip-off of "The Shining", ending in a complete and disappointing ambiguous mess. Ron Perlman plays an unpleasant character, and it is impossible to feel any empathy for Ed Pollack. It seems that the unknown director and writer Larry Fessenden was also affected by the hallucinogen gas of the story and end the movie completely mad, showing a weak answer of the nature in spite of having a plot with great potential. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Colapso no Ártico" ("Collapse in the Artic")

"The Last Winter" has an effective build up. It's not completely original, mind you. We have seen that kind of setting before, in "The Thing" and a dozen other movies where a crew is isolated in a strange place where weird things start to happen. It's the memory of those far superior movies that make this one watchable at first. However, the story drags on and it all goes downhill soon.

The mysterious ongoings aren't really that intriguing, and they get less intriguing the more they are exposed. On top of that, Ron Perlman's character is annoying and unbelievable. He's just a constant pain in the a.., just for the hell of it. The worst part about "The Last Winter", however, is the resolution or rather the lack thereof. It seems as if director/writer whatshisface hadn't thought the whole thing through and just decided to go ahead with filming because the topic of global warming is so trendy right now.

Well, it's a pity. "The Last Winter" could have been a solid mystery/thriller. Instead it's an unsatisfying waste of your time. There are far too many good movies out there waiting to be watched for you to rent this one.

6/18/18. It was ok at its start. Almost like a cross between The Thing, Event Horizon and Alien. Decent EFXs, and then POW! -Not a very good ending.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to say about this one. It's loaded with so much promise - a cast of engaging characters; a bleak, isolated setting; slow-burn direction that builds a creepy atmosphere.

But that's where the good stuff ends.

The plot (or lack thereof) seems to involve the deaths of the aforementioned characters in random, arbitrary ways with no explanations offered. A few "ecological revenge" lines are thrown but they do little to clue the viewer in to what's actually supposed to be going on. To be completely honest - I don't think even the writer and director knew what was going on. I get the feeling they said:

"Hey let's make this creepy film set in an arctic drilling station, kinda like 'The Thing'..."

"Cool, so what's the plot?"

"Ummm, I don't know, I don't think it matters. Characters can die!"

"Cool, so what's killing them?"

"Ummm, I don't know, I don't think it matters."

"I guess not. Let's get started then!"