Writer/director Larry Fessenden surprised audiences with his two previous films HABIT (1997) and WENDIGO (2001), yet he has truly outdone himself with his recent film THE LAST WINTER, which like this year’s earlier film THE HAPPENING, was a cautionary tale about global warming and nature striking back against the inhumane ways in which humans have treated the Earth.
In this film the KIC Corporation is trying to build an ice route in the northern reaches of the world only the ice is not freezing hard enough due to impending climate changes or that is what environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros) believes. In returns Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) whose job it is, is to get the ice route built at whatever the cost or it will be all the people’s jobs that work for the corporation. When the body of one of the members of the team in found out in the open coldness of death in the nude, Hoffman begins to believe that the environmental changes in the Earth have opened up a hole from which dangerous and possibly hallucinogenic dangers have made themselves known. When more of the team disappear in the same manner the team finds themselves isolated and trapped as the dangers escalate and Hoffman believes that something more supernatural may be a work.
Like WENDIGO, you’re never quite sure whether there really is a supernatural threat or that the characters have just simply gone insane due to the circumstances that have driven them into their situation. It’s masterfully suspenseful with an even more capable cast then he had in WENDIGO (which is no small feat considering how great that film turned out).
THE LAST WINTER is a much more subtle film then THE HAPPENING which is one of the beauties of the film. It’s a slow burning horror film as only a few directors are capable of. The film’s themes hit home more so then THE HAPPENING making it one of the truly interesting films to come along in quite some time.
In this film the KIC Corporation is trying to build an ice route in the northern reaches of the world only the ice is not freezing hard enough due to impending climate changes or that is what environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros) believes. In returns Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) whose job it is, is to get the ice route built at whatever the cost or it will be all the people’s jobs that work for the corporation. When the body of one of the members of the team in found out in the open coldness of death in the nude, Hoffman begins to believe that the environmental changes in the Earth have opened up a hole from which dangerous and possibly hallucinogenic dangers have made themselves known. When more of the team disappear in the same manner the team finds themselves isolated and trapped as the dangers escalate and Hoffman believes that something more supernatural may be a work.
Like WENDIGO, you’re never quite sure whether there really is a supernatural threat or that the characters have just simply gone insane due to the circumstances that have driven them into their situation. It’s masterfully suspenseful with an even more capable cast then he had in WENDIGO (which is no small feat considering how great that film turned out).
THE LAST WINTER is a much more subtle film then THE HAPPENING which is one of the beauties of the film. It’s a slow burning horror film as only a few directors are capable of. The film’s themes hit home more so then THE HAPPENING making it one of the truly interesting films to come along in quite some time.
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