Dead of Winter
Vertical Entertainment | Release Date: September 26, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 25, 2025
The Dead of Winter has an old-school barnstorming brashness, some edge-of-the-seat tension, a mile-wide streak of sentimentality, a dash of broad humour and a horrible flourish of the macabre. Read full review
85
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 29, 2025
It’s suspenseful and smart. It’s got great performances across the board. It’s exactly the kind of thriller we keep saying we want, again and again, but which never get enough credit (or enough marketing). Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTara Bennett Oct 1, 2025
Much like its locale, Dead Of Winter is a sparse but engrossing thriller, one that excels because of the nuanced work of its cast and Kirk’s focus on Barb’s grief amid the chaos. Read full review
80
ColliderLuna GuthrieSep 25, 2025
It's an engrossing thriller that reels you in with its unconventionality and offers up something different in a largely uniform genre. Read full review
80
The TimesKevin MaherSep 25, 2025
A thrillingly tense game of kill-or-be-killed. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineJim VorelSep 25, 2025
Kirk’s film is a surprisingly lyrical and quite gritty, intimate thriller, one that makes the best of its unorthodox choice of performers to tell a story that is equal parts tender and savage. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 26, 2025
Imagine a cross between “Taken” and “Fargo” and you’ll get an idea of the chilly thrills “Dead of Winter” has to offer. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 25, 2025
Brian Kirk, the director, has a good feel for this formidable, intimidating setting; the viewer appreciates its beauty while maintaining a keen sense of how awful it would be to get stranded there. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 25, 2025
The action is taut, the stakes are clear, and Kirk never misses a chance to remind us that all of these are just regular people who’ve crossed paths in a dark place. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreySep 25, 2025
What lends Dead of Winter its evocative chill is the way all three women here – kidnapper, kidnapped, and rescuer – are left with nothing but themselves to rely on. There’s no one out here to care for or support them, turning survival into a daily matter of physical and psychological endurance. Read full review
60
Screen DailyAmber WilkinsonSep 25, 2025
Emma Thompson again proves what a versatile star she is in The Dead Of Winter, not only convincing as a have-a-go heroine unexpectedly trying to save a damsel in distress, but also single-handedly rescuing this film from the worst of its formulaic elements. Indeed, lying beneath the icy surface of director Brian Kirk’s thriller is a lake of gooey warm sentiment that’s deep enough to drown in. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedSep 29, 2025
It’s a preposterous story to follow, but thanks to the expertise of Emma Thompson, it keeps you interested. Read full review
50
VarietyJessica KiangSep 25, 2025
Eventually, en route to a finale that strives for tragic poetry the rest of the film scarcely earns, the narrative ice wears so thin that it cracks under the weight of a moment’s thought. Read full review
40
Screen RantGregory NussenSep 25, 2025
Thompson and Greer really are extraordinary, however, and their tête-à-tête nearly saves Kirk's enterprise from the doldrums. Read full review
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