Dead of Winter is an American gothic giallo thriller film made in 1987. It was directed by Arthur Penn and is a loose remake of the 1945 film My Name Is Julia Ross. It stars Mary Steenburgen, who plays three roles, Roddy McDowall (It!) and Jan Rubeš. The movie was filmed on location in Ontario, Canada.
Plot teaser:
Struggling actress Katie McGovern (Mary Steenburgen) is made to believe she has landed an audition for a role replacing an actress with a similar appearance. To record the requested audition tape she is taken to an isolated mansion where she is given the part. Soon Katie begins to realise that there is something much darker than film-making going on. She is held hostage by the disabled Dr. Joseph Lewis (Jan Rubes) and his assistant (Roddy McDowall) and becomes involved in their plot with a ferocious woman, whose recently murdered sister looked very like Katie…
Despite the credits, Arthur Penn was not the film’s original director. Co-writer Marc Shmuger — a classmate and friend of Penn’s son Matthew — began directing but soon ran into difficulties. Producer John Bloomgarden took over directing in the interim. Studio executive Alan Ladd, Jr. asked Penn — who had brought the project to the studio’s attention — to direct. Penn reluctantly agreed.
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Reviews:
“Thriller plots are born to be manipulated and then forgotten. What counts is the architecture of the house, the exact locations of the one-way mirrors and the hidden staircases, the existence of a working telephone in the attic, the alarming moments when the heroine discovers that all is not as it seems. The plot is simply a device to get us from one heart-stopping moment to the next.” RogerEbert.com
“It was clear from the start there was something off with the film, but it maintained a decent mediocrity –combined with Penn’s bewildering direction – until the last twenty-five minutes or so. Then it just got worse and worse.” The Stop Button
“A key part of the effectiveness of Dead of Winter comes from the fact that it respects the intelligence of its viewers. As the story unfolded, I noticed certain elements that seemed a little wrong, a little inconsistent with the premise as set up in the initial scenes… and, in fact, these were clues for the attentive viewer that all is not as it seems. Toward the end, Dead of Winter does follow a somewhat more typical thriller development, but the elements of the story are well-thought-out; the film retains its own flavor and its believability all the way to the end.” DVD Talk
Trailer:
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