The Last Winter (15)

Directed by: Larry Fessenden
Starring: Ron Perlman, James LeGros, Connie Britton

Take several American scientists and place them in an Artic bunker. Add a few relationships, disagreements and tensions to the mix. Then stir until paranoia, madness and killing ensues.

The Last Winter is an American produced ecological thriller, initially released in 2006, but until now not given a proper distribution in the UK. It tells the story of how scientists working for the KIC Oil Corporation become trapped in the remote Northern Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The team, headed by Ed Pollack (played by Perlman- Hellboy!) are busy drilling for oil and building ice roads, when sinister things begin to happen. When a supposedly “mad” member of the team is found naked and dead in the snow, James Hoffman (LeGros), the film’s central protagonist, suspects sour gas has been the cause of his team member’s hallucinations and insanity. However, as the film progresses and more members of the team begin to die, we as the audience begin to suspect something more sinister than just sour gas.

This film could have been quite a scary one, if the story had played on the fears and paranoia of the characters. But, without spoiling the ending, the director for some reason decided to put all the deaths and madness down to supernatural forces, in the form of some shockingly bad CGI. This, combined with an ending that made no sense whatsoever and just seemed like an easy get out for a team of writers who had dug themselves too much of a hole, made for a film that was quite dissatisfying.

For those who want to see a film that plays on the fears of climate change and the power of nature, I would thoroughly recommend The Last Winter. It is thought provoking and will leave you wondering as to the power of man and his existence on earth… but also wishing that the film’s producers had resisted the urge to add CGI into what otherwise could have been quite a clever little film.