In some cold ass spot in Alaska, an oil drilling team led by rough, tough & gruff Ron Perlman is the first to bare witness to “Mother Nature’s” long overdue payback on the human species for raping her beautiful ass all this time. Nature says: ENOUGH!
The arctic tundra has been frozen for centuries ...and so
has what lies beneath.
Talk about perfect timing…well for me anyways. Like many of you out there I have been more and more aware of the abuse we lowly humans have inflicted upon our planet this year. Call it global warming or
bee madness (in terms of all the f*cking bees that were out of control this
summer)… but this year, for the first time in my pitiful life, I noticed firm consequences as to to humanities’ mistreatment of planet earth. The beginning of the end? Sure feels like it! According to The Last Winter though…it is!
This dread filled flick had me right off the bat with its awe inspiring aerial photography and the stunning yet somewhat unsettling snow laced Alaska landscape it was set in. The shots literally blew my mind and getting blown in any way is always a good thing for this jerk. Then the characters kicked in; and in pure
Fessenden fashion; what could’ve easily been a horde of stock types a la The Cave for example, were in fact layered, plausible,
flawed and likeable human beings. Ron Perlman and James Le Gros in particular stole the show for me. Every time them two lads were onscreen ping-pong-ing away, I was 100% riveted. Scare wise, Fessenden is a genius when it comes to generating an overall sense of unease while tantalizing us
with little tidbits of info here and there, in the name of toying with our minds. The technique kept me
Crazy Glued to the screen! I was always there, trying to figure out what the heck was going on; engrossed in
the weird ass happenings.
It’s when the film gave out quasi answers (or was it what was truly going on – not sure – the whole was played ambiguously) that it let me down. The CGI entities that the film vomited onscreen failed to satisfy or come close to delivering on the promise that the subtle first hour put out. I would’ve preferred to have seen NOTHING than have this crud slapped my way. The same can be said about the “plane crash”
bit. Obviously the flick tried to go Michael Bay on my ass but without coin. It takes more than clever editing to disguise the fact that the plane crash was half baked in concoction. I guess what I‘m trying to say is that; much like his other films, Fessenden is really F*CKING GOOD when he plays it down, subtle and vague. But the moment he actually goes for the
literal or/and "shows us something". it pales in comparison to what my mind had come up with. I like my Fessenden played down.
On the whole though; I was hooked, lined and body-slammed throughout by The Last
Winter due to the spellbinding situation at hand, the compelling characters, the
awesome actors who interpreted them, the potent chills and the striking visuals.
Even with boo-boos in tow, I adored this one! Chill on this!
How's frozen, eyeless and naked bodies sound to ya? Hope it sounds kosher cause that's pretty much all you get!
Ron Perlman (Ed) does the whole tough guy, man's man thing so well and here was no exception. Bang on! James LeGros (James) has always been a fav of mine. He is so genuine and grounded via his performances and he rocked it here too! Connie Britton (Abby) was eye-candy with substance while Kevin Corrigan (Motor) played his part mucho convincingly. NOTE: The whole cast was rock solid.
We get some non revealing chick stuff (yawn) and the ladies are treated with some buff naked dude showing off his gay friendly ass.
Striking cinematography, breath taking arieal shots and a freaking superb capitalization of the snowy setting made this ride very pleasant to the eye. Add to that a firm grasp on suspense and creepyness and you get a Fessendan on top of his game. TIGHT!
We get a somber and "hopeless in feel" score that so worked in backing up the subject matter of the picture.
THE LAST WINTER was a superior film in terms of acting, cinematography, social commentary, creepy imagery and eye popping setting. Too bad it shot itself in the foot when bypassing the "vague card" and "showing" instead of implying. That tinker-toy CG was hard to digest. I still highly recommend this puppy though, specially if you like your horror more cerebral and restrained than the norm.
Episode #34
