Review of The Last Winter (2006) by Jason D — 29 Jul 2008

I gotta say, I am a huge fan of director Larry Fessenden's cult film Wendigo. It was dark, grimy and had a hell of a lot of tense build up towards a creepy climax. I'm glad to see that Fessenden continues this trend with the equally fun to watch, The Last Winter, about a group of drillers (made up of excellent people including Connie Britton, James LeGros, and the always awesome Ron Pearlman) working to produce untapped oil for a major oil company.

Things get bad right away when the youngest and newest member of the group starts adapting a huge sense of dread amongst the white landscape. The character development is furthered thanks to LeGros' "green" character who is growing hugely concern with the surrounding environment and the impact it is having on the crew members.

Fessenden manages to infuse his previous Wendigo film with the likes of Carpenter's The Thing, and give it an apocalyptic feel that pays off with a chilling and deeply open ended ending. Be it the mythological Wendigo, or sour gas emitting from the ground, and just down right snow ghosts, The Last Winter manages to keep its consistent creepiness throughout the film, leading the viewer to only dread the worse with each reel that passes.

I gotta say, I really dug this movie a lot.