The Last Winter (2006)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Larry Fessenden

Writers:

Larry Fessenden (writer)
Robert Leaver (writer)

Release Date:

24 September 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

What if mankind only had one season left on Earth?

Plot:

The American oil company KIC Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote Northern Arctic...

Plot Keywords:

Oil Company | Alaska | Arctic Region | Snow | Ice Road

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ron Perlman	...	Ed Pollack
James LeGros	...	James Hoffman
Connie Britton	...	Abby Sellers
Zach Gilford	...	Maxwell McKinder
Kevin Corrigan	...	Motor
Jamie Harrold	...	Elliot Jenkins
Pato Hoffmann	...	Lee Means
Joanne Shenandoah	...	Dawn Russell
Larry Fessenden	...	Charles Foster
Oscar Miller	...	Simon Marshowitz
Hálfdán Theodórsson	...	Gary
Eggert Ketilsson	...	Frozen Trucker
Jack Fessenden	...	Young Hoffman
John Speredakos	...	Weatherman
Halfdan Pedersen	...	Doctor Pedersen (as Hálfdan Lárus Pedersen)

Also Known As:

Síðasti veturinn (Iceland)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA | Iceland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:18A | USA:Not Rated | UK:15 | Germany:16 | Denmark:15 | Australia:M | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Alaska, USA

Company:

Antidote Films (I)

Trivia:

Arist Brahm Revel illustrated a comic book adaptation of this film.

Movie Connections:

References "The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Soundtrack:

I Thought You Should Know

The Happening, except in the Arctic

Utterly pointless thriller about a group of oil explorers working in the Arctic (Alaska), looking for new drill sites, when an unknown force is released and starts affecting the minds of each.

Ron Perlman gives a good performance as Ed Pollack, the unit's leader and supervisor. He is trying to obtain favorable environmental reports that will allow the oil company to place several wells and a pipe line. Unfortunately, several incidents puts the schedule in jeopardy.

This movie feels more like The Happening, except with a Global Warming backdrop. Instead of trees making people kill themselves, here it was the ghosts of animals past - pretty preposterous. It was clear the movie has the intention of scaring people into believing "we must do something about Global Warming", maybe to have the Cap and Tax bill passed in Congress. While the situations were genuinely creepy, the movie was spoiled by the obnoxiousness of the underlying political message. The situations were rendered risible by by the whole artificiality and the shoehorning of the message into the story. If only the director had refrained himself from letting us know what he REALLY felt about Global Warning, the movie could have had a chance, although it would not have added anything new to the genre of isolation thrillers.

I do NOT recommend this movie for the story. Maybe for the acting and the creepiness of the situations, but there is little to absorb, like gnawing at a T-Bone with almost no meat.