The Last Winter (2006)

Sent to evaluate the environmental impact of oil drilling in the Arctic, James Hoffman clashes with the drilling crew's chief, who wants to get the job done.

Director:

Larry Fessenden

Writers:

Larry Fessenden, Robert Leaver

Stars:

Ron Perlman, James Le Gros, Connie Britton

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Ron Perlman	...	Ed Pollack
James Le Gros	...	James Hoffman (as James LeGros)
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)

Storyline

The American oil company North Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote Northern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seeking oil. The independent environmentalists together with the base leader, Ed Pollack, reach an agreement with the government, approving procedures and reports of the operation. When a team member is found dead naked on the snow, the environmentalist James Hoffman suspects that gases may have been accidentally released from the drill site provoking hallucinations and insanity in the group. After a second fatal incident, he convinces Ed to travel with the team to a hospital for examination, however, people continue to die.

---

Plot Keywords:

oil company | hallucination | arctic region | oil drilling | snow | 

---

Taglines:

What if mankind only had one season left on Earth?

---

Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Zach Gilford and Connie Britton both Starred in Friday Night Lights.

---

Goofs

In scene where Maxwell visits KIK Test well, his gloves are on and off during the scenes.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Marketing Video: Alaska. Vast wilderness of the north. Land of great natural beauty and diversity. This is rugged county, land of black gold. Alaska's North Slope has been producing oil out of Prudhoe Bay since 1968, delivering to refineries and ports 800 miles to the south through the great Trans-Alaskan pipeline. But another northern region known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has remained untapped. Only once have prospectors gained access to this barren landscape. In 1986, KIK ...

---

Connections

Featured in The Making of 'The Last Winter' (2007)

---

Soundtracks

The Tundra & Footprints
Until Dawn
Performed by Flux Quartet

User Reviews

How did things go so wrong?

To be honest I wasn't expecting much going into this film, yet was pleasantly surprised about it for about the first 45mins. As with all isolation movies, there is a profound sense of eeriness, and there are particular things (such as the box from the previous expedition, and a strange log book) which, I thought, were going to be good set ups for more mystery further on in the story. The acting wasn't by any means bad either. Ron Perlman was, well, Ron Perlman, and James Le Gros did fairly well as his opposite. It wasn't even that the characters were unlike-able or underdeveloped.

But there certainly is a distinct point in the film where everything well and truly turns on its head. And from there it is all down hill.

It actually baffles me completely that a film can go from eerie and interesting, to ridiculous and plain stupid like flipping a light switch. It was like the writers got to a point and said "hmm, we haven't killed many people yet. Probably should drop the storyline and do some character culling." Then proceeded to make completely irrational decisions that left you screaming at the screen in frustration.

The biggest flaw in this film is that it never returns to the eeriness it started out with. Instead it decided it needed to go cliché and kill off characters in ways that were baffling. They never circle back to the set ups that they originally established, so leave you thinking 'well, what was the point'.

And there is none!

I am serious. The end of this movie has absolutely zero relation to the main storyline! And don't even get me started on the final shot. Whoever did that stroke of genius deserves a bullet.

Overall my experience of this film went a lot like this: 'Cool. Oh yup. Hmm creepy. Oh yup. Ooo nice! Hmm, interesting. Wait, what? No seriously, what? WHY!? What the f**k. What the hell, just use the dead guys jacket!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?? ....Are you serious. What,the,f**k. Let me guess, that's it? ...Yup damn. Well that was terrible.'

As most people have stated, it was a film that showed serious potential but threw it all away by sticking its head up its own ass. Watch the first 45mins and walk away. At least the questions you have won't be shadowed by the unnecessary questions we are force fed at the end.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official soundtrack site

Country:

USA Iceland

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 2008 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Last Winter

Filming Locations:

Alaska, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,090, 23 September 2007

Gross USA:

$33,190

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$97,522

Company Credits

Production Co:

Antidote Films (I), Glass Eye Pix, Zik Zak Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1