Well, go on - would you expect a film whose MIFF synopsis could be distilled to "environmental horror: The Thing meets An Inconvenient Truth" to actually be frightening? And especially when said synopsis leads off with "Starring Ron Perlman as a gruff he-man" (said lead-off being, incidentally, the reason Michelle and I initially picked the film out as one to possibly watch)?
Well, I'm here to tell you that (a) 'environmental horror' is a perfect genre description for The Last Winter and (b) yes, it's pretty damn scary (also (c) Ron Perlman, as usual, does Ron Perlman to a 't'). 'Stressful' is the word that we latched onto afterwards while talking about the film's effect; 'intense' was equally apt...it has a slow burn unnervingness, and also its share of sudden shocks - Michelle and Vanessa were on either side of me, and both really jumped at several points throughout (not that I was entirely immune either...). Bleak and white and ultimately unhopeful - totally not a Sunday night film. A cautionary tale, and effective.
(w/ the aforementioned, plus Rob and Laura too, neither of whom had any idea what they were getting themselves into when they signed up on the night)
