DEAD OF WINTER. (1987) DIRECTED BY ARTHUR PENN. LOOSELY BASED ON THE 1945 FILM 'MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS.' STARRING MARY STEENBURGEN, RODDY MCDOWALL, JAN RUBES AND WILLIAM RUSS.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
'Katie McGovern will do anything to become an actress. Even if it kills her... Tonight it might...'
I sometimes feel sorry for actresses. (Not so much their male counterparts.) According to some of the films I've seen, especially the horror ones, it seems like some of the things they have to endure to get a part just aren't worth the hassle.
Humiliation, sexual harassment and the trials and tribulations of the casting couch, enduring personal comments about their weight, age and appearance, and that lot's just for starters. What about having to alter their looks, such as cutting or dye-ing their crowning glories, endangering their health or even life and limb for that elusive part? Sod that for a game of soldiers, as they say. I'll stick to the writing, me. I'm not mentally tough enough for that other malarkey, haha.
DEAD OF WINTER is one horror film where it seems like what the actress has to do for the part is not one, not two but maybe even three bridges too far. Mary Steenburgen, the lovely kind mom from ELF (2003), does an excellent job of playing the struggling actress in question.
Katie McGovern is an attractive New Yorker behind on her bills and on the rent. Her photographer hubby is out of work due to a broken leg and her kid brother's come to stay for a bit as well. No wonder she feels like the only responsible adult in charge of two mischievous kids...! Therefore, when an offer of acting work just sort of falls unexpectedly into her lap, a desperate Katie grabs at it with both hands.
A charmingly friendly fellow called Mr. Murray, marvellously played by Roddy McDowall who portrayed the vampire-killer in the original FRIGHT NIGHT movie, drives Katie upstate in the middle of a festive blizzard to the house of a mysterious paraplegic called Dr. Joseph Lewis.
Dr. Lewis is a retired psychiatrist who's now an 'investor' in the 'independent film' for which he agrees with Mr. Murray that Katie is 'perfect' for the 'part.' Yeah, I know, that was a lot of italics, but nothing to do with this so-called 'film' is as it seems or is in any way on the level.
The viewer can tell this a mile off. We know that the naïve Katie has just walked herself into the most mind-boggling danger ever, but Katie seems, initially at least, impervious. She swallows everything the two sinister middle-aged men tell her, including their lie about how they chose her for the part because she looks just like their original leading actress who's had to quit because of a nervous breakdown. Nervous breakdown, my Aunt Fanny...
'Why, I could be her sister...!' exclaims a shocked Katie when she's shown a snapshot of the woman she's meant to be replacing. Oh, Katie darlin,' sure and you don't know the half of it... Her hair is cut and dyed, her outfit is chosen, she's given her lines to say and lo and behold! The scene is set for whatever kind of tangled web the two men are weaving to unfold, with the hapless and vulnerable Katie at the bloody centre of it...
The spooky mansion in the middle of nowhere is a magnificent setting for the murderous shenanigans. The wintry weather, as well, and the occasional sighting of a Christmas tree or flash of Christmas lights, place this film squarely in the canon of festive horror flicks that also includes the likes of BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY.
Mary Steenburgen, who sometimes reminds me of Kate Bush with her huge expressive eyes, her sweet, red-lipped face and riotous cloud of dark hair, does a great job of playing her three roles. There are one or two genuine scares and loads of fun as the main characters perform a kind of comedy sketch to the Benny Hill theme tune all around the wonderful old creepy house. Up and down the stairs, round and round the garden, in and out of doors and giddy-up, as the fella says in FATHER TED. (It's the episode called 'A SONG FOR EUROPE, for anyone who wants to double-check...!)
Every time Katie's attempts to save herself come to nothing, we're left screaming in frustration at
the screen again. It's the most terrific fun. Film critic Roger Ebert said of the film: 'The movie itself is just an exercise in silliness- great effort to little avail- but the actors have fun with it, the sets work and there are one or two moments with perfect surprises.'
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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