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THE LAST WINTER
Edited & Directed by: Larry Fessenden.
Written by: Robert Leaver & Fessenden.
Produced by: Fessenden & Jeffrey Levy-Hinte.
Director of Photography by: G. Magni Agustsson.
Music by: Jeff Grace.
Released by: IFC First Take.
Country of Origin: USA. 100 min. Not Rated.
With: Ron Perelman, James Le Gros, Connie Britton, Kevin Corrigan, Jamie Harrold, Pato Hoffmann, Joanne Shenandoah, Zack Gilford & Larry Fessenden.

In An Inconvenient Truth or even Arctic Tale, we’ve seen the plight of polar bears starving among the melting glaciers, which are evaporating at an alarming rate, and on the news, George W. Bush’s push for oil drilling in the untouched Alaskan wilderness.

The Last Winter’s title immediately brings to mind the vanishing arctic (here, northern Alaska, though partially filmed in Iceland). Not unlike John Carpenter’s atmospheric and snowbound The Thing, director Larry Fessenden makes, for the most part, the region an intriguing setting for his story.

An introductory pseudo-corporate video details the facts surrounding a small Alaskan oil drilling base, which failed financially, in the middle of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oilman Ed Pollack (Ron Perelman, still with a swagger akin to Hellboy, though this time much more sinister), returns to the grounds, looking to start up business again despite the unstable terrain. However, James Hoffman (Le Gros), who’s on site for an environmental inspection (and wrote a book about the dangers of oil drilling), won’t stand for it and tries to block Pollack. He’s also carrying on an affair with Ed’s coworker and ex, Abby (Connie Britton).

Meanwhile, intern Maxwell (Zack Gilford, in his film debut, which is apparent in his awkward reading lines), becomes a little whacked after a mysterious incident that he’s unable to described other than saying there are “spirits” trying to drive them all away…and then he disappears. The team finds him frozen and a video he shot. It’s soon after that everyone and everything, so to speak, goes to hell, hell with chilling killer winds.

It’s about an hour, give or take a few minutes, until the real genre elements emerge. At the point the horror kicks in, it turns quite violent, and to say too much more would spoil the film, especially for horror fans. Aside from some poorly-fashioned CGI creatures towards the end, Fessenden has crafted a suitably tense trip into the dread of the frozen tundra. Although not near the sublime terror evoked in The Thing, The Last Winter is nevertheless gorgeously shot by G. Magni Agustsson. Many scenes feel epic but ominous, with sweeping crane shots of the snow and rocky terrain. It’s the kind of slowly-building thriller that takes a little patience but delivers rewards – food for thought and an intensity that’s greatly suggested in the theatrical trailer. Jack Gattanella
September 19, 2007