Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Dead of Winter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson May 14, 2017

Dead of Winter stands out as an oddball curiosity among horror thrillers in the late eighties. The script was written by Wesleyan College classmates Marc Shmuger and Mark Malone, who planned to make the film independently. The two scribes loosely based their work off Joseph H. Lewis's noir My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), co-starring Dame May Whitty (The Lady Vanishes) and adapted from Anthony Gilbert's mystery novel, The Woman in Red (1941). When Shmuger and Malone still needed to raise a couple of million dollars in order to make the film, they were fortunate to be college classmates of Arthur Penn's son, who passed the script on to his father. Arthur Penn told Ed Kelleher of The Film Journal that the script intrigued him enough to shepherd the project and bring it to MGM, which put up the requisite funds. A small but star-studded cast comprised of Mary Steenburgen, Roddy McDowall, and Jan Rubes (pronounced ROO-bash) was assembled and filming began in Toronto. While Penn was only to going to serve as executive producer, MGM interceded when things did not go well with Shmuger as director after the shoot's first two weeks. According to film critic George Williams of The Sacramento Bee, MGM "removed" Shmuger. MGM was on the verge of closing the production down when Penn hurried back to Toronto to take over as director. With the veteran auteur at the helm, filming apparently went a lot smoother for this $6.5 million feature.

As many critics noted at the time, Dead of Winter was a return to Penn's theater roots in the fifties when he directed Wait Until Dark on Broadway. Dead of Winter was also a chamber play consisting of three or four characters that weaves a suspense tale in a confined setting. It begins with an unseen woman dressed in a grey trench coat and fedora who makes a stopover at a railway station to retrieve a suitcase containing a large sum of money from one of the lockers. She also makes a call at a payphone and upon returning to her car, there is a man waiting for her in the backseat. After this prologue, the film finds aspiring actress Katie McGovern (Mary Steenburgen) living in a New York City apartment with her photographer boyfriend Rob Sweeney (William Russ) and her brother Roland McGovern (Mark Malone, the film's co-writer). Rob is laid up with a presumed broken leg and Katie is struggling to find work as an actress. Katie and Rob spot a SAG ad in the classifieds for a Toronto film company holding auditions for a leading lady in its latest production. At the audition, Katie meets the casting agent who thinks she looks right for the part and the two have dinner together. Katie learns from the agent that although she isn't absolutely guaranteed the role, she will receive compensation if she agrees to have a videotaped screen test for the movie's producer. Katie rather hastily agrees to the offer, leaving her apartment to go with the agent in his car in the middle of a blizzard to a stately but antiquated mansion in upstate New York. After making it through the storm, Katie meets the incapacitated Dr. Joseph Lewis (Jan Rubes), a psychiatrist with an antique piano that automatically plays when his pacemaker beats at a high rate. Lewis shows her around the Victorian house, which is filled with bric-à-brac, stuffed polar bears, and mouse traps. Lewis informs Katie that the actress she potentially could replace suffered a nervous breakdown mid-production and will be unable to continue. A videocassette of Katie's screen test is dropped off at a nearby home where a mysterious woman watches it on her TV. When Katie sees that her driver's license is being burned in the fire and credit cards are missing from her wallet, she knows something has gone awry. Lewis is not really a producer and Mr. Murray (Roddy McDowall), the casting agent whose offer Katie was held spellbound by, was once a patient of Lewis and is now his butler. Katie gets caught in the middle of a blackmail scheme involving twin sisters and is trapped in the house during the dead of winter.

Katie McGovern and a photo of the actress she will replace.

When I first saw Dead of Winter on DVD and re-watched it on this Blu-ray, I had the same reaction as Martin Moynihan, film critic for The Times Union (Albany, NY). That is, Shmuger and Malone's screenplay is too clever for its own good. The material is well-constructed and presented but objects are so telegraphed that the audience seems to be one step ahead of the characters. Shmuger and Malone should have made Steenburgen's Katie a more inquisitive protagonist. For example, when she discovers the Polaroids of Julie Rose inside Lewis's desk, she should have been initially skeptical of the psychiatrist's explanation of Julie's fate. Although she probes and asks follow-up questions, she's too accepting of Lewis's replies. Furthermore, when the police officers arrive at the mansion, there are actions that she could have taken to get out of her quandary as well as things that she could have observed or predicted. The movie can be unintentionally funny and according to film critic John Hartl, a sneak-preview screening sent an audience into "giggling fits."

Dead of Winter is still a fun little thriller to watch and enjoy. Fans of the Master of Suspense will notice Penn pay Hitchcockian homages to Marnie, Rear Window, Suspicion, and Vertigo. Also, Steenburgen is all around very good playing three characters who look alike. McDowall starts off playing Mr. Murray as a milquetoast butler but he grows more baleful as Lewis sets his plans for Katie in motion. Danish cinematographer Jan Weincke pulls off some nifty camera angles and creates cool photographic effects out of mirrors. Composer Richard Einhorn crafts a creepy and mysterious score without becoming too loud or overbearing. When Dead of Winter was released in 1987, it was met with mixed and predominantly unfavorable reviews but it has aged well (aside from the dated hairstyles and wardrobes) and deserves reappraisal as a better film than it was initially received.

Dead of Winter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dead of Winter makes its an American debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Penn's film appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, with video streams carrying an average bitrate of 29997 kbps and a total bitrate of 33.51 Mbps. (The 2003 MGM DVD was only letterboxed.) The MGM print looks mostly clean with a fairly coarse grain structure throughout. The daytime interiors inside Katie's apartment appear a little bright with sunlight seeping through the silhouette blinds. (See Screenshot #13.) Weincke gives the evening freeway scenes a misty turquoise look (see #4). Skin tones appear natural and unmanipulated. Detail on the cherry wood paneling inside Lewis's Victorian abode is solid. (See #s 7, 15, 16, and 19.) The only minor defect from keeping the transfer looking virtually flawless is a few sprinkles of white specks.

Shout! Factory has set aside twelve scene selections for the main feature.

Dead of Winter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has only supplied the movie's original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track (1762 kbps, 24-bit). The master is free from any tape hiss or distortion. Dialogue and f/x are mainly limited to the front channels. The howling wind and snowstorm sounds receive some coverage on the surrounds. Einhorn's music sounds solid and really isn't meant for a 5.1 mix. According to CD producer Bruce Kimmel, the score for Dead of Winter is made up of piano, harp, reeds, strings, and percussion. The limited edition soundtrack album is very good and I recommend fans pick up one of the remaining copies from Kritzerland Records.

Optional English SDH for the feature can be accessed through the main menu or through your remote.

Dead of Winter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Interview with Actress Mary Steenburgen (36:45, 1080p) - the Oscar-winning actress recaps her career, beginning with her breakout role in Jack Nicholson's Goin' South (1978) and paying particular attention to making Dead of Winter, working with Penn and the male actors. Steenburgen's remarks are intercut with several scenes from the movie. In English, not subtitled.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:09, 1080p) - MGM's official theatrical trailer for Dead of Winter is in quite good condition. It's presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 sound. WARNING: if you've never seen the film, don't watch the trailer first since it exposes some pretty big climatic moments.

• TV Spots (1:37, upconverted to 1080p) - three TV spots for Dead of Winter in pretty good shape.

• Stills Gallery (3:11, 1080p) - with a colorful background photo collage, individual color stills from Dead of Winter become a little bigger as they each come toward the center of your screen. This is basically three minutes of lobby cards from the film's ad campaign.

Dead of Winter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you already own the 88 Films BD of Dead of Winter from the UK, I would recommend that you upgrade with this Shout! Factory BD. Although the transfer and uncompressed audio mix are similar to 88 Films, the Shout! includes a very informative exclusive interview with Mary Steenburgen and a trailer/TV spots that are in quite good shape. 88 Films only includes a shorter photo gallery as its sole extra. Shout! also has English SDH for the movie while 88 Films lacks any subtitles. Critics often compared Dead of Winter with the original films and/or plays of Sleuth and Deathtrap. While those comparisons are apt, cinèphiles who also enjoyed Joseph Losey's The Servant and Rob Reiner's Misery will notice some similar parallels in Dead of Winter. The Shout! Blu-ray comes RECOMMENDED.