Judy Greer has been one of the most compelling character actresses in Hollywood, and 2025 might be the year when she gets her due, judging by her work in “The Long Walk” and “Dead of Winter” (2025). While the former shows her playing a mother mourning her son’s tragic life, the latter shows her playing a ruthless antagonist who acts violently out of desperation. Joining her in this white-knuckle thriller is Emma Thompson, as a woman who crosses paths with her while reminiscing about her past. After that encounter, we witness their hopeless struggle for survival. The script by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb builds emotional stakes through the correlation between their stories, tying their past with the present. So, beyond our curiosity about who lives and dies, we stay invested in its tale of marital bonds and looming tragedies.
Spoilers Ahead
Dead of Winter (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Dead of Winter,” directed by Brian Kirk, follows a woman who witnesses a kidnapping incident and decides to save the young woman from the clutches of her abductor.
What happens in Dead of Winter?
Barb (Emma Thompson) had lived a long, married life with her husband Karl. After his death, he requested that she bury his ashes in Lake Hilda, where they had their first date. She honors his wishes and decides to drive in that direction in northern Minnesota. She enters this snowbound area but struggles to locate the lake, since she had been there a long time ago. So, she looks for someone to guide her in the right direction. That’s when she crosses paths with a man wearing a camo jacket (Marc Menchaca). She arrives at his house and finds blood on his front porch. He helps her with her directions, but lies about the source of the blood. Later, she realizes the truth.
The blood belonged to Leah (Laurel Marsden), a young woman whom the man kidnapped for his wife (Judy Greer). Barb realizes that after noticing the man chasing Leah through the woods. She rushes to her car and hides, while he drags Leah back to his cabin. After seeing that, Barb’s impulse tells her to drive away immediately. However, she struggles to bring her car out of the snow. There’s no network in the area. So, she can’t call someone for help either. In that moment, she decides to save the poor girl from the kidnapper. She returns to his cabin once he leaves and notices Leah from outside a window. Soon, the kidnapper’s wife arrives, leaving Barb with no other option but to hide. Before that, she tells Leah that she won’t abandon her.
Why does the Purple Lady ask Camo Jacket to kidnap Leah?
The wife, credited as Purple Lady, asked her husband, credited as Camo Jacket, to kidnap Leah, knowing Leah’s tragic past. Leah had tried taking her own life, which made the Purple Lady consider her as the ideal candidate for her needs. The lady was suffering from a severe illness, which required a liver transplant. So, she considered Leah, a woman who had seemingly given up on her life, as someone willing to experience that agony. Barb realizes that only when she is forced to drag all the tools the lady needs for the process. Until then, she witnesses the horrors that this woman is capable of.
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It begins after the woman returns to the cabin and notices the red glove Barb accidentally left behind. She also notices the message Barb wrote on the glass window for Leah. After that, her husband confesses to having met Barb. So, she walks toward the lake to find Barb. On the way, her husband falls into the freezing water. As she pulls him out, Barb enters their cabin to save Leah. She removes the tape from her mouth and looks for ways to break her handcuffs. That’s when she notices a box of fentanyl in the house. She walks out to get shot by a bullet from the Purple Lady’s rifle.
As Barb runs away, the couple returns to their cabin. The man struggles with hypothermia, leaving him incapable of helping his wife. Still, he can’t do anything else but aid her with the procedure. As soon as they leave the cabin, Barb returns and stitches her wound. Then, she walks out and tries contacting someone from the outside. Suddenly, the husband returns and attacks her. She fights back and threatens to shoot him. He pleads for his life and reveals his medical condition. She lets him leave, but it doesn’t take long for him to lose his life.
Dead of Winter (2025) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Barb survive in the end?
The kidnapper drives his car away from the cabin. On the way, he crosses paths with his wife, who compels him to return home. By then, Barb manages to find help from the locals whom she contacted through the kidnapper’s phone. They drive her to the cabin, but force her to stay inside the car, while they deal with the kidnappers. The two locals approach the kidnapper’s car, only to be attacked by the wife, who kills them both. Shocked, Barb walks out only to find the kidnapper dead. Within moments, the lady attacks her and locks her in the basement next to Leah. Barb uses all her strength and willpower to get out of her handcuffs. She then breaks a window to walk out of the cabin, but the lady catches her.
At the film’s end, the Purple Lady forces Leah and Barb into a tent designed to help with the organ donation procedure. Barb urges her to think otherwise, but she doesn’t pay heed to her requests. She orders Barb to tape Leah to a table and shoots Barb, assuming she is dead. To her surprise, Barb wakes up and attacks her. After that, they both leave the tent, fighting. The lady notices a box in Barb’s jacket and opens it to find ashes. Barb requests that she let it go. Although the lady throws the box away, things escalate to a point where they start fighting for their lives while lying next to the lake. Around this time, Leah rescues herself and surprises the lady. Barb uses that moment to drag the lady with her.
How does Barb’s past affect her return to Lake Hilda?
In the film’s bleak final moments, the Purple Lady loses her life along with Barb. However, the latter finds comfort knowing that she honored her late husband’s wishes, as she spreads his ashes in the lake. By sacrificing herself, she also saves Leah, a young woman who has her whole life ahead of her. It’s possible that Barb sees herself in Leah and wants her to seek happiness as she did. She sees her life full of possibilities, as her life once seemed. Moreover, her desperate attempts to protect this young woman likely stem from a tragic incident from her youth, when she lost her child. So, her past makes her see the value in life. That’s why she tries to imbibe her will to live in Leah throughout all their conversations.
