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Dead of Winter | 2025 | R | – 3.7.8
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Why is “Dead of Winter” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence and language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes some non-sexual partial nudity, a kiss and an embrace, people being shot at causing injuries and death, a woman suffering from a life-threatening illness, discussions of suicide attempts, death of loved ones, several arguments, and at least 35 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
A woman (Emma Thompson) heads to a frozen Minnesota lake to fish alone, having no idea what she will encounter, and the lengths that she will have to go in order to save a young woman from her abductors. Also with Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Gaia Wise and Cúán Hosty-Blaney. Directed by Brian Kirk. [Running Time: 1:37]
Dead of Winter SEX/NUDITY 3
– A young man proposes to a young woman, they kiss and embrace.
► A nude man is shown trying to warm up and recover from hypothermia (we see his bare back, buttocks, legs, chest and abdomen). A teen girl’s top is cut open and we see her bare abdomen.
Dead of Winter VIOLENCE/GORE 7
– A man is shown dead with a large hook stuck in his throat and a lot of blood. A woman tackles another woman and uses scissors to stab her, they fight and a fire starts in a tent where a teen girl is strapped to a table; one woman holds the other across the neck with a rifle and she gags, they continue to grapple and one woman hits the other in the head and face with a gun butt; one woman pulls the other woman to a hole in a frozen lake and they sink under the surface. A woman calls for help on a CB radio in a truck and is pulled out by the legs; a man swings an axe down toward her and she moves, picks up a hammer and slams it into the man’s foot (we see blood and the man screams). Two men with guns walk toward a car that is running and they speak to the driver; they are shot by someone from a nearby barn and they fall dead with bloody wounds; a woman in a truck is shot at and she shoots the shooter in the leg (blood spurts).
► A woman holds another woman at gunpoint and tells her to secure a teen girl to a medical table; she tapes the teen to the table using duct tape and the woman is shot in the chest (we see a hole in her clothing). A woman cuts open a teen girl’s clothing and makes surgical marks on her abdomen, as the teen cries and pleads with her. A woman is shot at from a distance as she runs through woods; she is grazed on the arm and we see blood.
► A woman runs through woods and onto a snow-covered road in front of a truck that stops; two men with guns get out of the truck and hold her at gunpoint. A woman goes to a remote cabin and searches for a young woman that she finds in a basement bound and gagged; two cars approach and the woman hides as we see one driver take a rifle out of her car. A woman breaks a storm door open and another woman with a gun threatens her and slams it shut again.
► A woman hears a gunshot and a man’s voice yelling, “Don’t move”; she hides behind her truck and sees a young woman with her hands tied behind her back running away from a man with a gun. A woman finds a mitten, a message written on a window and footprints outside her cabin and follows them to a fishing hut on a frozen lake; she and a man with guns approach the hut and the man falls into a hole cut in the ice (he suffers from hypothermia for the rest of the movie).
► A husband sits at a table and slumps slightly and his wife touches his hand tenderly when she realizes that he died. A woman slaps a man in the face and yells at him. A man and a woman argue in a few scenes. A young man and a young woman walk on a frozen lake and hear rumbling from the ice; the young woman fears that it will break and the young man reassures her that the ice is very thick, and he slips and falls (he’s fine).
► A woman pushes her truck onto a frozen lake, puts a rag into the gas tank and lights it, causing it to explode and send up smoke. A woman shatters a car window to get the door open. A woman speeds across a frozen lake in her truck and can’t get traction to get over a ridge. A woman groans when trying to tip a water heater to free her handcuffs clamped around one of its legs. A woman drives along snow-covered roads to get to a lake; she stops at a cabin to ask for directions and sees blood on the snow and a gun inside a car, and when asked a man tells her the blood is from a deer. A woman yells at her husband about drinking a beer and tells him, “No booze.” A woman breaks a basement door by slamming into it and falls down a flight of stairs; she holds her arm later, but we do not see an injury. A woman finds a gun with one bullet on the ground and takes it.
► A pregnant woman moans in pain; we see her in the hospital later and understand that she had a miscarriage. A woman appears sick; the woman’s nose bleeds several times (dripping into snow), she bends over moaning and she takes fentanyl in several scenes. A woman winces and yells in pain when she pours antiseptic on an open wound and stitches it using a fishhook (we see the wound and blood pouring). A woman pulls duct tape off a teen girl’s mouth and she moans.
► A woman talks about needing to get to a surgeon and we see a tent equipped with medical equipment. We understand that a woman needs a liver transplant. A woman talks about the “Great Blizzard of 1888” and says that hundreds of people died.
► A woman grieves the death of her husband in several scenes. A woman panics when it appears that she has lost her wedding ring.
Dead of Winter LANGUAGE 8
– About 35 F-words, 14 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (piece of junk, stupid, too old, idiot, dumb, cow, moron, gross, ya old coot), exclamations (jeez, shoot, sorry, dang, I’ll be darned, oh my gosh, oofatah, howdy hey, oh boy, frickin, fiddlesticks), 3 religious profanities (GD), 4 religious exclamations (e.g. oh Lord, Jesus, God dang it, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |
Dead of Winter SUBSTANCE USE
– A woman uses fentanyl in several scenes, and a man refers to cleaning out a drug cabinet in a hospital. A photo shows a young man and a young woman holding bottles of beer, and a man drinks a beer.
Dead of Winter DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Grief, death of a loved one, suicide attempts, liver transplants, kidnapping, hypothermia, Minnesota winters.
Dead of Winter MESSAGE
– Don’t quit, since we never really know what’s coming.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
Eleanor the Great - 1.3.4
The Strangers: Chapter 2 - 3.8.6
Dead of Winter - 3.7.8
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie - 1.2.1
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