Cold Encounters
With most of the country bundling up in response to this latest Artic blast, going outside may not be the best idea. Cozy up next to the fireplace instead and check out some of these cold and wintry films.
Start off light with Bill Murray in the critically acclaimed and popular GROUNDHOG DAY (1993). In this riotous romantic comedy, Murray stars as self-centered weatherman Phil Connors, who is forced to relive the worst day of his life over and over. With Andie MacDowell starring as his relentlessly cheerful producer and Chris Elliot as his smart-aleck cameraman, Connors is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities, but when they get stuck in a giant blizzard, Connors wakes up the next morning to find that it’s Groundhog Day all over again.
Even the South gets its wintry blues, and the drama BALLAST (2008) makes beautiful use of it. Set in a cold rural Mississippi Delta town, the film follows the effect of one man’s suicide on three characters’ lives and the radical transformation they undergo as a result. The critically acclaimed festival darling shines light on the subtle interdependence and common purpose shared by a single mother and a man with whom she has been feuding for 12 years as circumstances lead them to live together along with her pre-teen son.
Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film THE SHINING (1980) takes Stephen King’s novel to new heights, melding vivid performances, menacing settings, and dreamlike tracking shots with shock after shock. Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance, a writer who moves to the isolated and ominous Overlook hotel as the off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd), but it’s not long before Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence and begins descending into madness.
Thirty days of darkness every winter is bad enough for the people of a small Alaskan town without bloodthirsty vampires thrown in the mix. Unfortunately in 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007), that’s exactly what the people of Barrow, Alaska encounter. Josh Hartnett stars as the town’s Sheriff, Eben, who must spend the month long polar night defending himself and other survivors against a coven of feral vampires hell bent on slaughtering the town’s population.
Whether you’re looking for a feel good comedy or some horrific bloodshed, these films are sure to offer something for everyone while staying out of the cold. Hit us up on Facebook to let us which of these chilly films you like the best!
