The Dead of Winter

Logline

After an affluent man leaves a rough sleeper to die in the cold on Christmas Eve, he’s haunted by a figure that may be a vengeful spirit - or his own guilty conscience.

Director’s Statement

In the tradition of Get Out and Society, The Dead of Winter explores contemporary social concerns through the heightened reality of the horror genre. A reinterpretation of the classic ghost story, it tackles themes of privilege, social responsibility, guilt and the “fear of the other,” through a modern interpretation of the classic ghost story,.

The film focuses on the current homelessness crisis and the plight of rough sleepers. The number of people in England who are homeless has risen to 280,000 people, up 23,000 since 2016 - at least 5,000 of whom are rough sleepers (Shelter, 2019). A homeless person dies every 19 hours in Britain (Museum of Homelessness, 2019).

The Dead of Winter draws on the stories of Charles Dickens, MR James and Henry James, and their various TV and film adaptations. In featuring a protagonist who’s supernaturally punished for breaking the social contract, it’s also similar to productions like Drag Me to Hell (dir. Sam Raimi, 2009) or the short film Catcalls (dir. Kate Dolan, 2017). It’s also a psychological modern ghost story in the vein of The Innocents (dir. Jack Clayton, 1961), The Devil’s Backbone (dir. Guillermo del Toro, 2001), Ghost Stories (dir. Andy Nyman & Jeremy Dyson, 2017) and The Dead Room (dir. Mark Gatiss, 2018).

Following a successful crowdfunding raise on First Flights’ FF3 platform, The Dead of Winter was shot in January 2023.

Its world premiere was at FrightFest 2023, the UK’s biggest thriller, fantasy and horror film festival.

The film is produced by Superbright Pictures and stars Oliver Maltman, Christina Cole and James Swanton.