Below you will find five movies all set around a winter backdrop with a cold atmosphere, guided by genres ranging from psychological thrillers to foreign horrors to classic crime stories.
1. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" (2011)
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright
After a televised scandal, financial reporter Mikael Blomvist tries to find a way to regain his honor and redeem his reputation. He's hired by a wealthy Swedish industrialist named Henry Vanger to help solve the 40-year-old murder mystery of his beloved niece Harriet. Mikael's redemption arc takes an extreme path when he begins to believe someone in the Vanger family may have murdered Harriet. Accompanying Mikael through this case is the cold, ingenious Lisbeth Salander whose trust may be hard to obtain but is guided by her most empowering personal motivations.
2. "Fargo" (1996)
Directors: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Cast: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell
This crime film set in 1987 Minnesota explores the desperation and struggle of car salesman, Jerry Lundegaard. Lundegaard has gotten himself into a tremendous amount of debt and is desperate for any sort of income. With this mindset, he hires two thugs to kidnap his wife so that he could keep the ransom from her father and be able to pay the thugs off as well. Although the plan takes a complete turn into chaos when a state trooper gets shot in the midst of the scheme.
3. "Misery" (1990)
Director: Rob Reiner
Cast: Kathy Bates, James Caan
After getting into a bad car crash, famous author Paul Sheldon gets rescued by a former nurse named Annie Wilkes who happens to be his biggest fan and his worst nightmare. Annie begins to nurture Paul in her remote cabin, but her obsession starts to twist into darkness when she finds out Paul is killing off her favorite character. As Paul devises plans to escape, Annie begins a torturous routine to keep Paul from leaving, going into schemes of violence, manipulation and making him write to satisfy her demented fantasies.
4. "Let The Right One In" (2008)
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Lina Leandersson, Kåre Hedebrant, Per Ragner, Ika Nord, Peter Carlberg
Oskar, an innocent, quiet and sensitive bullied 12-year-old boy living with his mother in suburban Sweden, befriends his neighbor. A mysterious girl named Eli, they both become fond of one another and ignite a friendship. Their bond gets tighter which brings Eli's secrets to the forefront as she isn't just any ordinary girl, but actually a crucial element to the string of murders happening around town.
5. "Insomnia" (2002)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Robin Williams, Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Maura Tierney
Insomnia talks about Will Dormer, a veteran police detective sent to a rural Alaskan town to investigate the case of a murdered teenage girl. Dormer gets into a psychological game with the main suspect, which drives his journey into mental breaking events and an escalating adrenaline to solve the case. The game starts to threaten the life and stability of Dormer as he plays.
