This year's crop of "original" horror films featured numerals in the titles, like HOSTEL 2 and SAW IV. The Best Horror Film I saw in 2007 was not a sequel, a remake, or an adaptation; it was Larry Fessenden's THE LAST WINTER, starring Ron Perlman, James LeGross, and indie darling Kevin Corrigan.

THE LAST WINTER was produced by Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix company and released by IFC (Indpendent Film Channel)Films. This makes sense, since IFC regularly shows Fessenden's excellent films HABIT and WENDIGO. Unfortunately, this also meant that the filmmaker's newest offering received only a limited theatrical release.

I had planned to review THE LAST WINTER when Fear Zone launched, but someone applying for a reviewer's position offered to do it, and I was swamped, and... one thing didn't lead to another, and a review never appeared. IFC's publicist also proved little help in landing interviews with the film's stars, so we had little to work with as far as promoting the film.

Not any more! THE LAST WINTER should be seen by every serious horror film fan out there. It's a sober, beautifully lensed film with wide open vistas and aerial cinematography that captures frozen desolation even better than JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING. The similarities don't end there: both films deal with research teams operating in subfreezing temperatures, and THE LAST WINTER perfectly captures the crisp verisimilitude of such 70s films as DELIVERANCE and THE CONVERSATION. THE LAST WINTER is what would be described in literary terms as "quiet horror"--it's about character moments, melancholy, and an almost mythic Otherness, and it harks back to the political and environmental concerns of Fessenden's first feature film, NO TELLING, OR, THE FRANKENSTEIN COMPLEX. When the advance team for an oil company sets up shop in Alaska, there is hell to pay.

Do you complain about the state of horror films today? Do you want to support intelligent, adult material? Then seek this movie out! Don't let it disappear under your radar. It will be available on DVD as a Blockbuster Exclusive (that's a pretty chilling thought right there)in May, 2008, and everywhere else in July.