Let It Snow

A film’s title often gives away its genre – at first glance Let It Snow could easily be chosen as the perfect family movie to watch over Christmas. A closer look puts it firmly in the category of Rob Reiner’s Misery and Kathy Bates’s bone-chilling performance as Annie Wilkes.

Directed by Stanislav Kapralov, Let It Snow tells the story of Mia (Ivanna Sakhno) and her boyfriend Max (Alex Hafner), who travel to the perilous mountains of Georgia to snowboard down the dangerous Black Ridge. Ignoring warnings, the couple take matters into their own hands and wind up descending straight into the hands of a masked killer on a snowmobile bent on revenge. The film wastes no time in thrusting its protagonists into the action: within the first 20 minutes, it is clear that entry onto the slope has been forbidden due to the accidental death of a young girl three years prior, and the leads are similarly doomed.

The couple’s relationship lives almost solely through short flashback snippets, as one of the leads disappears so early on. The material is repetitive (the pair are in love and look forward to starting a family of their own, Max loves Mia and is about to propose), and the monotony of the characterisation makes it hard to emotionally invest. Nonetheless, confrontations with the killer bring stronger scenes, where the suspense really takes off and viewers find themselves rooting for the survivor. Ivanna Sakhno’s performance is worth mentioning; she certainly adds an overall gloss to an otherwise unremarkable film.

Ghazaleh Golpira

Let It Snow is released digitally on demand on 4^th January 2021.

Watch the trailer for Let It Snow here: