Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote northern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, seeking energy independence.

Independent environmentalists work together in a drilling base headed by the tough Ed Pollack in a sort of agreement with the government, approving procedures and sending reports of the operation.

Elliot, Hoffman's partner, attempts to e-mail the outside world, but can't get a signal; he then dies shortly thereafter, possibly of a brain aneurysm.

Hoffman convinces Ed to travel with the team to a hospital for examination after Elliot's death; however, the bush plane arriving to pick them up crashes into their building, badly damaging it.

Gary, the pilot, and the replacement environmental scientist, Marshowitz, are both killed in the crash; Foster is horrifically burned, but manages to live out the night before dying.

His fellow Native Alaskan worker, Dawn, goes insane shortly thereafter and murders Motor, the station mechanic, who had been injured when the plane crashed into the building.

In the penultimate scene, Hoffman must decide whether to fire a flare gun at a ghost stalking Pollack, or up into the air to summon help from a nearby town, opting for the latter.

The scene then segues into a montage of past life images, which interrupt themselves long enough to reveal Pollack being attacked and presumably killed by a trio of spectral creatures.

In the background she hears car alarms and the sound of the wind, as well as a fluttering noise similar to that made by the murderous "ghost" creatures further north in the Alaskan snow fields.

[4] Fessenden credited shooting some scenes in Alaska with adding authenticity to the film and further inspiring him to make changes to the script as he scouted locations.

The site's consensus reads: "The Last Winter creatively and effectively uses horror tactics – fear, tension, anticipation, and just enough gore – to shock, but never repulse, its audience.

[10] Dennis Harvey of Variety called it "an imperfect but compelling thriller" that returns to Fessenden's interest in character dynamics, atmosphere, and offbeat narrative ideas rather than genre cliches.

[1] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times selected it as a "NYT Critics' Pick" and wrote that it "breathes fresh air into a stale setup", comparing it to the "elegantly restrained horror" of Val Lewton.