The Last Winter

The Last Winter

Year: 2007

Runtime: 101 min

Language: English

ThrillerHorror

While working in Alaska's remote and icy wilderness, an oil drilling team experiences a terrifying ordeal when one of their members is found dead. As fear and paranoia grip the camp, the remaining crew suspects a supernatural presence. Two survivors must then journey through the harsh, frozen landscape to escape the growing danger, struggling to determine if they are facing a malevolent force or succumbing to madness.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline – The Last Winter (2007)

Trace every key event in The Last Winter (2007) with our detailed, chronological timeline. Perfect for unpacking nonlinear stories, spotting hidden connections, and understanding how each scene builds toward the film’s climax. Whether you're revisiting or decoding for the first time, this timeline gives you the full picture.

1

Mission begins: K.I.K. builds ice road and oil exploration

The K.I.K. Corporation is building an ice road to explore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in pursuit of energy independence. Independent environmentalists work with a drilling base led by Ed Pollack, under a government-approved framework to monitor procedures and report findings. The setup establishes the tension between oil development and environmental concerns.

Opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, drilling base
2

Football game disruption and injury

A friendly football game outside the housing area is interrupted when Elliot accidentally collides with Maxwell, leaving Elliot with a bloody nose. The incident foreshadows tensions and sets an uneasy mood within the camp. It also underscores the fragile line between camaraderie and danger in the harsh environment.

Day 1 Housing area, drilling base
3

Maxwell's midnight vision: spectral caribou

That night Maxwell is unnerved by the sighting of a spectral herd of caribou charging past the camp. The eerie vision hints at paranormal forces connected to the environment.

Night 1 Camp
4

Maxwell goes missing and returns traumatized

The next day Maxwell is dispatched to check a drilling site and goes missing for most of the day. He staggers back to the camp at night claiming his radio had not been working and that he walked about 300 miles. He admits he didn’t want the job and says he saw something in the snow, pressing Hoffman to reveal the truth to the public.

The next day Drilling site and camp
5

Maxwell records paranormal phenomena

That night Maxwell, partly delirious, films the paranormal phenomena with his video camera and captures the spectral caribou on tape. He is then struck from behind and dies, with his body found the next morning.

Night to morning Camp vicinity, night
6

Elliot's death and sour gas theory emerges

Hoffman postulates that sour gas released by climate-driven methane release could cause hallucinations and insanity among the group. Elliot dies shortly thereafter, possibly of a brain aneurysm, while his attempt to email the outside world fails.

The day after Maxwell's death Camp
7

Efforts to bring in help and aircraft crash

Pollack and Foster arrange for Hoffman to be replaced, but a bush plane arrives to pick them up and crashes into the camp building. Gary, the pilot, and the replacement environmental scientist Marshowitz are killed, while Foster is severely burned and survives only to die later.

That night Arctic camp
8

Lee vanishes; eerie hoof sounds return

Native Alaskan worker Lee vanishes the next morning, and the sound of hooves—the same sound tied to the ghost caribou—is heard again. Dawn, another worker, descends into madness and murders Motor, the station mechanic, during the chaos.

Next morning Base camp
9

Dawn's breakdown and Abby's confrontation

Abby Sellers stumbles upon the aftermath of Dawn's rampage and encounters Dawn; in the ensuing struggle, Abby pushes Dawn over a shelf, causing her to fall and break her neck. The event underscores the collapse of order and the environmental strain on the people.

Same day Base/ workshop
10

Abandoned shack and The Last Winter

Documentation found in an abandoned shack reveals that the Earth is releasing 'The Last Winter' and resurrecting the ghosts of fossil fuels siphoned from the ground. The notes connect these phenomena to Wendigo and Chenoo mythologies, suggesting the environment itself is reacting to human greed.

Mid-film Abandoned shack
11

Hoffman’s flare decision and the ghostly attack

In the penultimate scene Hoffman must decide whether to fire a flare at a ghost or signal for help; he chooses to signal, and the ghostly moose focuses on him and drags him away. A montage then shows Pollack being attacked by spectral creatures as the wider catastrophe closes in.

Penultimate Arctic camp
12

Abby wakes in hospital; the end of the world looms

Abby Sellers wakes up in a deserted hospital with no recollection of arriving there. A news anchor reports nationwide natural disasters as she leaves the waiting room, and the camera lingers on water pools, car alarms, wind, and distant ghostly noises.

Ending Hospital and surroundings

Last Updated: November 22, 2025 at 15:58

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The Last Winter Summary

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Characters, Settings & Themes in The Last Winter

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