The snow is a winter setting that could conjure a myriad of moods. Whether it be to create a sense of elegant wonder, a winterland setting for fantasy, the cold, barren desolate nature of nothingness, or to remind an audience of its climate, the snow is a great prop. The snow creates a sense of versatility with filmmakers not only for the holiday spirit but to project mood onto the story, a subtext, much like the rain. It could be a great way to juxtapose violence as blood paints the white floor or that feeling of everything being new again. There’s even a Western genre dedicated to the snow thanks to a recent collection by Criterion. These are the best films set up or against the snow.
10 The Edge
A common rift between the working class versus the wealthy elite they work for, matched with jealous rage and fits of domestic disturbances, The Edge takes men not built for the wilderness and whittles them down to their bare essence. Starring Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins — as a man befits with a seemingly boundless knowledge of all things — as their helicopters down them in the mountains. What proceeds is a near-death-defying battle of wits with a deranged, man-eating bear who wants their blood. What takes them to the deep end is seeing two men reach past their shortcomings and become that of the wild while also battling what they left at home.
9 Snowpiercer
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Bong Joon-ho has a penchant for weaving in critiques of social classes and hierarchies in many of his action-thriller movies. With Snowpiercer, he found the perfect source material to make his first American film. With a stacked cast of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, and Ed Harris, director Bong plunges us into a snow-capped hellscape in a post-apocalyptic world, where the population is forced to live on a never-ending train ride. With the social hierarchy baked into the train and story set-up, the poorest are forced to live in the back. Led by Evans, the back of the train take arms and start a revolution to get to the front.
8 Cliffhanger
Essentially Die Hard on a mountain, Cliffhanger is said to be one of the most dangerous films ever made. Bracing for extremity with battles, explosions, and collisions atop the snowy mountains as Sylvester Stallone looks to redeem his begotten past. With a devious John Lithgow planning the heist of the US Treasury Plane. The heist takes a dangerous turn into the snow-filled Rocky Mountains. With a crew rounded out by the vastly underused Leon as the lead henchman, the climber, played by Stallone, is tasked with reducing the hostages. No stranger to the snow — after making Die Hard 2 — director Renny Harlin made a hit, as the film went on to gross $255 million.
7 I’m Thinking of Ending Things
“Time passes through us,” utters Jessie Buckley. The inscrutable, skin-scrawling existential angst and romance tied to the ideas of loving and being loved is at the center of Charlie Kaufman’s latest film. He’s a writer-director terrified of losing his ideas and obsessed with who will remember them once completed. I’m Thinking of Ending Things wants an entire life to be lived and breathed in, much like Synecdoche, New York. Through the head-scratching time shifts and breaks, in reality, the uncomfortable malaise of growing old, “did it happen or was it a dream?” platitudes, Kaufman has faithfully adapted a novel, but this is undoubtedly his work — one of his best.
6 Home Alone
The Christmas movie classic doesn't just get its lovely, warm feeling of family from the wonderful cast of actors and the sleek, Spielbergian direction from Chris Columbus, but the lovely snow setting the McAllisters live in at the quiet Illinois suburb. As the young Kevin (the revelatory Macaulay Culkin) gets stranded at his house after an emotional spinout with his family, he relishes his time alone. But, forced by two bumbling crooks, he goes to battle with a hilariously volatile Joe Pesci. Playing the PG version of the persona he made famous under the guise of Martin Scorsese, Pesci gets outwitted by the kid. Home Alone is a classic for a reason and one that fits perfectly for the snowy, cold weather.
5 The Grand Budapest Hotel
The underlying humanity of Wes Anderson never came through quite as it did with The Grand Budapest Hotel. A film about the crushing blow of fascism and what it can do to a country. But also, a film about memory and storytelling neatly packages itself into the Anderson mold. A writer (Tom Wilkinson) reflects on his life with his younger self (Jude Law) about the eccentric concierge Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) and how love is the only answer to war. It's Anderson's most decorated Oscar film to date and one decorated neatly by an elegant snow blanket.
4 The Shining
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In the vein of Stanley Kubrick's dark sense of humor that permeates all his work and the inertia of dread that cracks through his films, Jack Nicholson, the screen idol, goes lunatic in The Shining, adding a new dynamic to the Kubrick oeuvre. The film's dead-set snow setting only increases the feeling of isolation that sends the craziness to a peak. While inflicting trauma on his family as he slowly loses his mind, Nicholson's performance is one of over-the-top theatrics, going full tilt as he dives down the rabbit hole, but also colors the character with the classic Jack-speak. “Here’s Johnny!” — Kubrick cast the role perfectly, creating another role that became iconic.
3 The Thing
King of the horror film in the 1980s, Carpenter’s The Thing is a feat of editing, practical effects, and his keen sense of creating an atmosphere of paranoia. Locking a crew of research scientists in the heart of the Arctic as an unknown alien presence infiltrates their grounds, imitating and copying any flesh it comes into contact with, Carpenter created a pillar of the body horror genre. As Kurt Russell and Keith David navigate the crew's paranoia and their suspicion of who controls the power dynamics, The Thing slowly devolves into a body horror gore fest where no one is to be trusted.
2 Fargo
In 1996, the Coen Brothers decided to make a move towards the minimal, sparse landscape of noir that put their name on the map. Fargo is an early crime masterwork from the Coens that acts like a savage tale of desperation and lowly criminals who abide by no moral code. Filled with an incredible lead role from Coen muse Frances McDormand, which earned her first Oscar, Fargo mixes the funny goofball earnestness of the Midwest with brutal, senseless violence to a chilling degree. As the snow-filled mask of the surface creates an undertone where blood gets lost and frozen.
1 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
The iconic battle of Hoth lives in the pantheon of great Star Wars sequences, but is also one of the best openings to a film ever. With the iconic setting in the snow-covered planet as the rebels and empire battle it out, the snow set a place for Luke Skywalker to start a new road on his way to becoming a Jedi master. Setting the stage for quite possibly the greatest sequel ever made, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back transcended the first and became the iconic piece of pop cinema it is today. With an epic lightsaber battle where the implications blew father-son dynamics out of the water, Empire stands the test of time.