Like a virus, desperation thrives in the unforgiving cold of Northern Minnesota in “Dead of Winter.”

The environment heightens the largely engrossing kidnapping thriller, which is in theaters this week.

Its principal characters are desperate — mostly desperate to survive. However, the primary figure, Emma Thompson’s Barb, is desperate to save the life of another.

Barb has returned to this largely uninhabited area to visit a lake that played a key role in the life she shared with her late husband.

“Ya HAD to pick the middle of nowhere,” she grumbles to herself before venturing outside for a task that later will become clear.

On the frozen-over body of water, as she’s about to accomplish what she came to do — Thompson reminding the viewer of her talents as a long tear eventually cascade

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