A Haunting Winter's Tale

A couple's happiness is destroyed by a terrible act.

Inspired by actual events, this story is about a young couple in Italy, whose relationship takes a dramatic turn. The couple (Ciccarelli and Teselli) have just moved into a new home and seem happy and keen to start a new chapter of their life together. However, their bliss is threatened by the man's pill addiction and a series of events will result in the couple viciously turning on each other and life-and-death situations.

This one-hour-long, low-budget feature tells a story about romance, drug addiction, betrayal and revenge. It begins as a romantic drama, exploring the tender relationship between the couple, with things indicating that they are going to live happily ever after, as the man proposes to her and she discovers that she is pregnant. Then suddenly everything changes following a confrontation, turning the film into a dark thriller about survival, murder and getting even. The narrative is more or less straightforward: happiness, then things go bad and someone is determined to take revenge. It is quite an intriguing viewing, with a great deal of suspense, although there is a sequence that involves a stranger who helps one of the protagonists that feels bizarre.

The couple are two people who have been through difficult times and want to get on with their lives and both go through significant character development. The man ends up becoming a murderous antagonist, while the woman is forced to be strong, yet she too develops an urge to kill and therefore they both end up going down dark paths.

The filmmakers utilise creative lighting techniques and the dramatic and sinister music by Jan Romano creates a sinister atmosphere and the addition of a classic Christmas song during the closing credits creates a sinister side for that track, considering the devastating events in the movie.

The film is rather faithful to the true story that it is based on, making it disturbing to think that things of that nature actually happened. As a thriller, it works well, with tense and life-threatening situations and it tells a story about two people who go from caring for each other to turning into worst enemies.