Cold Comfort is a mix of a scary, creepy film and a play with few characters. A traveling salesman is caught in a blizzard. He gets rescued by a tow truck driver with a few issues. The traveling salesman stays there longer than he wants to be there.
Stephen (Paul Gross) is the salesman in Manitoba trying to get to Calgary. Floyd (Maury Chaykin) is the sociopathic illegal tow-truck driver who rescues him and brings him back to his place as a present for his daughter Dolores (Margaret Langrick) for her 18th birthday.
Paul Gross usually plays strong characters but not in this film early in his career (1989). You might know Langrick from more pleasant films as Sandy Wilson in My American Cousin and American Boyfriends. Her role in Cold Comfort required a lot of maturity. Often, older actresses would play a mature 18-year-old but Langrick was 18 when this film was released.
Canadian film review: My American Cousin/American Boyfriends
Chaykin was a long-time character actor on both side of the border. While he generally plays nicer roles, he is plenty creepy and scary in this film.
While there are few characters in the entire film, Jayne Eastwood has a brief role early in the film.
This film may remind you a bit of Misery (1990) but came out before the American film.
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The acting performances are wonderful. The creepiness scale is rather high. The intensity is more psychological than physical. If you can handle those elements, you will enjoy the film. If not, we understand completely.
Cold Comfort won the Genie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also got nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Chaykin), Best Actress (Langrick), and Best Musical Score).
The film is currently available in the United States via Amazon Prime.
photo credit: Cold Comfort film
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