…most of the plot elements of Winter Kills have matured over the years, making it something of a hidden gem for anyone with a passing interest in American politics…

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 23, 2024

Richert’s deliciously berserk [movie] almost never saw the light of day before its patchy completion and release in 1979; it’s pungent satire, a Kennedy-conspiracy thriller... that must, as has been said, be seen to be disbelieved,

| Original Score: 10/10 | Oct 16, 2023

Cult classic status, not quite, but an oddity that definitely deserves to be seen.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 22, 2023

Winter Kills caps Hollywood’s convention of political paranoia without Richert ever succumbing to nihilism. There is no disillusionment in filmmaking this vibrant.

| Aug 16, 2023

“Winter Kills” is, above all, an exercise in tone—a crazed, hectic tone that instantly suggests a world irreparably out of whack. What lends the movie substance is the cinematic style that Richert crafts from its dramatic premise.

| Aug 12, 2023

It seems to have grown even bolder with age in its willingness to take on sacred cows in the craziest manner imaginable.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 11, 2023

The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts.

| Aug 8, 2023

Richert gives the film a hard, bright surface -- this is not a seductive fantasy, it's more of the sarcastic, take-it-or-leave-it kind.

| Mar 24, 2020

The satiric edge qualifies the film as a sick joke, which helps explain why the studio was reluctant to support it and why the public was reluctant to watch it. But it is audacious, and it's easy to see why it has developed a modest cult following.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 17, 2019

... the maddest and most entertaining of Kennedy conspiracy thrillers, a wild kaleidoscope of clashing theories directed with wit and performed with gusto by an astounding cast.

| Jan 5, 2018

Though it garnered little attention in theaters, it has become a cult favorite on video.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 29, 2010

Huston gives a powerhouse performance, and Bridges, always likeable, runs through his repertoire of facial expressions and grimaces, but it's a lost cause.

| Mar 26, 2009

As an absurdist take on conspiracy thrillers, it's close to brilliant -- assuming you get the joke, which audiences don't seem to have in 1979.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 22, 2008

Bizarre, fascinating political assassination satire with superb cast

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 17, 2006

An excellent conspiracy thriller of unusual blackness and wit.

| Jan 26, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 19, 2005

Winter Kills" isn't exactly a comedy, but it's funny. And it isn't exactly serious, but it takes on the serious business of the Kennedy assassination.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 7, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 22, 2004

A real cult classic, this reimagining of the Kennedy assassination asks what might have gone down in an alternate and very similar universe.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 23, 2004