Sam Raimi directs Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda in this wintery thriller where two brothers find a bag full of money only for murder and mistrust to seep into their relationship.

Bill Paxton made a great unofficial trilogy of rural noirs. One False Move, this and Frailty. A Simple Plan is his best though. A sombre Fargo peer with unexpected punctuations of Raimi brand horror to spice up the snow and betrayals. What really marks this out is that the acting and writing is Oscar worthy. You wouldn’t find a thriller this emotionally complex and insidiously cynical getting a multiplex release these days. I remember seeing it at the derelict Hammersmith Virgin and was utterly enthralled. It was an instant purchase when released on VHS. When I upgraded to DVD this, for no particular reason, never got replaced. So it has been a good 18 years since my last watch. It has matured nicely. Maybe not quite as breathtaking as that initial maiden watch but still a genre film of unique humanity.

8

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