For the album by heavy metal band Slauter Xstroyes, see Winter Kill (Album) Winter Kill is a 1974 U.S. made-for-TV movie directed by Jud Taylor and written by John Michael Hayes and David Karp. It stars Andy Griffith as Sam McNeill, the sheriff in a small resort town in the mountains of northern California. The film is mystery-suspense drama about McNeill's attempts to solve a string of local serial killings linked by messages left at the scenes of the crimes.