Devil's Pass

Thought the first half of the film was pretty good, was like Blair Witch in the snow, going through the motions of interviewing people, getting a bit of a background on what they are trying to do.

When they set of on their own and the 'strange' things start happening, it kept you intrigued, but then when you find out what is really going on.. you find out why films like Blair Witch decided not to reveal their monster, because it was truly disappointing.

Not only that, but the whole story at the end was just a bit silly, too out of context with the build up of the film. And the fact that this is meant to be an explanation to the disappearance of real people is pretty weird!

First half of the film is solid enough though, worth a watch if you like found footage horror films.

Before watching this one should understand this is not so much about the Dyatlov Incident as it is about a group trying to come up with their own answers by experiencing the Mountain of the Dead for themselves. There are references made about the incident but it really is more about what this group is experiencing.

I thought that this was a decent enough film. There are many different theories and considering the horrific nature of the what happened to the original group, films referencing the incident can easily find their place in the horror genre.

The incident has been one of fascination for me and I love that someone finally decided to put their creative spin on the subject. While the film isn't bad I wish it would've taken a different approach. I hope more folks will take a stab at it. If you are interested in the Dyatlov Incident, check it out. It was interesting.

I did not expect much from this movie but was really impressed by the authentic Russian language and atmosphere. Most films portray Russia poorly and actors butcher the language. The plot itself was definitely a stretch, but it was for Hollywood. I think it was a success, because if you hadn't known about the Dyatlov Pass Incident before watching this movie, then it definitely piqued your interest to do some further research!

And no, not every Russian speaks English over there! However, you will find wild dogs, humble bars/cafes, beautiful sites, and lots of history!

As a "found footage" lover, I appreciated this clever contribution to the genre. The movie was cautiously arranged, but, more significantly, it perfectly justified all the conventional features of f.f. horrors; The setting is fascinating and the adventurous spirit of the characters is inspiring. It all goes smoothly until the end : the final plot twist ruins everything. The visual effects in that scene are kindly considerable as "cheap" , so shockingly bad that the lack of technical quality ends up covering the actual meaning of the last sequence. Beyond this controversial point, the movie is generally thrilling and worth watching. I remember feeling pleasantly challenged as it began : I kept asking myself what kind of tragedy was going to happen to the group of hikers. A storm? Wild monsters? No, nothing like it. Let's conclude by saying that this movie was an absolute surprise.

As a movie, especially one from the category of wobbly shaky camera films, it is not that bad. It's a cliché, from the start to the end, but you can't really blame it for not being the first to do what it does. I also know nothing about the Dyatlov incident and I suspect the movie has little to do with it, other than the name.

Weirdly enough, the name was what drew me to the film and I have no idea why someone would rename it blandly "Devil's Pass", which has absolutely nothing to do with the plot and is probably one of many movies to be thus named.

Anyway, the film: young maniacally happy Americans go to investigate, equipped with apparently a new type of recording device that needs no recharging, since it keeps going for days. They get there, die from various reasons which border from implausible to funny, then end in a kind of Twilight Zone way, with lots of bad CGI.

The idea wasn't really bad, either, just the execution. All in all, it was a classic hand held camera horror, without being scary, though. I liked the sci-fi twist to it all, but not the execution (or the characters, or the actors). I liked that they really went to a place where people actually spoke Russian, not mangled the language horribly in the hope that no viewer actually speaks it.

I can't rate it average. It had too many plot holes, bad cgi, etc. But it was close.