Pereval Dyatlova

Told in flashbacks, the series unfolds an intriguing narrative that poses interesting existential questions and dissects such canonized Russian subjects as WWII very boldly. It's also an effective, albeit slow-burning horror story, gorgeously filmed, intelligenty written and well acted. If you like eerie mountains, Soviet nostalgia and Nazi mysticism (stupenduous Wewelsburg castle!) , go for it.

The most famous TV series in the world, based on a rather sorrowful page from the history of the USSR is without a doubt "Chernobyl". But now a new series has emerged - «Dead mountain. The Dyatlov Pass Incident» - that is also based on real and rather terrible events dated back to the USSR , and I'm wondering if it will become an international sensation?

The series is built around a widely known tragedy that happened in the Ural mountains in 1959. A group of tourists set off on a ski hike but at the appointed time hadn't reached its destination point. Several days later criminalists were sent out to look for the tourists and only by May all 9 bodies were found. The skiers died under mysterious circumstances. Tremendous amount of versions were built around this tragedy, but the incident still remains unsolved - even 60 years after the event. Can the series shed light on that ill-fated night?

The main protagonist is the KGB major Oleg Kostin. He is sent from Moscow to either establish the truth or to cover it up. Kostin is a former veteran of WWII, and in his military past there is a certain ominous encounter that the authors do not put on the table immediately.

The series was shot in the style of "Soviet Noir": an atmospheric retro vibe shot on film. Despite the rapidly changing events, the mood is quite unhurried. It doesn't give you a feeling of senseless action sequence, «Dead Mountain» gives a viewer an opportunity to think and get absorbed by the event. Camera work is truly outstanding - gloriously shot mountain scenery, remarkable camera angles, unusual jumps and moves.

«Dead mountain» is for those who love TV series based on real events, who like to time travel into the past in search for answers. It is both stylish and captivating.

There probably ain't a single person, at least not of my age, who wouldn't have heard about this chilling event. 60 years ago, 8 guys and 2 girls - almost all students - went on a ski hike in Ural, but none of 9 who made it to the mountain called by the locals - the Dead Mountain -never made it to the final point. They all disappeared.

Months later their bodies were found, some of them had terrible injuries. They had their eyes and tongues torn out, their ribs were smashed, skulls - fractured. Who or what killed them is still an unsolved mystery... "Dead mountain" promises us to crack the puzzle.

Almost every character of the series has a prototype - a real person from that time. Even the First Russian President Boris Yeltsin gets a cameo - or more like an Easter egg appearance in ep.2. What is more, almost at the same time with them, he could also have gone on that ill-fated expedition but fortunately they ran out of places in the group. However, there are also two fictional characters (with a very touching love story) - KGB major, Kostin and pathologist, Katya.

Kostin examines the area while Katya examins the bodies. Kostin puts forward theories, and Katya is drawing his attention to the details that could lead us to the solution of the century's biggest mystery.

I quite enjoyed the series, and I will definitely watch it over to pay more attention to some important and intriguing details. So don't miss it! Watch and try to speculate about «Dead Mountain» events.

No one knows for sure what actually happened to the trekkers but the most plausible and likely theories are the ones that are dramatised here and presented as the conclusion in the final episode.

The series cleverly uses two styles to tell its story. The hike is shot in black and white and the subsequent investigation is filmed in colour. Flashbacks and backgrounds of the characters are also shot in colour.

The back stories of the older characters mainly concern the war and are completely fictionalised to impart a sense of creepy horror to the series. The indigenous people, the Mansi, are also portrayed as shamanistic communers with nature whose superstitions mesh with the account but are not the cause of the tragedy.

There are hints and suggestions of darker political and military forces at work - this is now in the public domain - which unfortunately led to a rash of conspiracy theories. However, the conclusion reached by the initial and the subsequent investigations seems to be sound and that's the line taken by this programme.

There is enough information made public for the programme makers to have been able to reconstruct most of the hike and the investigation. The conversations are fictional, of course, and the reconstruction of the final hours has, of necessity, to be speculative.

It's a worthy series to watch. The director managed to convey the flavour of the Communist times with élan and accuracy. I didn't quite binge watch, but I had seen all eight episodes within three days. I'm glad I saw this.

I suggest you watch it. Very different from what we have been fed for decades by the already declined Hollywood and most of European cinema. Nice, smooth plot, but the film direction is the masterpiece.