Les Roches Maudites

Yeah, that this is a bad movie will surprise nobody. But at least it's the first film I've seen which has been set in Bhutan, although given the nature of the production the place is interchangeable with any oppressive Asian country.

The story mixes mountaineering with monsters, to a somewhat muted effect. The problem with KILLER MOUNTAIN is that it has no sense of style, no real direction to give it spark or emphasis. It's supposed to be thrilling and scary, and yet it's neither; at no time do we feel for or empathise with the characters or care about their plight.

It's also a low budget B-movie saddled with some truly lame CGI effects, including the return of the dreaded CGI helicopter. The story sees a rescue party set out to aid some missing mountaineers, but before long there are some nasty CGI creatures thrown into the mix. They're mostly shown in near-complete darkness, because the effects really are that bad. The producers can't even add a Lance Henriksen or John Rhys-Davies into the mix, so there's nothing here for anyone.

In a flashback to 1954 Bhutan, a Himalayan mountain group suffers though terrifying tragedy. It looks like a man is sucked into a black hole, but this is incorrect; rewinding, this is actually our first look at one of the movie's monsters. Presently, another crew has followed this 1954 group up the mountain. They have been lost for four weeks. Colorado climbing school teacher Aaron Douglas (as Ward Donovan) is asked to lead a rescue expedition. The expert climber declines as he has retired and put on a little weight. However, wealthy financier Andrew Airlie (as Walter Burton) persuades Mr. Douglas to change his mind, after noting that Douglas's ex-girlfriend Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Kate Pratt) is among the missing...

Accompanying Douglas on his rescue crew are handsome young Torrance Coombs (as Chance) and sexy doctor Crystal Lowe (as Nina Preston). Mysteriously popping pills, Mr. Airlie manages to include his wise-guy son Paul Campbell (as Tyler). They have ulterior motives. A lot of "Killer Mountain" doesn't make a lot of sense, but it manages to surprise you, just a little. After a laborious amount of running time, there are some good low-budget action. Sheldon Wilson and Peter Sullivan also score with star Douglas – note how he taps his stomach when initially declining to go on the expedition – and a few of his sporting players. Especially noteworthy is the interplay between the co-stars.

***** Killer Mountain (8/27/11) Sheldon Wilson ~ Aaron Douglas, Torrance Coombs, Paul Campbell, Emmanuelle Vaugier

To be honest, I was expecting Killer Mountain to be much worse than it was. It was far from a great movie, and was forgettable at the end of the day, compared to the cheaply made terribly acted and scripted wastes of time that are usually associated with SyFy originals it was tolerable. It is much less cheap than I thought it would be visually, the scenery and photography do look dark and cold, and actually attempts to evoke some sort of atmosphere, and the CGI effects while not mind-blowing actually look as though effort was made into constructing them. The acting is likewise not extraordinary but is decent, particularly the female lead, and while I think more could have been done with a clearer definition of what it was and how it came to be, the monster was more than okay in design and did exude some menace. But sadly here come the problems. While Killer Mountain is not a terrible movie, there is never really anything thrilling about it either. The story too often is sloppy and predictable, with some exposition bits that could have been shortened or cut easily, with no real sense of suspense or dread with the killings. The script is nothing memorable and feels rather bland and aimless at times, and the characters are no different from the usual stereotypical and uninteresting characters you find more often than not with SyFy's resume. All in all, forgettable but watchable enough. 4/10 Bethany Cox

A SyFy channel film with bad effects courtesy of a PlayStation 2 and a bonkers plot.

Killer Mountain starts with a flashback in the region of Bhutan in 1954 when some calamity fall on some climbers.

We then cut to the present day when a rich tycoon wants a retired climber to go on a rescue mission which was led by his ex-girlfriend in a forbidden mountain.

It turns out that the tycoon has an ulterior motive. He is dying and the mountain might be home to a legendary fountain of youth but its guarded by some monsters or alien parasites. Its not too clear.

What we do know is that the mountain climb is treacherous but then the monster is unleashed and then the local army decide they would kill to get some of this Shambala magic.

Its a mountain movie mixed with monsters and bad weather. Like other SyFy films its bad writing, bad directing, poor special effects and a C list cast.

Something about some mountain climbers scaling a 25,000 foot peak; looking for the mythical Shambala, and getting their hands full with a mysterious thing that likes to wreck helicopters, base camps, and of course any people it can get its hands on. Also, some trigger-happy demented army Captain and his grunts show up out of nowhere to croak anybody the creature doesn't get first.

There's a few random scares here and there; and that's the magic word for this film: random. The plot is incoherent and meandering, and nothing ever makes sense. The cast do the best they can with the transparent characters and the absence of a story, but they get chopped up in the attempt, just like their characters do every time the monster or the homicidally obsessed army captain show up. I guess the film had to throw in the lunatic army guy to spice things up; even though mountain climbing is an adrenalin rush for its practitioners, its excitement level simply does not translate to screen very well.

It's not too clear what the creature is supposed to be, or why it's slamming everything and everybody on sight. Is it protecting Shambala from interlopers, or is it just hungry from the lack of eatable meat at 25,000 feet of elevation? Is it a resurrected dinosaur? A crash-landed alien? A deformed Yeti? A toothy dragon? A mutated freak from genetic experimentation? Don't ask me; all you ever see is a high body count. Think Michael Bay-type movie making, but with a smaller budget. If you go in looking for nothing but brainless action, then Killer Mountain is OK to kill a couple of hours.