Post by Rictras Shard on Jun 12, 2015 20:01:52 GMT -4
Welcome to Friday Fright. I am your host, Rictras Shard. Tonight, we are looking at a chill churner called Devil's Pass.
This is one of those found-footage movies, like Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. The story concerns five Oregon college students who want to investigate the Dyatlov Pass incident. This is the real-life incident where nine Russian hikers were found dead in Ural with various mysterious injuries. The students, of course, decide that the best way to get to the bottom of things is to go where it happened and film everything that occurs. Capital idea, guys, nothing can go wrong there!
Things go wrong. During their first night camping, they hear eerie howls in the dark. The next morning, they find footprints in the snow that start nowhere and end nowhere. Things get worse from there. Catastrophe strikes, their rescuers don't seem overly commited to rescuing them, and the survivors end up in a place that doesn't seem conducive to a long happy life.
It isn't really all that scary, but there are some interesting ideas that could lead to spooky ponderings. The characters are much more likeable than you would normally find in one of these films, and you find yourself actually rooting for a few of them. The special effects aren't that special, but that is the norm for found footage movies. Most of the terrible things happen off camera, which works for people with as twisted an imagination as I have. It's nice once in a while to not have the streaming entrails thrust right under your nose.
I doubt you'll see any actors you recognize in this film. The director, Renny Harlin, deliberately sought out people audiences wouldn't recognize. The movie is bookended with captions detailing the Dyatlov Pass incident, which helps set the mood. I found the acting decent. Nothing jumped out and made me cringe.
It wasn't a bad effort. I would have liked the movie to further explore some of the ideas presented later on. As well, people who aren't overly perceptive or just having an off night might not realize just what has happened at the end. It is an interesting twist, though. The final characters would be quite surprised to find out just what it was that was threatening them! If there is a sequel, I hope it is a traditional movie that goes further into the the revelations of the resolution. As it is, it was okay.