The Dyatlov Pass Incident (15.)
Directed by Renny Harlin.
Starring Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Ryan Hawley, Luke Albright and Gemma Atkinson. 96 mins.
An incident at the pass: who’s going to get excited about that? To quote Sidney James in Carry On Up The Khyber, “There’s always incidents at passes; you’ve only got to make a pass and you’re in trouble.”
In Russia the Dyatlov (pronounced Dee-Yat-Lov) Pass story is a famous Marie Celeste-style mystery. In 1959 nine Russian ski-hikers died in bizarre and inexplicable circumstances in the Urals having seemingly all abandoned their tents barefoot in sub-zero temperatures and died of hyperthermia at the same time on the same night. Now it is the subject of a found footage horror film in which five American students follow in their footprints to try and found out the truth.
The flame started by The Blair Witch Project is still blazing away and branching out in strange and unexpected directions, the latest being to provide back-in-the-game opportunities for down-on-their-luck former Hollywood big shots. Last year Barry Levinson made The Bay and now Renny Harlin, one-time king of bloated 90s action movie is trying his luck with this. It is a dopey, silly film but the cast are pretty good and though it is only mildly scary the story packs in lots of twists and turns and is enjoyable enough if you are feeling indulgent.
Harlin once made films like Die Hard 2, but his approach to this cheapo form of filmmaking is surprisingly similar to his big budget films: bombastic rather than skilful. I can’t think of any other small scale, low budget, found footage horror film that has as much CGI or that has an avalanche in it. Two of the party are film students which is the justification for almost every image being perfectly framed. Like one of those life swap programmes where millionaires or MPs live on a rundown council estate for a week, you are always dubious about the extent to which they are actually roughing it.
Directed by Renny Harlin.
Starring Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Ryan Hawley, Luke Albright and Gemma Atkinson. 96 mins.
An incident at the pass: who’s going to get excited about that? To quote Sidney James in Carry On Up The Khyber, “There’s always incidents at passes; you’ve only got to make a pass and you’re in trouble.”
In Russia the Dyatlov (pronounced Dee-Yat-Lov) Pass story is a famous Marie Celeste-style mystery. In 1959 nine Russian ski-hikers died in bizarre and inexplicable circumstances in the Urals having seemingly all abandoned their tents barefoot in sub-zero temperatures and died of hyperthermia at the same time on the same night. Now it is the subject of a found footage horror film in which five American students follow in their footprints to try and found out the truth.
The flame started by The Blair Witch Project is still blazing away and branching out in strange and unexpected directions, the latest being to provide back-in-the-game opportunities for down-on-their-luck former Hollywood big shots. Last year Barry Levinson made The Bay and now Renny Harlin, one-time king of bloated 90s action movie is trying his luck with this. It is a dopey, silly film but the cast are pretty good and though it is only mildly scary the story packs in lots of twists and turns and is enjoyable enough if you are feeling indulgent.
Harlin once made films like Die Hard 2, but his approach to this cheapo form of filmmaking is surprisingly similar to his big budget films: bombastic rather than skilful. I can’t think of any other small scale, low budget, found footage horror film that has as much CGI or that has an avalanche in it. Two of the party are film students which is the justification for almost every image being perfectly framed. Like one of those life swap programmes where millionaires or MPs live on a rundown council estate for a week, you are always dubious about the extent to which they are actually roughing it.
