"“Unique and innovative of its own right...”"

Despite sharing a similar premise and cinematic formula to The Blair Witch Project, Renny Harlin’s suspenseful thriller The Dyatlov Pass Incident is unique and innovative of its own right, as a fictional take on a real life occurrence, and one that has had conspiracy theorists in overdrive ever since it took place in 1959, when nine Russian hikers were all mysteriously found deceased from conflicting causes, having attempted to climb the unaffectionately named ‘Mountain of the Dead’.

While many believe the incident to have involved the Russian military – with others suspecting supernatural elements, we follow a documentary crew setting out to discover what really happened on that fateful night in ’59. Set up in the found footage, mockumentary format, Holly (Holly Goss), Jenson (Matt Stokoe) and Denise (Gemma Atkinson) team up with veteran mountaineers JP Hauser (Luke Albright) and Andy (Ryan Hawley) to retrace the harrowing steps of the Dyatlov collective, perhaps a little more authentically than they would have liked.

Though easily comparable to The Blair Witch Project (yes, there is an emotional monologue to camera), The Dyatlov Pass Incident isn’t quite as subtle and perhaps shows us more than we need to see, avoiding simplicity and leaving little to the imagination. It has a convoluted plot so the need to elaborate is justified, but this goes overboard. The premise is intriguing however, separating it from many horrors as we are effectively fictionalising the real world, taking an actual event and rewriting it almost. However, and though it works in parts as a facilitator for this narrative, as with any films that abide by the found footage genre, there are various flaws, as the ever appropriate question of “would you really film that?” is a prevalent one. Especially when there’s an avalanche. Most people would be running for their lives, not trying to find the record button.

There are also moments that simply don’t work, especially early on within the contrived and unnatural banter amongst our protagonists. Though attempting to give the feature a light-hearted aspect, it simply falls flat – such as the needless ogling over Atkinson. We meet her breasts before we meet her character. Nonetheless, The Dyatlov Pass Incident is good fun throughout, and certainly has the viewer gripped until the bitter end – thanks to a well-crafted structure, as the way we are introduced to the characters and the setting of the story is hugely effective. Also, we learn at the very start that our group of budding filmmakers eventually end up missing, which creates an intense and foreboding atmosphere, as suddenly we find a sinister edge to all of the happiness and joy of their travels, as, unlike our characters, we know what’s to come.

Though the composition of this piece ensures that you desperately want to discover how it will conclude, the ending is unfulfilling and anticlimactic to say the least, but then again, it was always going to be. This picture is based around an unexplainable act, a mystery that has confused people ever since it took place, therefore by guessing what occurred and taking a punt on the resolution was always going to be a recipe for disaster, dispelling the myth somewhat and taking away the beauty of the unknown, never truly able to match whatever we can come up with in our own minds. That said, it’s not a bad attempt.