Film4 FrightFest 2013 Review – The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013)

For a found footage movie to work, there needs to be a reason for the camera to be on at all times. In the case of The Dyatlov Pass Incident, our main characters are filming a documentary about a group of hikers who went missing under mysterious circumstances in the late 50s, as the film crew retrace their steps in order to uncover what really happened. Along the way though, they to start to experience strange disturbances as they find out that there was more to these hikers going missing than first thought.

For the first hour or so, The Dyatlov Pass Incident holds its own with the likeable cast of characters hiking their way through snowy Russian mountains. Unfortunately it comes a bit unglued as the movie meanders slowly into its reveal. Not only is the reveal a slight let down, it’s so laughably stupid that it’s hard to take it seriously. No matter how much the actors try to convey that this is “really happening”, it can’t escape the ridiculous scenario they’ve tried to create.

The movie also suffers from the same problems that a lot of found footage film do, namely the question of who a) edited the movie and b) put it out for us to find. The reason why The Blair Witch Project works is because we know how it came to be and why it’s now scaring us. The Dyatlov Pass Incident doesn’t really have this as it flirts between the rushes of the documentary and the crew talking amongst themselves to bridge together their journey. It quickly becomes infuriating during the film’s climax which also provides us with the other found footage tropes – running down hallways, screaming while shaking the camera, night vision cat eyes and that awful knowing that this has become a movie conclusion rather than genuine found footage.

The cast all do a good job of their roles and the story, for the most part, is quite intriguing. There is a good mystery hanging over that movie that holds your attention long enough before it becomes stupid. But the found footage motif just drags the films down – especially during the conclusion and the closing shot. It’s by no means the worst found footage movie, but The Dyatlov Pass Incident isn’t one you should rush to seek out.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ 

Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.