Samhain Project : Devil's Pass

SPECIAL

My wife and I had seen a couple of documentaries about the Dyatlov pass incident, a 1950's Russian expedition, where 9 people were eventually found dead in various unexplained and grisly ways.  To say the least, the story is chilling, whether you look at the many different possible and really bizarre ways these people could’ve died, to the fact that the fuckin' yeti may have been involved. He may have even possibly been photographed; all of that is disturbing to say the least. 

There still is no logical explanation as to how any of this happened. Medical tests settle on absolutely nothing, other than they all died extremely painful deaths.  Crushed skulls, a couple with lethal internal injuries but no external bruising and one with a potentially fatal dose of radiation.  Renny Harlin does a really good job of taking the concept of that story, (which is fucked up enough on its own real standing) and getting a good found footage film out of it.  Renny's made some good films, Die Hard 2, Deep Blue Sea, got mileage out of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, and apparently the recent reboot of The Strangers. 

Devil's Pass involves a group of young filmmakers trying to find out what the hell happened up there, and what the hell is up there now. Of course they won’t like the answer, and the answer is absolutely batshit crazy. Crazy to the effect that it even involves the Philadelphia experiment, an American urban legend involving possible 1943 naval time travel, and even theorized teleportation.  Remember, as debunked as that legend is, the background on it is so thick and detailed, it remains fascinating.  John Carpenter even began a script on it that became the finished 1984 film,  The Philadelphia Experiment, of which the completed movie apparently resembles John's concepts in no way. 

Warning: the last 20 minutes is off the hook weird, but the movie itself and its set up is well worth the watch.