THE DYATLOV PASS INCIDENT starts off promisingly enough as another of these 'found footage' horror movies, basically summarised as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in the snow...it sees a group of college stunts taking a hiking trip to the Ural mountains in Russia, where they hope to solve a real-life mystery from the 1950s...

The best thing about the film is this real life mystery after which the film is named. Google it - it's as intriguing as the Bermuda Triangle and all the other weird real-life stuff out there. Unfortunately, after a promising first hour with some decent attempts at suspense-building and some great location photography, THE DYATLOV PASS INCIDENT starts to fall apart as a film.

I blame Finnish director Renny Harlin, who hasn't made a decent movie since DEEP BLUE SEA and who can't resist on going over the top when it comes to the plot elements. Before long we've got references to The Philadelphia Experiment and time travel and it all gets very silly, very quickly; Harlin should have insisted the writer scale some of that sci-fi stuff back, which would have resulted in a tighter, more compelling narrative.

And that's not even the worst of it. My bugbear with this current crop of horror flicks is that they usually resort to having characters chased by dodgy CGI sprites, and that's exactly the case here. GRAVE ENCOUNTERS made the same error, and it's all very tiring and passé. The acting isn't that hot either, and come the end the film's become a huge, head-scratching disappointment absolutely loaded with plot-holes. A real pity.

In the University of Oregon, the student Holly King (Holly Goss) is awarded with her research about the fate of nine Russian hikers known as The Dyatlov Pass Incident that mysteriously died in the Ural Mountains in Russia in 1959. She decides to make a movie following the steps of Dyatlov and his team and she invites the filmmaker Jenson Day (Matt Stokoe); the audio technician Denise Evers (Gemma Atkinson); and the experienced guides JP Hauser Jr. (Luke Albright) and Andy Thatcher (Ryan Hawley). They travel to Russia expecting to find the truth about the unsolved mystery; but they find death instead.

"The Dyatlov Pass Incident" is another movie that uses "The Blair Witch Project" style of footage and honestly I am tired of the clichés of using handy camera to give the sensation of documentary. But the story of "The Dyatlov Pass Incident" has potential but the screenplay and the conclusion are messy. This movie deserved a better screenplay, specially for the conclusion. My understanding is that Holly and Jenson traveled to the past and died as mutants in 1959. The face of the military looking to the camera gives the sensation that he had never seen that equipment before. The couple that comes to rescue them but are not allowed by the Russian soldiers are Sergei's father and aunt. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Mistério da Passagem da Morte" ("The Mystery of the Passage of Death")

Holly (Holly Goss) leads a group of five students into the Mountain of the Dead to investigate the unexplained deaths of nine hikers...back in 1959. Their party goes missing and the bulk of the film is "found footage" hacked off the Internet.

The group loosely mirrors the Scooby-Doo gang. The plot reminded me of "Yellow Brick Road" while the basic flow of the film was similar to "Frankenstein Theory." The film keeps you engaged by dropping hints and clues along the way as our group wildly speculate as to what happened. 40 minutes into the film they arrive at the camping spot with an hour of film left. Like "Yellow Brick Road" their electronic devices act up. Unlike "Yellow Brick Road" you actually get to know what happens as all the clues neatly come together in the end.

I found the film well done for the "Found Footage" genre. The storyline combined multiple films and ideas to give us a something on the unique side. Worth viewing, especially for fans of "found footage: films. Oh yes, at the camp site they also have toast on a stick for you old Bud Melman fans.

Parental Guide: I recall one quick F-bomb. Near sex scene. No nudity. Sex talk.