Devil’s Pass ended up in my queue because I love found footage movies and fake documentaries. Devil’s Pass is about a bunch of college students who decide to make a documentary about the Dyatlov Pass incident. The Dyatlov Pass incident really happened and occurred during 1959 in the Ural Mountains, which was Soviet territory, and involved the mysterious death of 9 experienced hikers, college students from the Ural Polytechnical Institute.
I appreciate Devil’s Pass though ultimately it felt anti-climactic and a tad bit disappointing. First, I love learning about mysterious conspiracy theories, and I had never heard of the Dyatlov Pass incident before watching Devil’s Pass. There is talk that the mysterious deaths may have been caused by a secret Soviet weapons program, an angry local tribal group, aliens, or a natural phenomenon of infrasound which can make people think that they are having a supernatural experience.
Second, Devil’s Pass does an excellent job of not punking out and creating a credible sense of foreboding of the penultimate moment. Devil’s Pass teases all the possibilities then chooses something that I could not predict until the middle/towards the latter third of the movie and then in retrospect, I realized that Devil’s Pass left a lot of clues early in the film. Devil’s Pass is a pretty solid story even if it is not completely satisfying.
Third, Devil’s Pass is one of the few found footage films that is not populated by ultra annoying characters that you actually want to see dead. Sure they do a lot of stupid things and should know better, but if they did, there would be no such thing as found footage films.
Fourth, Devil’s Pass did not muddy the genre though it dabbled in fake news reporting to create a sense of foreboding and to frame the raw footage that make up the majority of the film. Devil’s Pass perfectly used current events to create a feasible reason why this footage had to be leaked.
Despite all of this, I left Devil’s Pass feeling a bit hollow. I won’t give away the crucial plot twist in Devil’s Pass, but

SPOILERS

must everything result in cannibal mutations that apparently make you immune to aging, lack of food and traumas that would kill most people? Mutant or not, once you hang from a meat hook, I would think that would take the wind out of your sails, but no. It felt like a really clever explanation that then ends with mutants ruins everything that came before it. I’m really glad that it wasn’t aliens, but for it to result in immortal mutants was a bit annoying. Also if you’re going to a foreign country, maybe have someone on your team who speaks and reads the language. Or if you’re really obsessed inexplicably with a place, learn it yourself. Devil’s Pass was crafted well, but still ended up a ruined soufflé.