**Potential Spoilers**
Another horror movie review another found footage movie. Yeah! The Devils Pass (2013) was originally known as The Dyatlov Pass Incident and for those of you that enjoy a conspiracy theory this will mean something. Myself, I will admit to being completely unaware of the Dyatlov Pass Incident but it turns out to be a very strange event that occurred back in the Soviet Union in 1959. The real life event involved nine climbers who attempted a climb in the northern Ural mountains. The climbers were later found all dead, some with injuries that could not be explained and so people began to come up with their own theories. Even if you decide not to watch this movie I suggest finding out more about the real life events, they are quite fascinating.
The plot of Devils Pass begins in America with five students from Oregon obtaining funding to investigate the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Of course they take along climbing ecperts and a small film crew to document their trip. When they arrive in Russia they attempt to make contact with the one surviving member of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. They find that he has suffered a mental breakdown and is in an institution. They are told he has died but he appears at an upstairs window holding up a message on a card. Unperturbed our team of researchers, climbers and camera crew begin their climb. All is going well until they reach the exact spot where all those years ago the original nine climbers died. From this point onwards a series of strange events leads up to the eventual discovery of a door in the mountain. Will they end up meeting the same fate as the original nine climbers? You will never know, unless you watch the movie.
The Devils Pass as I have already mentioned uses the events and the theories surrounding the real life event to weave an interesting story. The real event is fused with theory, conspiracy theories and indirectly with another conspiracy theory that involves an American experiment that allegedly occurred in the 1940s. I don't want to say too much on this as it might spoil the movie. The movie throws a few curve balls along the way, and is not afraid to break the horror cliches to do so. Of course this is a found footage film so it follows certain frameworks but unlike some other movies within the genre I never thought why are they still filming!? Perhaps I was so enthralled by the story that I just didn't realise.
On a technical level the movie is generally good. The plot is good, and maintains it's integrity to the end. My only gripe was that sometimes the acting was subpar but it was better than many a found footage movie I have had the misfortune to watch. The special effects are actually quite good, perhaps due to them being used sparingly. There is, however, not that much gore so gore hounds may look elsewhere for their fix. That said, for the rest of us horror fans this is a good movie, and a very good found footage movie.
7 out of 10
Summary: if you like found footage movies and like conspiracy theories you will love it, even if you don't you may still find value in this movie.