To determine what happened to some Russian hikers, five U.S. college students go back to where the hikers were found dead to make a documentary. But things take a turn for the worse to reveal the secrets as to what happened there.
Harlan's film -- written by Vikram Weet -- is a routine low-budget genre picture, with blandly attractive young actors overmatched by the freakiness lurking in the wilderness.
I'm not suggest Harlin deserves better than the tepid frights of Devil's Pass, but chasing a tired trend with minimal storytelling heft doesn't do him any favors.
The film is ridiculous and laugh-out-loud funny, though it's sometimes hard to tell if this is intentional or not. Either way, it remains riveting because of its effective tropes.
Very much like a puzzle that all comes seamlessly together, "Devil's Pass" wallows in formula before veering a sharp, hair-raising left turn just when the film needs it most.
Renny Harlin's fun, creepy found-footage horror knows when to be charming and, crucially, when to take its based-on-true-events conspiracy plot to its ridiculously entertaining conclusion.
The decision to assemble it as a found-footage thriller makes it feel like yet another Blair Witch knock-off. And the plot seems to run out of ideas before the end.
If you know nothing of this incident you'll be intrigued, as I was. But the explanation, which involves another curious tale from the 1940s that continues to fascinate conspiracy theorists, is difficult to swallow.
Despite drawing influence from a fascinating real-life event, this sloppily directed, largely tension-free found footage film sticks too closely to genre formula.
