This honestly qualifies as a major surprise. Once a powerful B movie director known for such hits as Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Deep Blue Sea, Finland's Renny Harlin has become in recent years an inconsistent, bland gun-for-hire, tumbling to the C- or even the D-list with such duds as The Covenant and 12 Rounds. The idea of him trying his hand at the flash-in-the-pan found-footage craze which has resulted in a few gems (The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity) and a host of mediocrities did not inspire a great deal of confidence, to say the least, but I am surprised to report the final product, Devil’s Pass, is a decent, at times riveting bump-in-the-night entertainment.

The plot bears a resemblance to The Blair Witch Project: an ambitious, misguided female director and a small crew assembled at the University of Oregon, including a conspiracy theorizing cameraman, a female sound technician, and two experienced outdoorsmen, travel to an isolated site in the Ural Mountains where nine Soviet skiers mysteriously lost their lives in the 1950s. Their documentary production, of course, goes awry, and they realize the threat, whether it is a government conspiracy or a supernatural menace, is still present five decades later. The real 1959 incident from which the film draws influence is fascinating and frightening: a few of the skiers were found to have fractured bones, and one was without a tongue, despite bearing no exterior signs of fighting or injury, such as bruising or laceration. It is without a doubt a suitable starting point for a film. The quiet, vast, snow swept mountain locations infuse the film with a high level of atmosphere and an anxious sense of the characters moving beyond hope, beyond the point of no return. The pacing is a shade slow, but engaging, and the performances, while not Oscar worthy, are credible, and it is never hard to invest in the characters as what they are: eager, foolish, horny, and, in the end, very scared students. Lead Holly Goss in particular is attractive and charming. The third act, when the storyline shifts into a higher gear and reveals most of its secrets, is undermined to a certain degree by inferior computer-generated imagery, but redeemed by a clever and satisfying twist ending teased throughout the film, a rarity in a sub-genre known for super abrupt conclusions.

B