There are certain films I wait to watch because I can’t find the DVD of them, and when I finally watch them, they are either worth the wait or they fail to impress me. This is a case of the latter.

I first heard of this film in 2017 when I saw it on a list of films that have an Easter egg to the film’s monsters way before we see them. I looked for the DVD for three years before finding it and sitting down to watch it.

Dyatlov Pass, also released as Devils Pass, is a found footage film released in 2013. Written by Vikram Weet and directed by Renny Harlin, it follows a group of friends who travel to Russia and investigate the 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident in which seven Soviet skiers were found frozen to death and their camp in a mess, after which it became the subject of conspiracy theories.

The film starts with the characters’ deaths being talked about on a Russian tv show which mimics the deaths of the original 1959 victims. This is a film trope that annoys me as it breaks the suspense in a way as we now know what is going to happen in a way.

Then, it cuts to days before when the group starts their documentary about finding out what happened to the group in 1959. They try and interview a man who was meant to be part of the original group but turned back before the deaths; however, he is in hospital for a breakdown and they get told he’s dead, but they see a man who looks like him holding a sign telling them to go back.

Later, the group go to a bar where they meet a Sergei who helps them translate some signs and introduces them to his aunt who was part of the rescue team for the incident and claims there were 11 bodies and not 7 and that two bodies were severely disfigured.

The group start their ascent into the mountains the next day. When they set up their first camp, one member, Holly, hears howls that night, but nobody else does. The next morning, they find footprints in the snow that Jensen claims to be from a Yeti.

They re-start their hike but later hear the same howls and see more footprints that lead to a watchtower. When they enter, they find a severed tongue, which freaks Denise out, but the others manage to convince her to stay.

Jensen tells the group that he heard similar howls during a bad drug trip when he was a teenager, which is freaking him out. Holly mentions, to comfort him, that she had nightmares about the incident, which is why she’s there. Later, as they leave, two creatures move unnoticed to the group.

When they arrive at the location of the incident, their equipment breaks, and they have to use a Geiger counter to lead them, and they find a bunker that is locked with a frozen lock. They manage to break the lock but don’t explore; instead, they go back to camp to wait until the next day.

There’s an avalanche that morning, possibly caused by an explosion, where Denise is killed and another member, Andy, suffers a broken leg. When rescuers arrive, they start shooting at the group and are revealed as soldiers. Andy is killed, and JP is shot and injured as they escape to the bunker.

Holly and Jensen find a dead soldier with his tongue cut out and a camcorder that matches the one they are filming on, along with several dead bodies and files linking the bunker to the Philadelphia Experiment.

That’s when a creature jumps out and attacks them. JP is killed as Holly and Jensen lock themselves into a room with a wormhole. They decide to go through it with the creatures breaking down the door.

It takes them to 1959, where the bunker is a Soviet lab. Holly and Jensen have been mutated into the creatures they were attacked by earlier. It is revealed to be a time loop, and this is apparently what happened in 1959.

I didn’t like the ending as we already knew they would die, so the suspense was lost. The CGI when the creatures attack is similar to PS2 style, which let the film down. I like the story, and I might be harsh, but I’d give this film a 5/10.