Girls of Geek Movie Review: Devil's Pass

Written by Scotty

The quest for the truth can be a difficult one.  You have seen many reporters putting themselves in harm’s way to deliver the news and people get hurt when finding what they are looking for.  Although it can be fulfilling to find out the truth and bring it to the world, but in the end, is your livelihood more important?  This is a question you must ask yourself before pursuing these answers, as you may find out that it is not worth the price.

Holly King has been given an assignment of a lifetime, to find out what really happened during the Dyatlov Pass Incident.  Although there is no place to find the answers of what really happened to nine skiers that died on the pass, she is going to do her best to find out first hand.  Gathering other classmates from her school to film a documentary on the mountain where the travesty took place, she is ready to show the world her findings.

Having to travel to Russia is her first obstacle, but when she is able to secure a grant, she is off and running.  With her team in place, her next step is to find someone to take her up to the tainted mountain and this proves to be less of a chore than she expected.  With the help of a local, she is able to secure an interview with a woman that was part of the first search party that went up the pass to find nothing but the dead bodies of the ski party. Knowing that there was a cover-up that took place on the mountain, Holly is ready to take her team up and uncover what really happened.

When hiking up the mountain, the Holly and her group encounter problems with their snowshoes, but before it becomes too much of an issue for them to continue, they find the site where the madness took place.  Setting up camp and filming where all of the victims fell in the snow, Holly believes that there is more to uncover.  Finding strange tracks outside of their campsite on their first night on the mountain has left her crew unsettled, but being at their destination hours ahead of schedule has them even more worried.  Holly’s search has not ended, since she has been having dreams about this mountain and a door that will lead her to all of her answers.  Searching the mountain for traces of radiation, Holly is able to uncover the door from her dreams, but when she is finally able to open it, will it give her the answers that she is looking for?

Devil’s Pass follows a young group of filmmakers as they climb a mountain looking for answers of what really happened during the famed Dyatlov Pass Incident.  Believing that the Russian government has performed a massive cover-up on what went down, the college students from Portland, Oregon are looking for the truth.  When being met with opposition from the Russian military when trying to get any documents about the occurrences on the mountain, they are able to make it up the mountain without any issues, but there is something strange in their midst.  Strange tracks are found in the snow outside of their campsite that have no beginning and no end.  Rattling the group, they continue to move on in search for the truth and Holly is able to find a door that has been in her dreams.  Being forced into the bunker by the military, she is able to find her answers first hand of what happened, but will she be able to escape the prison she has entered, alive?

This is one of those movies that makes you wonder why people try to climb mountains…at all. I understand getting the thrill of reaching the top, but when you are trying to find answers, I am sure there is a better way.  Watching as the group makes their assent to the site where a ski party was found dead without reason is a good story, but once you add in a cover-up, it makes it great.  A lot of history and conspiracy theories have been brought into the mix on this film and that would be the reason why I enjoyed it so much.  It is not just Russian history, but also American history being brought into the mix to explain what is happening, along with a great mix of the horror of the unknown, chasing down the few survivors that have found the truth.  Stay Scared.

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