SCREAMING STREAMING REVIEW - DEAD MOUNTAIN (2021)
One of the best byproducts of the internet age is the overwhelming access to content from across the world. Coincidentally, this overwhelming amount of content means that there are more movies, shows, podcasts, etc. fighting for less and less real estate in our collective brains and attention spans. As someone who was born, raised, and currently living in the United States I feel comfortable in saying that most of the content we consume is English speaking. 55% of the content on Netflix (as of August 2020) was English-speaking content, and Netflix is most likely ahead of its streaming peers in this area… except for SHUDDER. So when I heard of a new channel, TOPIC, I was immediately intrigued with their focus on bringing international programming from over 40 countries to North American audiences. One of the shows that TOPIC has released is something near and dear to our cold-blooded hearts here at Macabre Daily: True Crime! Specifically, a Russian dramatic series called DEAD MOUNTAIN that is supposedly based on a True Story about the mysterious demise of a group of young snow hikers. With a premise like that the question remains, is it any good?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
DEAD MOUNTAIN is an 8-part series taking place in the Soviet Union around January 1959. In the icy Ural Mountains, a group of nine students sets out on a ski trek. Even though they all are well-experienced hikers, they never reach their destination. As their bodies turn up a month later, it leaves local investigators puzzled. Their tent was cut open from the inside, they are found frozen stiff in their underwear spread around the camp, some are even partially mangled. Whom or what did they run from? Why did they die, and how? When Oleg, a KGB major, arrives in the province, his inquiry is to be held strictly confidential. Troubled by his past as a WWII veteran, he has a sixth sense and death seems to follow him around as he digs deeper into the mysterious incident. With the help of Katya, the local medical examiner, Oleg is hell-bent on finding the truth. But the more he learns, the more it becomes clear: The reason the students died will never see the light of day. No one can ever know what really happened. No one. Except him.
Insert pun about something being deathly cold
HOW IS IT?
Up until the pandemic started, I was not a follower of most television series. For me, the time investment was difficult to justify when I could watch a movie and get a full story in the time it takes a series to go through two full episodes. So when I realized that DEAD MOUNTAIN was a limited series, I maintained hope that the 8-episode arc wouldn’t end on a cliffhanger (pun intended?) begging me to wait for 18-months just to try and recall what happened in the previous season. The good news is that the story does in fact have an end, the not as good is that it takes a while to get there. But let’s back up for just a moment and focus on what works.
DEAD MOUNTAIN is an extremely well-made series on a technical and execution level. It’s clear that this series was made with care, and expenses were not spared to deliver a harmony of practical and animated effects on what I presume was not a limitless budget. The first couple of episodes in particular provide some non-traditional scene compositions and framing that elevate the experience to feeling more cinematic than traditional television. What’s even more outstanding is the cast who all deliver exceptional performances that feel authentic. As someone who is not overly familiar with Russian culture, and even less so with its history, it was enjoyable to see how the Soviet Union was and get a sense of the times. And that’s when DEAD MOUNTAIN shines the brightest, in its portrayal of the humans at the center of this tragedy. The conversations feel natural to the characters on screen, and that helps to keep you caring for them throughout, especially since the series switches between the time periods.
One of the ways DEAD MOUNTAIN seeks to break up the pacing across 8-episodes is to infuse some extremely violent and usually dark flashback scenes from World War II. These re-enactment scenes provide a lens into the Soviet experience during WWII, which is something not overly discussed in public education here in the United States. The flashback scenes provide the viewer with an understanding of the horrors Soviets faced, and also the more nefarious operations that they came across as they fought the Nazis. These flashback scenes are a genre fans delight and feel like they could have been ripped right out of 2018’s OVERLORD. War flashbacks aside, the attention to detail around the visual effects never ceases to please whether it’s to show frozen corpses or bloody shootouts. Unfortunately, these intermittent sprucing of action are more of a distraction than they should be.
While the story at the heart of DEAD MOUNTAIN is an interesting one, the series suffers from being far too long-winded in its delivery. The most glaring example is the aforementioned flashbacks. While they are fantastically violent set-pieces, they only seem to exist as a means to tell us that war was hell. While the idea of PTSD is inferred, it’s not explicitly stated, but if the narrative is about finding out why some hikers died on a mountain then why do we need to know about the horrors of war? The reasoning seems to be for character development, and yet, the story would largely be unchanged without these explicit detours. It makes me wonder if there was a requirement to stretch this out to eight episodes because from my standpoint it would have been more effective done in at least half as many.
This is not to say that DEAD MOUNTAIN is boring, it just meanders. This is mostly felt in the back half of the series. In particular, the last three episodes where a series of subplots are unveiled that further delay the conclusion we have been waiting for. On that point, I’m undecided about the ending. I’m not here to spoil it for those who want to watch but suffice to say that there are so many horror red herrings throughout that when you finally start to see what’s going on it’s hard not to feel a bit disappointed. And that’s a shame since there is interesting and engaging wilderness suspense buried under all of the padding. On the other hand, DEAD MOUNTAIN seems to resist the urge so many “Based on a True Story” films take with their endings and not embellish them to a groan-inducing degree. While I am not familiar with the original incident that is portrayed during DEAD MOUNTAIN, it did feel like the right way to end this despite all of the alternatives alluded to along the way.
When an indigenous person tells you to be careful, best to heed their advice
LAST RITES
DEAD MOUNTAIN offers an intimate and detailed look at the mystery behind the death of hikers trekking the Dyatlov Pass. For survival enthusiasts, there is a lot to enjoy here, as long as you have the time to invest in the very drawn-out narrative.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
Premiering Season 1 Exclusively on TOPIC on September 2nd
Followed by 1 Episode each week till October 7th
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