Tira Bebe
So, to start off, I'd like to say that if I could rate this film lower than one, I would. While the style of editing was interesting, and the scenery was beautiful, it was not enough to redeem this abysmal mess of a film.The plot was loose, vague and vaguely incoherent. As I watched, I found myself uncertain of what was going on and why anything was happening. It felt like a bunch of found footage tropes were thrown into a film and given no real reasoning or explanation.There were plot holes everywhere, such as the "dutch hunters" and the man following the people. The mysterious "possession" of the character, with no reasonable cause behind it. Was the entity a ghost? A demon? There was absolutely no building on this plot or superstitions and it was complete tripe. Not to mention the unneeded shot of a penis, the excessive filters during the phone camera scenes, and poor special effects of blood.It was not scary, and relied on jump scares for most of the "scary" parts. Absolutely abysmal, haphazard and with a barely coherent plot.
Liam Blackburn
What a good Ufo sci-thriller. I love the mangling of twangy guitars and 70s style video footage. THe backdrop with all the cactus and rattlesnakes is perfect. This is exactly what a modern Ufo thriller should be. How many attempts have failed in the recent past? Quite a few. This theme will never get old. Crew goes into the woods with a bunch of cameras to hopefully capture some spooky activity on film. When it's done correctly, it's a home-run.. The most important thing is that they are going on a trip.....A trip man.....a trip.....Let's also remember that not all aliens are bad and want to probe you and cut you in pieces.
digitalbazin
Here are some things I hated about this film and noted as I watched it.1) Loud noises for cheap scares (just about the only attempts at fright in the film). Dark Mountain goes one further - due to over enthusiastic, amateurish sound design it transparently adds to the organic "real" sound shocks allegedly captured by the camera (such as radios and walkie-talkies suddenly turning on and feeding back) - meaning you are presented what is supposed "tragic" found footage, but apparently someone then decided (all too obviously) to add more "scary sounds" on top of what the camera captured. Since we are being asked to take this as real footage, the obvious question is... who added obvious sound effects to that footage? Better yet, who thought it was a good idea to fill the soundtrack with bargain basement, dreary, "dark sounding" imitation Nick Cave music? If you were cobbling together genuine found footage of dead or disappeared people, would you add "spooky" music with vocals to the sound track during scenes when the protagonists are just walking around? No, you wouldn't. No one would. It's an idiotic creative choice, the kind of thing someone with no feel for horror or the genre might resort to.2) Pointless, artlessly framed shots of the landscape which do not establish a mood in any way, many of which go on far too long and appear to be nothing but padding. Case in point, several throw away shots of birds flying over head (and later several out of focus shots of dead animals the filmmakers appear to have stumbled upon while shooting). During the last of these bird shots I actually yelled at my TV "Stop lingering on pointless shots!"3) The film utterly fails to establish how far the protagonists have gone in to the wild, a key element to making us believe in their isolation, for which I can only credit bad editing and poor direction. Two painfully amateurish dissolves in particular (combining showing them walking and empty shots of the landscape) are jarringly terrible, and so poorly timed they fail to give any sense of the passage of time. This failure is all the more incredible, considering how poorly paced the film is (about half the movie passes before anything "happens.")4) Pointless poor quality "instagram-ish" video shot from a phone and inserted over and over. This transparent attempt to bring visual variety to the film's images is one of many fatal creative decisions. Whenever this effect is used, it renders the images allegedly made as part of this documentary poorly, meaning loss of detail and clarity - something documentary filmmakers would have to be utter morons to do. If they were to use their phone video function, wouldn't they turn it off and opt for a clearer mode when a) scanning the hill tops for sign of where a gun shot came from - or b) when making a final video confession when thinking death is near, with that video intended to be seen by whomever finds your camera and shared with your parents etc? "Hi Mom, I thought it'd be nice to have this pointless super 8 aged video effect on the last known images of your terrified daughter. Looks pretty doesn't it? I'm dead now. Enjoy!"5) Our intrepid and allegedly driven female filmmaker captures an image of a spirit presence during their first entry in to a cave, then refuses to review the footage or allow anyone else to see it, even after confessing that she shot it and had been keeping it a secret (for no apparent reason). Her answer is literally "I'll look at everything when we get home. End of story." So no one sees it. This is laughable, obviously, and is an example of nonsensical behavior necessitated by a contrived story.6) Character crawls toward camera, terrified, after it is dropped to the ground, and upon getting close to the camera the character is dragged off in the darkness by unseen thing. This is the last shot in the film, folks. I'm not kidding, and you've seen it many times before. 7) Poorly executed and wholly unneeded "camera interference" that results in the standard inserts of black, digital artifacts etc, accomplishing little but irritation as there is nothing interesting or scary going on in those shots - it seems like a "hey, we can make this SEEM scary even though it isn't in any way" post production decision.8) Red herrings or ambiguity can be great, in the right hands or in the right story. Here it just seems like "stick it all in a blender" was the idea. Who was the shirtless man they spot on a hill top who they think was following them? Dunno, because it's forgotten as quickly as it is pointed out. Why are there lights in the sky? Because UFOs, I think. Don't waste any time on figuring out they "whys," they are just there. By the time you get to the end, much of this just seems like filler, something to put in the movie, or more accurately, in the trailer for the movie.9) The one example we are given of this "time vortex" element is a campsite they find which appears to have been undisturbed and seems to exist in the 1970's. The proof we are given is a diary, read aloud by one of the leads, and then a tape recording on a cassette player. You could be excused for thinking you've stumbled in to a video game, attempting to cheaply and quickly dispose of some exposition, but this is a major turning point in the film and we will be lead back here later. The depiction of the camp site and its discovery is so botched and unconvincing that it never even gets close to being eerie.
djtaco59
I caught the premiere of this movie at the Austin Films Festival last night. The experience was enhanced by the screen writers and producers being in the audience. Firstly, the cinematography was very enjoyable. Shot in Arizona by the real-life Superstition Mountains, this movie is easy on the eyes with nature shots (and Sage Howard shots) alternating with sepia scenes (for when the characters are supposedly filming on their camera phones). The film makes great use of seemingly extended pauses before any tense moment, which left us leaning forward in our seats. However, I'll admit that the jump scares and sudden loud noises got old to me after a while, because I think I jumped every time the radio came on randomly. The filming in documentary style really helped us meet the characters. I enjoyed the dilemma the main character faced in her friends' safety versus great footage for her documentary. My biggest complaint is the number of unanswered questions. Three or four plot elements were introduced and then not later addressed to my satisfaction. This added to the suspense in the case of the time warps, but in most cases distracted me because I was left curious. The ending was complete but cliché. Conclusion: Paranormal Activity with more Frights and Eye Candy.
