The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Made with just enough craft that, were you to stumble upon it late at night during a bout of insomnia, you wouldn't mind watching through to the end.

The film is ridiculous and laugh-out-loud funny, though it's sometimes hard to tell if this is intentional or not. Either way, it remains riveting because of its effective tropes.

Since found-footage movies are purportedly shot by the characters, hiring a muscular action filmmaker like Renny Harlin seems like overkill.

Further evidence that seasoned directors enjoy the found footage gimmick as much as the first-timers seem to.

The decision to assemble it as a found-footage thriller makes it feel like yet another Blair Witch knock-off. And the plot seems to run out of ideas before the end.

Renny Harlin's fun, creepy found-footage horror knows when to be charming and, crucially, when to take its based-on-true-events conspiracy plot to its ridiculously entertaining conclusion.

I'm not suggest Harlin deserves better than the tepid frights of Devil's Pass, but chasing a tired trend with minimal storytelling heft doesn't do him any favors.

Despite drawing influence from a fascinating real-life event, this sloppily directed, largely tension-free found footage film sticks too closely to genre formula.

Its grab at realism makes the artifice highly conspicuous.

Very much like a puzzle that all comes seamlessly together, "Devil's Pass" wallows in formula before veering a sharp, hair-raising left turn just when the film needs it most.

Harlan's film -- written by Vikram Weet -- is a routine low-budget genre picture, with blandly attractive young actors overmatched by the freakiness lurking in the wilderness.

If you know nothing of this incident you'll be intrigued, as I was. But the explanation, which involves another curious tale from the 1940s that continues to fascinate conspiracy theorists, is difficult to swallow.