Black Mountain Side (2014).
When December comes around, I find myself in a very specific mood for film. I don’t get snow here in the Bay Area, so I’m looking for something that transports me to a colder climate, something that gives me those winter chills. Sometimes, they’re Christmas movies. Other times, they’re just films set in the snow. Films like Wind River, Windchill, or Runaway Train which I reviewed on the last show certainly hit the spot. I was doing a little research on snow-filled films for a list that didn’t end up happening and I stumbled upon Nick Szostakiewskyj’s film Black Mountain Side from 2014.
The film is about the northern most research outpost in the Canadian wilderness. As the film opens, Professor Olsen lands via helicopter at the desolate research station. He’s there to document the outpost’s progress, while the crew there are hoping to impress him enough to gain more funding to complete an archeological dig. They’re unearthing an ancient structure that’s been buried beneath sediment and ice dating back approximately 14,000 years. It’s a discovery that could be one of the most important archeological finds in history. However, as they continue excavating the material around the structure, strange things start happening.
First, they find the site cat skinned at the base of the structure. Then, the site’s three native workers just leave in the middle of the night. This is essentially suicide, because their tribal village is a nine-hour walk through the snow and in temperatures around -50, it’s essentially a death march. Then someone in the crew gets incredibly ill, the communication equipment stops transmitting, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, most of the scientists and crew start experiencing strange psychological effects that put everyone in danger.
The all-Canadian cast is remarkable - I didn’t know who any of them were going in, but I quickly researched them afterward to see what else they’ve been in. It’s really interesting seeing them go from a state of “excited boredom” to being driven mad, performances probably helped by the fact that the actors actually lived in the cabins during the shoot without Internet or cell phone service. Standouts include Shane Twerdun as Jensen, the site boss who’s just trying to keep everything together, Michael Dickson as Professor Piers Olsen, who’s essentially the audience surrogate who’s seeing the camp fall apart as an outsider, and Marc Anthony Williams as Giles, the worker supervisor, a normally calm and collected man who slowly starts to lose it. The film is impeccably made and looks great. Gore is sparse but is very well done when it does happen, it all looked like it was done practically which adds a layer of realism that I happen to love. The sound is also to be commended; there’s no film score, instead relying solely on the sounds of the wilderness and the wind to create a bone chilling audible atmosphere.
The film debuted at Fantasia International Film Festival in 2014 and was named Best Horror Film by the critics at Cult Montreal. It also won Best Feature at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival in 2015 and won a few cinematography awards which isn’t surprising, the film looks gorgeous. The desolate paranoia feels like a clear nod to The Thing, which I’ve said before is one of my favorite films of all time and is definitely my favorite arctic horror ever made. This is an admirable homage. There were some aspects of the goings on that I didn’t quite connect with, but I’d rather not talk about it at length because I think this is worth seeing and worth going in blind for. Let’s just say that there’s a possible explanation hinted at by Professor Olsen that seemed like a good answer for what was happening, but there’s a voice that several of the crew members start hearing that suggests it’s something else that I thought kind of cheapened the experience for me. Don’t let that deter you, I really liked the film overall and highly recommend seeing it, especially if you’re looking for something chilly this winter.
This film is inexplicably not on Blu-ray, but was released on DVD. That disc now appears to be out of print. I was able to watch the film on Amazon Prime through Freevee, which unfortunately has ads. I can’t even find out much information on the Black Mountain Side DVD, so I’m not 100% sure of what special features it has, although Best Buy’s unavailable listing does mention a director’s commentary. This seems like an easy feature for a boutique label like Scream Factory to pick up, I’m sure there’s a market for it.
