Okay, back to the found footage well. Three friends set out to make a documentary about their quest for the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine - a lost mine in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, AZ. They never return, but we found the footage. Here is their story.
At the very least, I learned that the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is a real thing - it's a pretty cool story! So even their fake (and unfinished, since (*SPOILER*) they might not make it back) documentary was educational for me.
One big issue that you have to know up front is that this is a complete and utter failure as a found footage film. There are multiple camera angles, swift edits/cuts, music stings over jump scares, and a (pretty cool) soundtrack added in. It's almost like these folks' friends found their footage and decided "I really miss my friends - to mourn, I'm going to edit the events that led to their deaths and make it TOTALLY EXTREME!" So really, Dark Mountain treats the found footage aspect like much more of an aesthetic than sticking to the "rules" of the genre. But that's not what makes it a little bad - there are other things that take care of that.
Our three friends are aspiring filmmaker Kate (Sage Howard), her boyfriend Paul (Andrew Simpson) and their friend Ross (Shelby Stehlin). Ross really reminded me of Zak Bagans, which is why I liked him the most. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Ghost Adventures crew. Kate has the grating role - egging everybody on and constantly worrying about getting "good footage." Howard did a good job in the role, but the way she kept demanding "good footage" just annoyed me after a while. Aren't you supposed to just let things happen in documentaries?
Before they go into the mountains, they spend a little time in town, which is pretty interesting. Just about everyone they talk to warns them about all the people who have gone into the mountains and never returned. They hit up just about every potential reason for people going missing/dying out there - not being amply prepared, UFO's, energy vortexes, restless spirits, renegade Apaches (it used to be Apache land). They make sure to cover all of the bases. And actually the last guy who went in there got shot (apparently echoing the real-life 1945 book "Thunder God's Gold" about the mine that claimed there is a sniper roaming the mountains). So that's about where I'd be all "nope! Let's not do this!" But I don't need "good footage," so what do I know. The one piece of advice they get from the most knowledgable person they interview is to "make sure you tell the Ranger where you are going." So guess what they forget to do.
What I liked
The scare scenes works well. There is a reason this is such a successful genre, other than the fact that it's cheap. The visceral nature and intensity of the scare scenes is the best thing Dark Mountain has going for it. Even though you don't really know what's going on in the big picture - i.e. what's chasing them/causing the havoc - it still works. Visually you can usually tell what's going on - other than some obnoxious strobing when the camera is in night-vision mode, it's well shot and was never too headache inducing. Dark Mountain is at its best when it's embroiled in chaos.
As I mentioned before, this movie doesn't care about following the found footage rules too closely. Rather than always just following around our three friends bickering or whatever, we get interludes that almost seem like a trippy travelogue. The scenery, while obviously hostile, is beautifully shot, and the filmmakers aren't afraid afraid to mess around with effects to make a shot look cool. Again, it goes completely against the concept of found footage, but it worked.
And I *really* liked the soundtrack - especially the contributions of The Filthy Huns. They've got a really cool reverb-drenched/electro-western sound that I really dug. I've looked for an official soundtrack, but no dice. I did find them on their label's website. I'm listening to them now in fact... it's rad!
What I didn't like
Ultimately, the Big Bad didn't live up to my expectations. There was some solid build up to our main culprit, but the handful of individually neat ideas never cohered into something greater. At this point in the found footage game, we've all seen the chase. And while the chase works here, (story-wise) the payoff needs to deliver. Here it just kind of lands with a thud.
Also, there really needs to be a moratorium on people calling out better movies in their homages/rip-offs. If you're making a shark movie, don't bring up any Jaws references, and if you're making a found footage movie, don't make any Blair Witch references. Certainly don't mention it by name! They do in Dark Mountain, and it's the first time I've booed a movie I was watching by myself in a long time. It just makes me want to watch the better movie!
Ultimately
I'm not trying to be too hard on Dark Mountain. There were definitely things that I liked, but the overall experience left me feeling kind of empty. The good parts reminded me why I like found footage films in the first place, but there just wasn't enough of them to make it recommendable. But it was fine, I guess.
I would probably not recommend this movie.
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