DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL (1979)
aka HUKKUNUD ALPINISTI" HOTEL
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Deaf Crocodile
Region Code: Region-Free (4K UHD), A (Blu-ray)
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 83 Minutes 34 Seconds
Audio: Estonian DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Fullscreen (1.33:1), 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Grigori Kromanov
Cast: Uldis Pūcītis, Mikk Mikiver, Jüri Järvet, Irena Kriauzaite
Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) is Soviet-era slice of Estonian paranoid science fiction, a thriller thriller/whodunit hybrid, directed by Grigori Kromanov, based on the 1970 novel Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, who also wrote the screenplay. At the start of the film police inspector Peter Glebsky (Uldis Pūcītis) is driving through the winding roads of an snow covered mountaintop, through narration at a later date he recalls "I was on call to drive to a mountain hotel. The hotel's name was The Dead Mountaineer,", summonsed by an anonymous caller who has reported that a murder has taken place. He arrives and speaks to the hotel's cryptic proprietor, the craggy-faced Snewahr (Jüri Järvet, King Lear), who tells him that no murder has occurred there to his knowledge, noth agreeing that he may have been pranked. With a thick mountain fog rolling in he ends up staying the night, with Snewahr informing him of how the hotel is named after a mountain climber who dies on the mountain, who has been immortalized with a large neon-lit mural in the lobby, noting that his St. Bernard actually belonged to the dead mountaineer. While there he meets the hotel's guests, he's a cop, so he's gonna cops, and it's quite an oddball assortment of hotel guests, we have the tuberculosis-riddled gangster Hinckus (Mikk Mikiver, Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat), young adventure-seekers Olaf (Tiit Härm) and Brun (Nijolė Oželytė); the literally wall-climbing eccentric physicist Simonet (Lembit Peterson), and traveling salesman Mr. Moses (Kārlis Sebris) and his stunning, wig-wearing, and obviously much younger wife beauty (Irena Kriauzaite).
During the night the guests play billiards and dance, during the party an anonymous note is slipped to the inspector indicating that that Hinckus is a contract killer known as the "Owl", and that he will murder someone tonight. A short time later while searching for Hinckus the inspector discovers Olaf dead in his room under suspicious circumstances, seemingly murdered, found with his neck twisted at a horrific and unnatural angle, his cold, dead hand reaching for brief case next to his body. It seems the anonymous tipster's call was not incorrect, just a bit early, now with the game of murder properly afoot Inspector
Glebsky begins interrogating the hotel gusts and staff to get to the bottom of the mysterious murder. His interrogations offer more questions than answers, including the contents of the mysterious briefcase found in Olaf's room, which holds a strange technology that one of the guests' theorize could be an alien in nature, introducing an element of paranoid science fiction into this giallo-esque murder mystery, an idea that the fact-based and methodical inspector seems incapable and unwilling to entertain, despite the fact that the people populating this mountaintop hotel are quite oddball, he attempts to keep things grounded and reality-based, with varying degrees of success.
The murder investigation is further complicated by an avalanche, which seems to be caused by the inspector, which cuts off the phone lines, isolating them more than they already were, followed by the arrival of a stranger, an unconscious man, who when he revived with bourbon says his name is Luarvik (Sulev Luik), and that he must speak with Olaf, even though he says he has never met him, and cannot describe how he looks, but he seems rather interested in obtaining the mysterious suitcase than accompanied Olaf.
This intensely claustrophobic, weird and atmospheric hotel-set whodunit is handsomely shot with gorgeous composition, including plenty of close-ups of faces that feed the increasing sense of paranoia. The opening shots of the inspector travelling up the winding roads of the snow-capped Alpine peaks brought to mind Kubrick's The Shining, and the wonderfully designed hotel with many mirrored and reflective surfaces also feeds into a theme of shape-shifting and things not quite being what they appear. It also has a terrific electronica/prog score by composer Sven Grünberg that enhances the sometimes otherworldly vibes the film is giving off.
It's a bit languid in it's pace, or more generously, atmospheric and hypnotic, it certainly cast a thrall over me while I was watching it, it's thoughtful and meditative, but also perhaps frustratingly ambiguous, depending on your mindset. It probably won't appeal to fans of laser-blaster action/sci-fi, but for fans of Agatha Christie mysteries and Italian whodunits I think are gonna east this up, it's mysterious and stylish, has a terrific proggy/electronic score, and the oddball characters are interesting. The ambiguity of the finale, which I don't feel is all that ambiguous to be honest, might throw some off, but if a paranoid, sci-fi tinged arthouse whodunit/thriller chock full of atmosphere and anxiety sounds intriguing then you owe it to yourself to check this out, for me it's definitely one of my favorite discoveries of the year.
Audio/Video: Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) is making it's worldwide 4K UHD release with this release from Deaf Crocodile, offering a 4K restoration from a new 6K scan of the 35mm interpositive scan by Craig Rogers and Michael Coronado for Deaf Crocodile and color grade by Tyler Fagerstrom, presented in both 2160p UHD with Dolby Vision/HDR10 enhancement, as well as 1080p HD, both framed in 1.37:1 fullscreen. The restoration efforts looks terrific, the source is in great shape, the 4K resolution offering crisp details and finely resolved grain. Colors look wonderful, the whites of the mountaintop snowfall are crisp, the somewhat muted interior colors of the hotel look authentic, with deep blacks, the occasional splashes of color shine, such as the large portrait of the dead mountaineer the hotel's named after with a red neon halo of sorts above it, clothing worn by the hotel guests, and the warm glow of a woodfire and potentially alien technology have a nice blush to them as well. Audio comes by way of Estonian language DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo, a 2009 audio restoration, with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds terrific, as do the claustrophobic spatial acoustics and atmospheric sound designs, including the menacing rumble of avalanches, and rocket fire at the end. The score by prog-rocker Sven Grünberg is a highlight of the film, both eerie and menacing, but also with some cool pro-rog flourishes that are rather exciting. I do wish we had the option listen to the isolated score, or the inclusion of CD soundtrack for this release, I would have loved that.
Extras include a New Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke who does excellent work pointing out the cast and crew, story elements that changed with script iteration compared to the source novel, the score, and Estonian sci-fi of the era, and quite a bit more. We also get the 8-min “Snow Job: A Routine Investigation in Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel” - new visual essay by Ryan Verrill & Dr. Will Dodson of Someone’s Favorite Prod., that does excellent work comparing the script to the source novel, different bit of plot and characters that were changes. Archival extras include the 2-min In Focus: Dead Mountaineer's Hotel - Vintage Soviet Estonian newsreel footage on the making of the film, which offers a brief behind-the-scenes look in black and white at the making of the film on location. There is also a 13-min Excerpt from the documentary BONUS TRACK (2016, dir. Riho Vastrik) on composer Sven Grünberg and his score for the film, who discusses how a prog-rocker came to score the film iot turns out he was a third option after the first two fell through, how this was an important project for his career, and how the producer's initially disliked his score!
The 20-min Vintage “Making of DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL” featurette created by Estonian Public TV, featuring interviews with the participation of actors Tonu Virve, Sven Grunberg, Lembit Peterson, Juri Sillart, Priit Vaher, Tiit Harm is a terrific look back at the making of the film. Disc-extras are buttoned-up with the 3-min Original Estonian Trailer.
The 2-disc UHD/Blu-ray arrives in a clear, full-height Scanavo keepcase with the over/under dual-hub design. The 2-sided non-reversible wrap features new minimalist artwork by Beth Morris that nicely complements the cold, paranoid whodunit vibes of the film. The discs themselves feature different excerpts of that same artwork.
Special Features:
- New 4K restoration from new 4K interpositive scan by Craig Rogers and Michael Coronado for Deaf Crocodile and color grade by Tyler Fagerstrom.
- First-ever Worldwide 4K UHD + Blu-ray release
- New Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke
- “Snow Job: A Routine Investigation in Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel” - new visual essay by Ryan Verrill & Dr. Will Dodson of Someone’s Favorite Prod. (8:12)
- In Focus: Dead Mountaineer's Hotel - Vintage Soviet Estonian newsreel footage on the making of the film (1:55)
- Excerpt from the documentary BONUS TRACK (2016, dir. Riho Vastrik) on composer Sven Grünberg and his score for the film (13:24)
- Original Estonian Trailer (2:40)
- Vintage “Making of DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL” featurette created by Estonian Public TV (19:57)
- New artwork by Beth Morris
Screenshots from the Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray:
Extras:
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