Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) User Reviews

The movie ahead of its time

[marguskiis · 8/10 · 29 August 2012]

I have to say "Hotel of Dead Mountaineer" is ahead of its time. OK, script was pretty anachronistic in 1978, because the basic book was written 1970, after social turmoils and "revolutions" in USA and Europe and some moments weren't so obvious in late 70s anymore. But after 9/11 is pretty sure that questions like "terrorist or freedom-fighter?" isn't so stupid at all. So the idea of naive alien helping terrorists doesn't look weird anymore.

Movie's special ultramodern design, cold style and dark atmosphere looked maybe a bit over the top in late 70s but became mainstream in 80s, especially in sci-fi and A- category horror movies. "The Hunger" for example has very similar visual style but was filmed 5 years later. The Grünberg's music isn't typical 70s movie soundtrack, the cold and synthesized soundscape became popular also in 80s and later. Theatralic, unnatural, openly strange acting became popular also years later. I like "HUH" ("HODM") because it works, it looks cool and timeless and the movie is overall unforgettable. Like its one its influence, "Zabriskie Point", "HUH" is panned by critics from premiere but has remained cult classic anyway.

Stylish hybrid of science-fiction/crime and neo-noir.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 8/10 · 28 December 2014]

"Dead Mountaineer's Hotel" is an effectively oneiric adaptation of a 1970 science fiction detective novel written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.Inspector Peter Glebsky goes to a small resort located in a secluded valley in the Alps to investigate murder case.He meets some bizarre hotel guests in Dead's Mountaineer's Hotel.Soon an avalanche blocks the entrance to the valley and one of the guests named Olaf mysteriously dies.Glebsky realizes that the guests are not who they appear to be.Very interesting and stylish hybrid of crime drama,science-fiction and neo-noir.The mood is very phantasmagorical and there is some impressive use of colors in the vein of "Suspiria".I enjoyed electro soundtrack of "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel" too.Often written comparisons to "Blade Runner" are quite thruthful.8 dead mountaineers out of 10.

This is the portrait of the Dead Mountaineer

[hrkepler · 8/10 · 11 June 2018]

'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' still remains basically only Estonian science fiction film in the truest sense. Police inspector arrives into remote mountain hotel to investigate anonymous tip where he discovers that it was false alarm. After the avalanche cuts the hotel, and all it's inhabitants from the outer world, the strange things start to occur. Doppelgangers, terrorists, aliens, androids, and flirtatious sultry women.

Wonderful cinematography of snowy mountains under bright sun against dark interior of the hotel that leaves feeling that it's as cold inside the hotel as it is outside, and intensifies the claustrophobic atmosphere of the hotel. Inspector Glebsky grows more and more desperate and paranoid when he tries to solve the crimes only relying on his common sense, logic and skepticism that lead to unfortunate tragic events leaving audience falter who was the real villain. The name of the hotel 'Dead Mountaineer' is explained briefly (and quite satisfactory), but it also leaves nice eerie mystery floating around - who was that enigmatic 'dead mountaineer' whose dog still sleeps under his bleak portrait hanging on the wall. Sven Grünberg's fantastic synthesizer score adds another layer of mystery and anticipation. The song 'Ball' has a lyrics, but they don't make sense because it's only gibberish - and when we see aliens dance to this song hypnotically it's almost like they understand it (although real reason why the song didn't had any proper words was the Soviet regulation of the time demanding the lyrics of the song to be translated into Russian when released in Russia - Grünberg didn't like the idea of translating his lyrics so he invented the gibberish for the song.).

Oddball film set in Alpine resort

[matthewlcorey · 7/10 · 19 December 2022]

The setting - a secluded mountain lodge high in the Alps - contributes a great deal to the appeal of this film. The nominal story centers around a police inspector called upon to investigate a murder and the diverse group of colorful characters he encounters during his stay. Apparently it's based on a novel by the authors of the book from which Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker was adapted. Even as the plot becomes gradually more bizarre, there were a lot more positives than negatives in my opinion. The absurd tone of the movie reminded me a bit of Godard's Alphaville. Though it perhaps adds up to less than the sum of its parts, the film has a disarming quality about it which charmed me.

Boring as Sci-Fi, Excellent as Neo-Noir

[sleeplest · 7/10 · 17 September 2023]

I basically hate sci-fi, but I was still fascinated by the design of lighting and shadows in this film. The high-key, high-contrast exterior of the snowy mountains acts obviously opposite to the low-key, low-contrast interior of the hotel. The lighting of the interior scenes can be described as "dazzling," not dazzling brightness, but dazzling colour and weirdness. The director seemed to deliberately avoid any establishing shots; thus, the audience would still be confused about the internal structure of the hotel until the end of the film.

There are the typical blinds of film noir, but they don't cast the classic shadow of the blinds onto the characters, despite the shadows from other frames and obstacles being abundant in this film. Also, there is a noir-style narration of the protagonist throughout the film. The narration begins in the past tense of memories, while slowly turning into the immersive present tense. After arriving at the hotel, the protagonist enters his room for the first time, and there are several typical splitting reflections of him in mirrors, which craftily foreshadow that he would be the one who will eventually encounter a dilemma, morally.

The film ends with the protagonist questioning himself against the fourth wall - should individuals within the institution and authorities carry out duties diligently, or should they hold their sympathy high for the objects?

Important film for fans of Jarvet, the Strugatsky brothers' writings and sci-fi films

[JuguAbraham · 8/10 · 11 January 2021]

Second viewing. An important sci-fi film written by the authors of Tarkovsky's "Stalker" with Juri Jarvet, who starred in Tarkovsky's "Solaris" soon after his superb performance in Kozintsev's "King Lear." But in this film, it is actor Uldis Pucitis who is most impressive as the Police inspector. Important film for fans of Jarvet, the Strugatsky brothers' writings and sci-fi films

Robby Skis

[tedg · 1 December 2007]

When I was a kid, we had a TeeVee show called "The Outer Limits." It featured science fiction mysteries, done with mostly bad acting, competent writing and extremely cheap effects. It was an hour long, which really means 45 minutes. The speed at which the story was told was great, because these mystery scifi things draw from two constricting formulas, and unless you are particularly inventive, the shape of them is pretty set. Cram that into 45 minutes and it moves briskly and tickles. Stretch it out with ponderous inner thinking and even 8 minutes seems way too long.

I came to this because it was represented as clever and also as the best Estonia has. But everything about it excepting the makeup of the women is amateurish to the extreme. If it were on that 60's TeeVee show for kids, it would be considered a bad show.

I understand the book is much better in the way it fools you into thinking this is a normal mystery formula with a random collection of people cut off (avalanche) and with a detective as our designated on-screen viewer. The red herring here is not to confuse among suspects but among genres. Its supposedly successful in the book, But not here. No.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Nice tone, but not a fully satisfying film

[blott2319-1 · 6/10 · 19 January 2021]

The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is constructed like a classic murder mystery. You take an odd group of characters, confine them together in a remote location, one of them shows up dead, and then a detective must unravel what happened. I quite like the way it is presented visually. Somehow they manage to make this hotel feel large and spacious in one scene and then confined and claustrophobic in another. Not to mention the overall strange and other-worldly look of the place. They also did a great job of making it seem like there was someone watching our protagonist, around every single corner. There are a number of minutes where The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is a tad slow, and I felt like the story wasn't progressing. However, I was always drawn back into the movie, because I was waiting to discover the identity of the murderer. Sadly, I think the ending was the worst part for me. It takes a turn that simply didn't work and left me scratching my head. I feel like the intent was to make a bit of social commentary with that ending, but it didn't work effectively based on how the film was set up. I wanted a more grounded and logical conclusion. I doubt I'll be seeking The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel for a second viewing, but it was at least intriguing enough to keep me engaged throughout its runtime.

it is no less than awesome

[perostec · 10/10 · 22 August 2009]

All the commenters whining about this... what the hell is wrong with you people? Do you think Star Wars is proper sci-fi? I mean all the things described by peter-kuus as poor I find utterly brilliant - they add to the movie, instead taking from it. The surreal dark scenes of the interior of the hotel, those long bright direct sun shots and icy mountains are totally ethereal. PLUS the music - one should watch it because of the music alone. Droning, theremin-like synths with visuals of icy scapes, what more could you want?

Shouldn't be compared to your run of the mill sci-fi or action-plot movies...

Unexpected fun watch

[mijndersmaurice · 5/10 · 19 March 2022]

In all honesty, I just went over and looked at the list of every film ever made, and this one was at the top. Since I had some time left, I figured why not just watch it. The build-up is like a normal detective movie, but soon in the movie it gets hinted the movie has a touch of supernatural being. Although the plot being relatively new for it's time, it was still partly predictable. It was obviously a lip sync, which made the experience worse at times. The acting was fine in general, in some occasions the dialogue could've definitely been better. I liked the narrative addition, it definitely added quality. The ending, I won't say necessary that it's unsatisfying, it's just not the best. I expected more, and what happened in the end just didn't make alot of sense. The filming style is in my opinions why it holds a decent standard. It definitely had a certain theme, also with it's soundtrack. Throughout the movie did you only really hear eerie music. With alot of dark scenes, this worked quite well. For me personally I also rate based on how much it impacts me, and leaves a mark on me. But this movie doesn't even come close to that. I'd never recommend this to anyone. For this movie it's more 'considering the time it was released', that it has some decent elements. I like the movie cover though!

One of the best Estonian movies

[kalku · 10/10 · 17 June 2003]

Film is based on the novel by Strugatsky brothers. Police inspector is called to a mountain hotel, but there's no crime. When snow avalanche blocks hotel from the rest of the world, strange things start to happen.. Brilliant soundtrack from Sven Grünberg.

Book is much better...

[hx-2 · 5/10 · 19 March 2005]

I like quite a lot the book which movie is based on, one of Strugatski's best (it's a bit too short tho). Strugatski's wrote also movie script, but it's much weaker. Some details are changed, some left out, and the changes just don't make much sense. Any way, even if I don't like movie much, most of the cast is good, and helps visualizing characters when reading the book. Maybe except Mrs. Moses... and du Barnstocre who simply isn't in movie. Glebsky also looks a bit fake at times, partly maybe because of dubbed voice. Also, was it that hard to make something that looks like alien robot power source, so they could actually show it? That and some other scenes look quite cheap...

why this piece of crap is still kept for the golden fund of Estonian films ?

[peter-kuus · 3/10 · 22 March 2008]

25 years ago "Hukkunud alpinisti hotell" was considered to be among one of the three best Estonian films (together with "Viimne reliikvia" and "Navigaator Pirx"). No crime nor fantasy films were often produced in Estonia. So making a real sci-fi movie and shooting it in a far land (Caucasian mountains ?) had to be quite an event here. That was then... The thing i don't understand is why this piece of crap is still kept for the golden fund of Estonian films. Well, the beginning that is very much "Shining" alike is yet promising. But the more the film goes on, the worse it gets. Anticipation that is cognizable in the beginning doesn't form into tension as it should. Lack of technical cull disturbs enjoying the movie instead. First of all, the cinematographer Jüri Sillart should have been drunk or disabled, filming constantly close-ups. The picture is jumping from one close-up to another, so there's practically no overview what's going on in general. I don't even talk about conveying the characters through the picture. Shooting straight into the sun and its reflections in the film for no reason is the cinematographer's style too. Light in the hotel is extremely poor, so the action is time to time only cognizable, not visible. Secondly, the director couldn't reform the mediocre script into fluent running film. The action is nervous, jumping from here to there, so watching it i had a feeling that i had fallen asleep and missed some parts. Thirdly, the much-hyped Sven Grünberg's music doesn't fit in the movie at all as it is too monotonic and doesn't support the action. I can say that the movie interferes the music a bit but the music doesn't help the film at all. For the fourth, special effects are feeble and even embarrassing to watch. For example the scene in the end when the ET-s were escaping from the hotel gliding on the snow, was miserable ! It should have remade and not to put in the movie ! For the fifth, it's incredible how its possible to present good actors so poorly. The most important actor Uldis Pucitis is OK in the beginning where he didn't have to do much yet. The man's charisma helps him out there. Later when his role turns to much more demanding one, he doesn't control it anymore. He just exists on the screen. Estonian far-famed Mikk Mikiver shows that he should have stayed producing as his performance is very very non-realistic. The same critics goes almost to all the other actors as they don't manage with their rather a difficult roles. The actors are rather tin soldiers than individual characters, so even at the end of the movie it is not clear how many people were involved. The only exception is grand old Jüri Järvet who is good as always. And Aarne Üksküla reading text for Pucitis is superb. So watch it and i hope that the myth of the great Estonian sci-fi film is going to be broken at last.