Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a trio of documentarians set out to discover what was initially thought to be a legend, end up finding some horrifying stuff, get lost and eventually disappear. The only trace that remains of them is their raw documentary footage.

Wait, come back! This isn’t The Blair Witch Project! It’s Dark Mountain, directed by Tara Anaïse. Yeah, I know that it sounds like a rip-off of a film that’s been done to death and then some for the past 16 years, but that doesn’t mean that the film is a total waste of 80 minutes, right? I mean, there’s likely to be something added to the film to not make it a carbon copy.

Right??

In March 2011, Kate (Sage Howard) is working on a documentary about the Lost Dutchman Mine, located in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. Kate, her boyfriend Paul (Andrew Simpson) and their friend Ross (Shelby Stehlin) take a trip to said mountains in order to interview locals and the curator of the Superstition Mountain Museum. Kate decides to make an effort to discover the Lost Dutchman Mine, and catalogue it for the documentary. However, after two days hiking in the wilderness, the trio begin to see and discover increasingly disturbing finds, culminating in their own disappearance. This footage is all that remains.

Right away, Dark Mountain scores points for it’s visuals. The American Southwest locale is absolutely beautiful during the day, and suitably creepy at night. Establishing shots of the vistas and mountains really capture the remoteness of the area, and are just plain good old eye candy. It’s a nice change from the usual wooded areas that have become a trope on their own for these types of films. Adding to these visuals are some wonderful ambient sounds and the psychedelic soundtrack by the Filthy Huns, the latter of which reminds me of the teaser trailer for The Hills Have Eyes 2 (yeah, I know).

One thing that I liked about Blair Witch was the attempt at authenticity by interviewing the locals. It was both an immersive tactic, and it added flavour to the film. Director Tara Anaïse obviously took the hint, and did just that with her film. The locals (who are real people) give honest answers and really sell that feeling of authenticity. As well, our protagonists do their part in making their characters believable with performances that are natural and real, like in Blair Witch…until they do certain things that ruin that sense of disbelief.

Part of what made Blair Witch so entertaining was the fact that you had people reacting as people, not actors reacting according to a script. Case in point: Kate sees something behind Paul while they’re in a cave. She freaks out and runs, and as soon as Paul catches up with her, she’s totally calm and responds that it was probably bats. Also, nice coordinated jump-scare by Ross leaping into frame, “scaring” Kate. Instead of reacting appropriately (ie. “Where the f*ck were you?!”), she calmly asks Ross where he was. Insert the “taking a piss” cliché. There are more instances like that as the film progresses (who decides to not open a just-uncovered hatch until tomorrow, even though there’s plenty of light out and you’re right there?) that end up shattering the illusion, leaving you wishing Michael and Heather were screaming for Josh.

If it hasn’t been painfully obvious by now, this film is really just a blatant rip-off of The Blair Witch Project. The film itself doesn’t even try to hide it when the characters make a clear verbal reference to The Blair Witch Project. Does that somehow magically pardon Anaïse’s film from copying it? Hell no! By the same token, I was willing to give this film a chance in hopes that perhaps there would be something that set it apart from the rest of the xeroxed films. Other than a change in locale, a few red herrings and the use of real actors, there’s virtually nothing. And throwing on Super-8 filters in your film when it’s clear that you’re filming digitally is just plain insulting.

Instead of trying something new, and getting attention, experience and exposure that way, Dark Mountain just photocopied Eduardo Sánchez’s film, switched the location, swapped out witches with a haunted mine and expected people to flock to it. Uh, no. It doesn’t work that way. If you want to see The Blair Witch Project, go watch that film, and don’t piss in my ear and tell me it’s raining with Dark Mountain.

Video/Audio:

Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, the transfer looks pretty good, even for a “found footage” film. The image is, for the most part, sharp and colourful, with your typical post-production tape distortions thrown in.

The Dolby digital 5.1 track, like the video, is quite good as well. The track is largely front-focused, with much of the ambient effects kept to the surrounding channels. It’s all good though, as it helps to envelope the viewer and provides adequate room for the musical score. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand, with no hissing or distortion.

Extras:

The sole extra included is eleven minutes of interviews. Not with the cast, crew or anything involved with making the film. Instead, it’s just Kate interviewing locals. I hate filler extras.