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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "'Hukkunud Alpinisti' hotell" or "Hotel 'Zum verunglückten Alpinisten'" or "Отель 'У погибшего альпиниста'" or "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel")

 

Directed by Grigori Kromanov
Soviet Union 1979

 

Police Inspector Glebsky is called to the remote "Dead Mountaineer's Hotel" – a false alarm as it soon turns out. He decides to spend the night at the hotel anyway since there is no way going back after an avalanche has cut off the hotel from the outside world, and Olaf, one of the other peculiar hotel guests, is found dead. His investigation leads Glebsky into a world of the inexplicable and the supernatural...

***

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is based on the novel by the brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, who have their place among the most important sci-fi/fantasy writers due to visionary cult novels like "Roadside Picnic" (adapted for the screen by Andrei Tarkovsky as Stalker) and "Hard to be a God". The film, which starts out as a mystical neo-noir thriller with a whodunnit twist and is soon intertwined with sci-fi elements, captivates the viewers not only with a remarkable blend of genres, but also with an impressive mountain setting and an atmospheric synth score by Sven Grünberg. A cult film in Estonia and a huge box-office success in the Soviet Union, it is now, over 40 years after its German theatrical release in the GDR, finally available again...

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 27th, 1979

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Camera Obscura - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Camera Obscura - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:23:45.020        
Video

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 34,396,322,259 bytes

Feature: 26,571,715,968 bytes

Video Bitrate: 36.89 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio Estonian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
DUB:

LPCM Audio German 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

Subtitles German, English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Camera Obscura

 

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 34,396,322,259 bytes

Feature: 26,571,715,968 bytes

Video Bitrate: 36.89 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Making of Featurette (with optional English subtitles) (20:49)
• German Opening Sequence (4:08)
• German Essay by Chris Schinke

PAL DVD


Blu-ray Release Date: September 2nd, 2022

Media Book Blu-ray Case

Chapters 16

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Camera Obscura Blu-ray (September 2022): Camera Obscura have transferred Grigori Kromanov's Dead Mountaineer's Hotel to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New Restoration of the film". 'The film has been restored as part of the Estonian film 100 program. The picture was restored by Giuseppe di Giorgio (Digital Film Finland OY).'

It looks quite strong on Blu-ray with only some occasional softness that appears to be inherent. I suspect the black levels have been slightly boosted but there isn't much evidence in the form of digitization. Grain is very evident and the textures are consistent. Close-ups can be crystal clear and colors rich. There is frequent depth and the 1080P image quality is highly pleasing bordering on impressive. It's on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate.

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Camera Obscura use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original Estonian language with an optional German DUB. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel has surprisingly few aggressive sequences - a handful that come through with modest depth - more to the synthesizer score by Sven Grünberg. He was a pioneer of electronic music in Estonia and this was his first feature film work. It really adds a 70's feel and its coldness augment the film's building mysteries. It works well for the realization of Dead Mountaineer's Hotel sounding clean in the uncompressed transfer. There may be some post-dubbing in the film. Camera Obscura offer optional English and German subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Camera Obscura Blu-ray offers a 20-minute 'Making of' featurette (with optional English subtitles) that includes interviews with the participants, the German title opening sequence and the handsome media book package has an essay in German by Chris Schinke. A second disc PAL DVD is included.

I would have loved a commentary for this genre film by Tim Lucas, Troy Howarth, Berger-Mitchell-Thompson or Kat Ellinger + Samm Deighan.

Grigori Kromanov's Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is notable for being based on brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's 1970 Soviet science fiction novel. Their best-known novel, Piknik na obochine, translated into English as Roadside Picnic. Andrei Tarkovsky adapted that novel to the screen as his 1979 film Stalker. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel even has Jüri Järvet who was in both Stalker and Grigori Kozintsev's King Lear. Because of an avalanche, the telltale-70's designed hotel (minus the lava-lamps) has its guests immersed in a classic locked-room mystery later adding a supernatural element involving aliens and androids. There is a definite kitsch factor going on here. It can be a bit confusing with many characters and the sci-fi angle angle can feel forced, but I loved the atmosphere and eastern euro vibe. Thanks to Camera Obscura for their Blu-ray release and I certainly encourage like-minded genre fans to indulge. My only further comment is 'let's see more!'

Gary Tooze

 


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Distribution Camera Obscura - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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