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(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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CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Camera Obscura - Region FREE - Blu-ray | |
Runtime | 1:23:45.020 | |
Video |
1. 33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 34,396,322,259 bytesFeature: 26,571,715,968 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.89 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate Blu-ray: |
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Audio |
LPCM Audio
Estonian 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit LPCM Audio German 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit |
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Subtitles | German, English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Camera Obscura
1. 33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 34,396,322,259 bytesFeature: 26,571,715,968 bytes Video Bitrate: 36.89 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
• Making of Featurette (with optional English subtitles) (20:49) PAL DVD
Media Book Blu-ray Case Chapters 16 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
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
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
|
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Box Cover |
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Distribution | Camera Obscura - Region FREE - Blu-ray |
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