Devil's Pass
First of all, don't let the bare back on the woman in on the cover fool you. There is no nudity in this movie - which is actually a nice relief. Too many times Hollywood thinks that horror - or thriller - automatically means that I want to see nudity. No thanks. You can scare me with your clothes on. It is in the style of a "found footage" film - which has kind of played itself out over the past few years, but I still enjoyed it.
When I first thought about reviewing this movie, I was planning on giving it 3 stars. Then, this morning, while I was driving my daughter to school, I was telling her about the movie when I had a *AHA* moment about it. I hadn't even realized something about the movie until I was telling her (which I didn't end up telling her in case she ever wanted to watch it - I don't like to give out surprises). That alone bumped it up another star.
The premise is fairly simple. 5 college kids travel to the Ural Mountains in Russia to re-create and hopefully solve what happened to the hikers of the Dyatlov Pass incident - an actual event. Strange noises and even stranger footprints begin to haunt the hikers until the sound of explosions changes everything - for everyone.
The Numbers Station
I hadn't heard of this one but thought I'd give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I am a huge John Cusack fan. When he's on - he's fantastic. Definitely one of the most under-rated actors alive.
Cusack plays a black ops agent assigned to a remote CIA broadcast station to protect a code operator (Akerman). When the station is compromised - they must fight for their life and determine who is a friend and who is a foe.
This one is good. I haven't seen Malin Akerman in anything other than Couple's Retreat so I didn't have any preconceived notions about her. Check it out.
