Blood Mountain — Blood Mountain( DVD)
Blood Mountain is a lost-in-the-woods found footage thriller with some light horror touches and moments of rather intense/manic Go-Pro action. Here from Dreamscape is a Region B DVD release of the film.
Blood Mountain is from the year 2017. It’s a Canadian production, which was filmed around the majestic rocky & wooded landscape near Alberta. It was directed by Jason Wan Lin, who has been active in film since 2011- and has eight features to his name. These go from the comedy Adventures of A Pizza Guy (2016), drama mystery Who Kidnapped My Mom? ( 2022), and romantic drama Home For The Holidays (2023).
The film opens with a brief flash-forward towards the end of the film and nighttime panic in the woods. Then we see a baby, and behind the camera is his father Colt( Stafford Perry)- he’s a thin thirty-something, and he has brief banter/ chat with his wife. Before we shift to on location in a car part near the vast forest and mountain scrapes- with Colt sat in a pickup truck with his short scraggily bearded brother Paul(Joe Perry).
We find out the pair haven’t seen each other in a time- and this mountain biking break is meant as a way to mend wounds between the two. Though Paul- who is a partner in a law firm, has invited along one of the juniors in the company the younger bearded & bleach blond-haired Chris(Joshua Murdoch) - who he’s planning to fire on the trip.
So, the three set off with Go Pros set to their cycling helmets- for some rather intense through-the-woods, up & down hills footage. In time the brothers stop off for a rest, and there is no sign of Chris- so they track back- finding his bike, and start hearing his shouts & screams from a nearby log cabin in the woods.
And really what we have here is a decidedly mixed found footage thriller- where the fairly tense, and at times quite intense sit alongside the rather cliched side of the genre- which at points wholesale steal plot points from Blair Witch.
To start with both Stafford & Joe Perry are somewhat flat & wooden- with Murdoch initially being the best of the bunch. But as things go on they start to show a little more depth & acting skill. I’d say the best thing here is the landscape, and how it’s captured with the Go Pros is quite original. The thriller element of the film is ok I guess, and along the way, we do get a few plot twists- one of which was fairly unexpected. Things do get a little bloody & horror-tinged towards its end though the resolve is a little predictable/underwhelming.
The DVD release is very, very barebones- with nothing on here except the film it’s self & a very basic menu. And as this is a modern film- the picture quality is fine- though at times rather dizzying and darting in places.
Blood Mountain is a passable enough-found footage film- with genre cliches sitting alongside some tensely effective & manic moments. I can’t say it’ll convert you to found footage & if you don’t enjoy the more dizzying camera work side of the genre this won’t be for you. But if you are a fan of the genre- this is a middling take of found footage, which is worth a look.