Black Mountain Side (film) explained

Black Mountain Side
Native Name:Black Mountain Side
Director:Nick Szostakiwskyj
Producer:Cameron Tremblay
Nick Szostakiwskyj
Screenplay:Nick Szostakiwskyj
Starring:Shane Twerdun
Michael Dickson
Carl Toftfelt
Marc Anthony Williams
Andrew Moxham
Timothy Lyle
Steve Bradley
Cinematography:Cameron Tremblay
Editing:James Barrett
Distributor:Raven Banner Releasing (Canada)
Monarch Home Video (United States)
Runtime:99 minutes
Country:Canada
Language:English
Production Companies:A Farewell to Kings Entertainment Company

Black Mountain Side is a 2014 Canadian indie horror thriller written and directed by Nick Szostakiwskyj and starring Shane Twerdun, Michael Dickson, Carl Toftfelt, Marc Anthony Williams, Andrew Moxham, Timothy Lyle, and Steve Bradley. It was the first film released by the Canadian production company A Farewell To Kings Entertainment Company. The film centers upon a group of archaeologists who discover an ancient structure in the Arctic.

Premise

A group of archaeologists discover an ancient structure in the Arctic North. The associated artifacts buried deep beneath sediment and ice date back to approximately 14,000 years before present day, at the closing of the last ice age. While the group examines and evaluates this discovery, things start to go awry: The site's native workers leave, communications fail, supplies stop coming, and the men begin to feel odd physical and psychological effects, all compounded by the solitude thrust upon them.

Release

Black Mountain Side premiered July 30, 2014, at the Fantasia International Film Festival, where it was named Best Horror Film by critics at Cult Montreal, who stated: "Its tension and sense of isolation were unparalleled this year; it is also reminiscent of The Thing and Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness. It squarely plants itself in the increasingly popular genre of Canadian horror films addressing the implications of global warming and the subsequent Arctic thaw. The other honourable mentions are Eli Roth's The Green Inferno, and Mark Duplass's Creep."[1]

Reception

Critical reception to Black Mountain Side was generally positive, with a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 80% based on five reviews.[2]

Bloody Disgusting praised the film,[3] and IndieWire called it "a solid addition to the movie tradition of arctic thrillers".[4] Ain't It Cool News also praised the movie, writing "Black Mountain Side is expertly made and gorgeous to look at."[5] Film School Rejects reviewed the movie positively, stating that "Black Mountain Side is a beautifully-shot, creepy love letter to John Carpenter's The Thing that finds its own identity amid the paranoia and bloodletting."[6]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. News: 2014-08-08 . The Best of Fantasia 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140811170119/http://cultmontreal.com/2014/08/the-best-of-fantasia-2014/ . 2014-08-11 . 2017-02-21 . . en-US.
  2. Web site: Black Mountain Side . 2024-02-26 . . Fandango.
  3. Web site: Cooper. Patrick. [Fantasia '14 Review] 'Black Mountain Side' Is a Heavy Dose of Existential Horror]. July 31, 2014. Bloody Disgusting. July 31, 2014.
  4. Web site: Anderson. John. 'Black Mountain Side': Fantasia Review. IndieWire. August 2014. August 1, 2014.
  5. Web site: Bug. Ambush. Review: 'Black Mountain Side'. Ain't It Cool News. August 1, 2014.
  6. Web site: Film Review: 'Black Mountain Side'. 2014-08-06. Rob. Hunter. August 6, 2014.