Killer Mountain (2011)

In a flashback to 1954 Bhutan, a Himalayan mountain group suffers though terrifying tragedy. It looks like a man is sucked into a black hole, but this is incorrect; rewinding, this is actually our first look at one of the movie's monsters. Presently, another crew has followed this 1954 group up the mountain. They have been lost for four weeks. Colorado climbing school teacher Aaron Douglas (as Ward Donovan) is asked to lead a rescue expedition. The expert climber declines as he has retired and put on a little weight. However, wealthy financier Andrew Airlie (as Walter Burton) persuades Mr. Douglas to change his mind, after noting that Douglas's ex-girlfriend Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Kate Pratt) is among the missing...Accompanying Douglas on his rescue crew are handsome young Torrance Coombs (as Chance) and sexy doctor Crystal Lowe (as Nina Preston). Mysteriously popping pills, Mr. Airlie manages to include his wise-guy son Paul Campbell (as Tyler). They have ulterior motives. A lot of "Killer Mountain" doesn't make a lot of sense, but it manages to surprise you, just a little. After a laborious amount of running time, there are some good low-budget action. Sheldon Wilson and Peter Sullivan also score with star Douglas – note how he taps his stomach when initially declining to go on the expedition – and a few of his sporting players. Especially noteworthy is the interplay between the co-stars.***** Killer Mountain (8/27/11) Sheldon Wilson ~ Aaron Douglas, Torrance Coombs, Paul Campbell, Emmanuelle Vaugier

Get a hot chick, in this case Emmanuelle Vaugier (she was on 2 1/2 men and is a hotty), add some dudes, go to some place remote, (in this case an abandoned mine shaft in the Vancouver area), introduce some blood thirsty CGI creatures that will kill them off, one by one until the end when there's only 1 guy and the hot chick left, have them suddenly hold hands before the credits roll (because they have fallen in love while fighting to survive), then have them walking away from the camera making jokes and planning their future together. That's it, formulaic trash and it's all the same. "Tasmanian Devils" had the exact same ending. Only watch this if you're ill and stuck in bed or really have nothing else to do.

To be honest, I was expecting Killer Mountain to be much worse than it was. It was far from a great movie, and was forgettable at the end of the day, compared to the cheaply made terribly acted and scripted wastes of time that are usually associated with SyFy originals it was tolerable. It is much less cheap than I thought it would be visually, the scenery and photography do look dark and cold, and actually attempts to evoke some sort of atmosphere, and the CGI effects while not mind-blowing actually look as though effort was made into constructing them. The acting is likewise not extraordinary but is decent, particularly the female lead, and while I think more could have been done with a clearer definition of what it was and how it came to be, the monster was more than okay in design and did exude some menace. But sadly here come the problems. While Killer Mountain is not a terrible movie, there is never really anything thrilling about it either. The story too often is sloppy and predictable, with some exposition bits that could have been shortened or cut easily, with no real sense of suspense or dread with the killings. The script is nothing memorable and feels rather bland and aimless at times, and the characters are no different from the usual stereotypical and uninteresting characters you find more often than not with SyFy's resume. All in all, forgettable but watchable enough. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Staying home for the recent storm, I decided to check out Syfy's Saturday night movie to see if it might be another schlock masterpiece like SHARKTOPUS or MEGA PYTHON VS. GATOROID. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to see a movie that actually took itself, and its monsters, seriously.KILLER MOUNTAIN is about a mountain climber (Chief Tyrol from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) who goes to rescue his missing girlfriend from a forbidden mountain. Once he and his fellow climbers (including hottie Crystal Lowe from FINAL DESTINATION 3) get to the top, they realize that the whole thing was a ruse. The reason goal of the mission was to uncover a "fountain of youth" (or something) that a greedy corporate type wants to use to cure himself and then sell on the open market. It turns out that the mountain is really the hidden location of Shangri-La (they call it Shambala).The cool part is that Shangri-La isn't the mystical city we've seen before time and time again. In this version, Shangri-La is an abandoned, underground alien city that is home to hungry alien monsters that are bent on protecting it.The most interesting thing about KILLER MOUNTAIN is that the creatures aren't the sole focus of the story. It's actually an adventure film first, creature film second, which I liked. There's some twists and turns and it's never boring. And they managed to stick in a couple of GALACTICA references which is always fun.What's not so good about it is some questionable CGI... it's the only thing that makes the movie look low budget. Bad FX aside, KILLER MOUNTAIN is definitely worth checking out if you're sick of the same ol' campy creature stuff.