Nostalgia Kinky

Deaf Crocodile unleashes one of its finest releases with the jaw-dropping Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979). A 1979 Soviet era Estonian surreal snowy sci-fi shocker, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is treated by Deaf Crocodile as the masterpiece it is. Containing an extraordinary new restoration of the film along with hours of archival and new extras, this 4K UHD/Blu-ray collection is in the running for the year’s best archival release.

For my fellow film fanatics, don’t you just love that feeling you get when you discover a new favorite? I especially love it when you realize it in the moment. Like, it is cool to fall in love with a film in hindsight, but damn, it is great when you are watching something, and it hits you hard right then and there. This is a new favorite. One that I’ll think of often.

There wasn’t an exact moment in Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel that made me immediately fall in love with it. It didn’t take long though. Estonian director Grigori Kromanov gives me everything I want for 83 mesmerizing minutes. The analogue synth score, the glistening snow, the eerier muted colors combined with one of the most unforgettable settings I’ve ever seen make this a real major personal discovery for me. I feel absolutely spoiled by getting to experience it for the first time it via Deaf Crocodile 4K.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were brothers. They were also writers. In 1970, the Strugatsky brothers wrote a science-fiction tinged novel called Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel. I’m gonna be reading this soon. In the late part of the seventies, they were commissioned by Tallinnfilm to write the screenplay for the film version. The plot begins deceptively simple. A detective is summoned to a remote mountain ski lodge by an anonymous call. Upon arriving, he finds himself trapped in the hotel with an odd assortment of guests after an avalanche occurs.

That’s all I’ll say about the plot of Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel. This is an ideal film to watch completely cold if possible, as it is as much a mystery as a chilling sci-fi film. Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is the final film from Grigori Kromanov, who tragically passed away just a few years after its release, while just in his fifties. I adore his work behind the camera here and never felt anything other than completely transfixed. Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is one of the great MOOD films.
It’s like side two of
Brian Eno’s Before and After Science (1977).

I have to admit that I’m so infatuated with the hyperrealistic look and sound of Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel that any narrative or thematic flaws wouldn’t concern me. Thankfully, the film is free of those, and I found its look at a man trapped by his own sense of standardized duty intriguing and relatable. I also loved the way the film plays with gender roles, which goes hand in hand with the mystery that eventually humbles the detective.

Uldis Pūcītis stars as the film’s company man, the detective who arrives at the hotel at the film’s opening. He’s great here as the frustrating by-the-books detective, appearing in nearly every scene. We’re kind of rooting for him, rooting for him to break away from the chain of command that’s literally chaining down his free will and ultimately humanity. He repeatedly fails. Joining Pūcītis is a great ensemble. I recognize a few of these great faces from some other Soviet produced films from this era. Some, like striking Nijolė Oželytė, are new to me, but they all vanish in this odd set of characters, making Dead Mountaineers Hotel a wonderfully acted ensemble piece on top of everything else.

Deaf Crocodile has released the most glorious edition of Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel, stocking it with one essential extra after another. First up, we have another grand commentary by historian Michael Brooke. This is another awesomely informative, crazily well-researched, and sometimes funny track. I love how Michael will be throwing out some of the most wonderfully obscure information and then will casually comment something like, “A bit of dad dancing here”. I love Michael’s work.
We also get a new video essay centered around the film Ryan Verrill and Dr. Will Dodson that is well worth watching.

The archival material here is most fascinating, with the disc’s main treat being a shot-on-set television documentary that has some of the amazing footage of the production. Parts of the behind-the-scenes look like a snowbound Fitzcaraldo with shots of the cast and crew lugging equipment up a steep, slippery hill. There’s a second brief 1979 report with even more behind-the-scenes shots. These are fantastic to see. The creepy trailer is also included as in an excerpt from a documentary about composer Sven Grünberg. My ass would have camped out to see this in 1979, had I not been a little clueless kid in Kentucky.

Dead Mountaineers Hotel is, as of right now, my favorite new discovery of 2026, replacing another Deaf Crocodile release, ironically, Ruslan and Ludmilla. Imabout to be suitably stunned if I discover another film I love more this year, and I say that knowing the year isn’t halfway over. I view a lot of these Soviet-Era sci-fi films I’ve seen from this period with much admiration tempered by distance. They are a bit intimidating, but I felt completely at ease with Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel. Stylistically and thematically, Kromanov hits my favorite notes over and over again. Like Jack Torrance, who’s always been at The Overlook Hotel, I felt completely at home watching Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel. I can wait to revisit this strange snowswept place again.

-Jeremy Richey, April 2026-

Pre-Order Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel soon at Deaf Crocodile and at MVD.