Directed by Grigori Kromanov • 1979 • USSR/Estonia

An eerie guesthouse high in the hills in some unnamed European country is the setting for this Soviet sci-fi/horror oddity from Estonian director Grigori Kromanov – although the film was in fact shot in the mountains of distant Kazakhstan. Like Tarkovsky’s Stalker, this is one of many sci-fi classics to be based on the literary works of Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, who also contributed the screenplay. The chill of the snowy vistas beyond the windows are matched by the uncanny atmosphere inside the macabrely-monikered hotel, where Inspector Peter Glebsky (Uldis Pūcītis) arrives on an anonymous tip to find that things are not quite as they seem. Mixing its more fantastic elements with a visual palette borrowed from film noir, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel has been read as a subversive takedown of the oppressive conformity of the Soviet system – but it works just as well as a pleasantly disquieting genre piece.

DEAD MOUNTAINEER’S HOTEL • “HUKKUNUD ALPINISTI” HOTELL
Directed by Grigori Kromanov
Written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Cinematography by Jüri Sillart
Music by Sven Grünberg
Starring: Uldis Pūcītis, Jüri Järvet, Lembit Peterson

In Estonian with English subtitles