Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel

An eerie guesthouse high in the hills in some unnamed European country is the setting for this sci-fi oddity from Estonian director Grigori Kromanov – although the film was in fact shot in the mountains of distant Kazakhstan. Based on the eponymous 1970 novel and released the same year as the most famous Strugatsky adaptation, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is more of a cult classic, a pulpy blend of noirish detective procedural and extra-terrestrial encounter tale.

The chill of the snowy vistas beyond the windows are matched by the uncanny atmosphere inside the macabrely-monikered hotel, where Inspector Peter Glebsky arrives on an anonymous tip to find that things are not quite as they seem. Featuring a winning turn from Kromanov’s compatriot Jüri Järvet and showcasing some striking modernist set design as well as a surprisingly progressive take on gender fluidity, Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel demonstrates the Strugatskys’ talent for cerebral entertainment.

This screening is part of the programme After Utopia: The Strugatsky Brothers on Film.

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel, dir. Grigori Kromanov, Estonia/USSR 1979, Estonian with English subtitles, 83 min.