By Dan Persons

You get the sense that this whole thing kicked off when somebody got a look at all the spikes, picks, hammers, crampons, grapples, etc. used by ice climbers and said, “Shit, this stuff’d be great for killing people!” They would, actually, so points to the producers for that. Unfortunately, instead of taking this relatively inspired idea and placing their insane, spectral mountaineer in a suitable setting (and, really, how much would it’ve cost to mock up a tent interior and a couple of snow banks?), the producers have decided just to resurrect the old reality-webcast-gone-horribly-wrong scenario from 2002 and have quit with it.

The treatment drains away whatever inspiration the core idea had, and it shows in everything from the sloppy scripting to the atrocious acting to the mediocre, shot-on-video production values. (Jerry Broome, who plays the ghost-killer, manages to escape fairly unscathed, although all his role really demands is that he wield weapons and glower intensely. He does that quite well, though.) Director Matalon, who also co-scripted, manages to pull himself together for some atmosphere at the end (and it’s telling that the less the characters talk, the more engaging the film becomes), but by then it’s way too little, way too late. This is pretty much for someone who’s simply looking for a little boobage to go along with some by-the-books, not particularly scary splatter. The rest of us will be over here, putting HOSTEL back at the top of our rental queues.

DEATH ON DEMAND (MTI Home Video, 2008; 90 mins.) Directed by Adam Matalon. Cast: Jerry Broome; Elisabeth Jamison; Anne McDaniels.