Cannibal Rising

In1846, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the area known as Donner Pass, a starving man kills three others to eat their flesh during the winter, but a boy witnesses the murders and flees.

In the present days, the teenagers Kayley (Desiree Hall), her boyfriend Mike (Colley Bailey), her cousin Nicole (Adelaide Kane) and the outcast Thomas (Erik Stocklin) travel to the house in Donner Pass of Thomas's parents that are in Europe. Thomas recommends his friends to be careful with the house since his parents do not know that they are spending the weekend there. They learn that the police are hunting down the criminal James Michael Epstein (John Kassir). Out of the blue, the troublemaker boyfriend of Nicole, Derek (Dominic DeVore), comes with his friends Brody (Antonio Trischitta), Valerie (Krystal Davis) and A.J. (Brandon Morales) in his SUV to stay with Nicole, despite the protests of Thomas. Soon their beer runs out and Brody drives the SUV to buy some more in the town. Brody goes missing and soon Mike, Kayley and Thomes find his body eaten. Meanwhile Valerie is murdered near the house and the car has flat tires. Who might be the cannibal that is attacking the group?

"Donner Pass" is a terrible slasher with an awful gore story of cannibalism and one-dimensional characters. The explanation for the anthropophagy is ridiculous and most of the characters are non- charismatic. In the end, watching "Donner Pass" is a complete waste of time. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Donner Pass (2012)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Everyone knows the legend of the Donner Party but this slasher takes place in the current days when a group of teens head out to the title location and soon they're being slaughtered one by one. Has the Donner's finally came back to life or is it an escaped maniac running loose? DONNER PASS is a pretty good looking movie and I'd say if it had at least one major star in it then it could have gotten a major theatrical release. The past couple years I've been saying that the horror genre is really struggling but this here actually turned out to be one of the better slashers in recent years. There's no question that there are still many flaws to be found but for the most part the film kept me entertained and that's the most important thing. I think one of the best things going for the picture is the wonderful location. Director Elise Robertson really builds up a great atmosphere and the beautiful snow and woods really draw you into the location and makes you feel that you're right there with the teens. I thought the location was a major plus but so were the performances. You really don't come to a horror film like this expecting good performances but that's exactly what you get. Desiree Hall is very good in the female lead and we get nice support from Erik Stocklin as the cabin owner and Colley Bailey as his friend. Adelaide Kane plays one of the most hated characters you're going to see and she's very good in the part but the screenplay really lets us down given what happens to her. The supporting, smaller roles are also played very well by the actors. As is the case with most horror movies today, there's a big twist at the end but it's pretty easy to figure out what's going to happen. When the twist finally does come I think the film starts to fall apart but this isn't a complete death nail. Visually the film is quite impressive and the score is good as well. The only thing really missing is a good third act. Still, the state of horror movies today is pretty weak and DONNER PASS at least offers some old fashion blood and guts, nudity and a nice cast.

Donner Pass has a well-known and macabre history -- the place where George Donner and his party got stuck in the winter of 1846 and were forced to resort to cannibalism to keep from starving. But what if it was not just history?

This is your standard young people alone in a secluded area type of horror film. There is some attempt to connect it to the legendary Donner Party, but it is done in such a way as to seem gratuitous and really outside the overall tone and thrust of he film.

If someone were to make a film inspired by the story or actually set at the time, I think it could work well. "Ravenous" was a great film, for example. This one, though, is nothing special.

I have no idea why this film is classified as a horror. It's a slow-paced borderline thriller with a bit of slasher material. It's ordinary and unoriginal, but still somewhat watchable at least.

The film makers had no intentions of making historically accurate statements regarding the real story of the Donner party. It's a shame, because true accounts of the incident can readily be found in any library or online. A more comprehensible and effective horror story could have been woven from actual facts. Hear Me, producers? A little homework could have made for a more believable movie.

What we have is a movie based loosely around supposed local legends. The plot is mostly able to be followed, yet bizarre and insensible. Thus, the film staggers about stupidly like an old drunk spouting tall tales.

I did like a few moments of the camera work and set and there's beautiful scenery at times. It's unmistakably low-budget, but manages a few nice shots. In large though, the camera work is an amateur production, just shy of shoddy.

There's sexuality and heavy drinking in this movie, plus partial frontal nudity in one scene, so this is not for young eyes. There is gore, but it's no where near as disgusting as the gore you'll find in similar films that have came out recently. It's more on par with the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

I am unimpressed, but do NOT feel that the experience was a total waste of time given My original expectations for it.

It's not a bad movie, really, has some pretty good ideas, yet, somehow, something just doesn't work out too good.

So, you could call it your average "group of friends go to a cabin in the woods and get murdered" story but it would be kinda ignorant cause the movie is a little more than this. The plot brings some new elements or maybe just ones that aren't used as often as others, so, you might like what you see, even be surprised for a change! The death-scenes on the other hand, quite disappointing, i expected a little more, guess they decided not to stick so much on gore/murders/execution but on plot. Usually i would call this a breathe of fresh air although i would be lying cause in a horror like this, i want to see nice kill-shoots. Overall, the action is OK, one could predict it earlier in the movie or might just go with it to the end and discover then what the action is all about.

Characters are OK also, annoying but guess that is how they were suppose to be, dialogue, a little poor, could have used some humor and last but not least a little nudity as always.

So, don't know exactly if to recommend this one or not, as i said, it is NOT a bad movie, don't know if i can call it a GOOD one, guess ultimately it will come down to everyone's personal opinion. Some of you will be entertained and some of you won't. I just expected more of it, had a lot of potential but it limited itself to far less...