Donner Pass

True story: in 1864, a group of emigrants travelling through Donner Pass, California, became trapped by such heavy snow that some of them eventually resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.

Not quite so true story: in 2014, BA_Harrison resorted to chewing off his own legs in order to relieve his frustration at watching yet another run-of-the-mill slasher in which a bunch of unlikeable teens get slaughtered by a homicidal maniac.

After a reasonable intro in which we witness the gruesome events of Donner Pass, 1864, this film follows a group of present-day teens who travel to a remote cabin for a weekend break only to be bumped off one-by-one by a mysterious killer. Ho-hum.

To be fair, Donner Pass does get slightly better towards the end, when the plot takes a strange turn involving rape/revenge, and a cannibalistic antagonist who can pass 'the hunger' to his victims, but for the most part it is routine teen-friendly nonsense the likes of which we have seen countless times before.

A brief bit of topless action from a soon-to-be-dead blonde in a hot-tub and some reasonable gore (including one character who gets a pick-axe through the throat AND a claw hammer in the eye for good measure) helps to make the time pass a bit less painfully, but you won't be missing much if you decide to pass on Donner Pass.

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...

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.

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

If you've spent enough time watching the indie horrors that appear so frequently on Netflix instant, you'll know by now that only about one in three of them is watchable. Not good, just watchable. Donner Pass is one of the watchable ones.

It's basically a tame slasher movie with a spin on the Wendigo myth thrown in (but don't expect something as good as "Ravenous"). It's elevated above the usual crowd by decent acting and direction, a restrained pace, and an interesting rape/revenge subplot. One thing I very much liked was that when the bad stuff did start going down, the characters made some pretty logical decisions (such as attempting to dig a car out of snow while the others stand guard post with weapons at all four corners). It's always a welcome relief when you don't have to shout "as if you would do that!" at the screen.

Unfortunately, like with so many films of this ilk, the character writing is where it fails. Yet again we're introduced to a group of bickering twentysomethings that I have a seriously hard time believing would ever come together as acquaintances let alone friends. Each character never gets past the standard slasher stereotype - the bitch, the jock, the bad boy, the nerd, and the blank canvas final girl. And worse, most of the characters are so horrible that you never get invested in their wellbeing, which makes every death scene at best empty and meaningless and at worst, a relief.

For any would-be indie horror film maker reading this, I implore you to take this simple formula to heart: "Make a character *we can like* and then put them in danger".

It really shouldn't be hard but almost once a month I see a film where crappy characters are the principle flaw in an otherwise solid horror movie. If only we lived in a world where the first thing they taught at screen writing school was "how to make the audience give a damn".

Rant over, back to the movie: Donner Pass is well made enough that, if you can get past the characters, it is worth watching. The subtle supernatural slant seems to rub a few viewers the wrong way but I actually enjoyed it more because of it (mundane slasher flicks bore me). I give it props for some intelligent plot decisions and for having a bit more of a grown-up feel than many tween-targeted slashers. It's not great, but it's worth watching. 5/10.