If you’re a horror fan then you’ve probably already heard about
the macabre story of Donner Pass in which George Donner and his party found themselves
stuck and stranded in the winter of 1846 and were forced into cannibalism to
survive and keep from starving. The film
Donner Pass (2012) takes these events
as fact and transports them to modern day times.
A group of twenty-something decide to take a vacation at a
friend’s cabin in the middle of nowhere.
After hearing about a recent murder in the nearby neighborhood they
learn that there may be more to the Donner Pass story when they each begin to
get killed one by one by a vagrant that may be the descendent of one of the
original Donner Party members or even George Donner himself.
For the most part this is a by the books hack & slash
affair that tries to give a supernatural reason for the whole Donner Party
incident. This supernatural angle
probably could have worked if introduced earlier in the story but it comes in
the third act and just seems tacked on to give the story something different
from the standard hack & slash affair but it’s far too late. You have to get through the first two-thirds
of the film in order to get to anything originality in the story.
Director Elise Robertson lacks any particular style with the
material but she is given very little to work with. The hack & slash horror film has been
done to death (pun intended) and it is rare when something new is truly
attempted which is why these films are so inept. This being said, the film is not entirely
without its entertainment value especially towards the end when the film
finally starts to move forward and becomes more interesting. It’s just not one of those films that leave
you with a memorable impression.
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