Donner Pass (2012)

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.

The stuff the words 'straight to Blu Ray' was invented for.Four teens, Two very unlikeable, one likable, and one very quiet go to the quiet ones parents cabin for a weekend of being in an average film.One has a secret ans will be involved in a twist come the end scene. Guess which one? Before the main narrative starts, we are invited to a back story of the Donner group, a legend where bearded people ate each other. Apparently in the States, it's quite an infamous story.Here in England, it sounds like a road where you would get a kebab, only less entertaining.Back to the story, the horrible one invites her boyfriend and his friends, who are even more unlikeable than ever one else.Fortunately, someone is prowling the grounds and killing them off one by one.The thing is about Donner pass, is that it's been done literally hundreds of times before, since the early eighties, and now it's one of the most tired of sub-genres out there.Evil dead was ground breaking in this 'Teens in a cabin being menaced by the supernatural' genre i'm on about.This is by the numbers dirge, with some rancid performances from some Abercrombie and Fitch wannabes.It's horrible stuff, made on a budget nearly the same of 'The Descent', but with none of the thrill, or the intensity.People will see this though, because it has the appeal, and will make it's money back, which in turn will cause more of this poison to be made.

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...

When I first saw this movie in Redbox I thought well for a buck ill rent it. I love horror movies, and probably more tolerant of lousy ones than most. This, however, wasn't lousy. Some of the characters were, of course, annoying (moreso than usual) but i liked the heroine. The rest of the cast could have been anyone off the street and the punks that came to the cabin after the main four were over the top obnoxious. The story itself wasn't that special, basically usual killer movie and pretty much typical ending. That said, again I am very tolerant of what many consider lousy movies, the movie moved along fairly steady, with what I guess an interesting story line (it could have been much better idea was OK). A couple of scenes almost ruined it. The scene where the couple was in hot tub and the guy got out to urinate was a joke. He was maybe 30 feet away and the killer was able to sneak up on the girl in the tub and bite chunks out of her neck without him knowing (laughable) and I would have preferred not seeing the killer crawling through the snow towards her (no suspense there). Then the scene where the jackasses first arrive after the main group. They were just over the top mean and nasty. It could have been toned down a little. The beginning and the end I liked for the most part. So overall I did enjoy the movie and would give it a 5.