20140130: Horror Review--Donner Pass

Donner Pass

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 86 minutes.
2. IMDB: 4.6/10.0 from 1,480 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 800,000 USD; aspect, 1.85
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 8% liked it from 93 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 62,031 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Elise Robertson.  Written by R. Scott Adams and Elise Robertson.
6. Starring: Desiree Hall as Kayley, Eric Stocklin as Thomas, Colley Bailey as Mike, Adelaide Kane as Nicole, John Kassir as James Michael Epstein, Elise Robertson as Dead Mother, Krystal Davis as Valerie, Antonio Trischitta as Brody, Brandon Morales as A. J., Dominic Devore as Derek.


2. Setup and Plot
1. We start with a re-imagining of the Donner party's problems in the mountains in 1846.  The story is re-told in a bit of a different light.


2. In the present, Thomas and four friends head toward his parents' cabin in the woods, which is coincidentally near Donner Pass.  Three more people the group knows show up and bully their way in, indirectly making Thomas break his promise about occupancy.


3. The final roster ends up being Thomas, Kayley, Mike, Nicole, Brody, Valerie, Derek, and A. J.  During the first night's stay, there is an extra three inches of snow.


4. Brody goes for beer, and does not come back.  Thomas, Mike, and Kayley go look for him.  Kayley thinks she sees him before they start out, but is not sure.  They find Brody's car, somewhat broken up, with plenty of blood splatter inside the car, and some outside.  Soon enough they find Brody with his guts ripped out.  Could this possibly become a pattern?


5. Meanwhile, Derek and Nicole discuss Nicole's date rape by A. J.  I did not see how that was going to go forward without a confession (highly unlikely) or admissible video evidence.  Derek and Nicole turn out to be rather cold blooded themselves, but are not the root of the problems.


6. Does anyone survive this elimination derby?


3. Conclusions
1. Indie vanity film for Elise Robertson.  Oi, the ending telegraphs sequel; let us hope not.
2. One line summary: Gore, slasher, soft R, teen elimination derby with zero likeable characters.
3. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Too dark much of the time.


2. Sound: 7/10 Mostly OK, but was not the asset it might have been.


3. Acting: 0/10  Terrible, stem to stern.  More or less bad high school play level.  Several of the actors look close to thirty, but act like bad tempered, entitled delinquents.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 Standard teen elimination derby, with a weak link to the Donner party historical events. Neither interesting nor compelling.  Even the gratuitous nudity had me wondering how it fit into the story.  Of course, it did not.