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Saturday, January 21, 2012

[2.00/10] Donner Pass (2012)


Donner Pass (2012)

Brief review: Teen slasher meets cannibalism in this low-budget horror film inspired by the campfire legend of 'The Donner Party' tragedy back in 1846. "Donner Pass" uses this unfortunate event as a gimmick, thinking that's a winning move, but truth to be told, it never works in its favor, not even for a moment. The whole plot is as absurd as it's stupid, and the movie itself becomes more and more nonsensical as the story progresses, leading to a ridiculous conclusion with one of the most laughably bad twists ever put on film. Set in a remote fancy cabin deep in the woods, surrounded by a snowy environment, "Donner Pass" is at least nice to look at. However, the plain, unpolished cinematography makes it look too inexpensive and uninteresting, visually. The gore effects are passable, even if the gore itself isn't particularly satisfying in terms of graphicness and frequency. Worst of all, there's nothing even remotely frightening or creepy about this film, which fails to provide even cheap thrills and boo scares. Actually, there is one dreadful thing about "Donner Pass", and that is the acting. Apart from Desiree Hall, who delivers the only decent and believable performance as the reasonable Kayley, the rest of the performances range from amateurish to annoying. 99% of the characters are so dumb and shallow, and act so unnaturally and illogically, you'll find yourself begging to see them all dead.

Overall summary: Cliched, poorly-made, terribly-acted and lacking in any thrills whatsoever, "Donner Pass" is yet another 'urban legend'-inspired horror flick with very low entertainment value, that brings absolutely nothing new to the table in terms of fresh ideas.

16 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I shall avoid it!
Glad you're back - you've been missed this week.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Alex, very wise decision! :)

Thanks, buddy. I'm glad I'm back as well. I'm in the middle of the summer (WTF?!) semester, and my school schedule is extremely busy. No reviews Monday to Friday. :(

Craig Edwards said...

It's a solid idea for a movie - whether a period piece about the actual events, or some kind of clever modern twist - but this sounds putrid. C'est la vie.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Craig, check it out and then we'll talk. It was pretty awful, and there was nothing solid, clever or even remotely original about it.

LadyJ3000 said...

I have a weird addiction to teen slashers no matter how bad they are. I may have to check this one out.

Unknown said...

Glad to see you back here slicing and dicing. I missed you! Anyway, it sounds as though you sat through this piece of crap for the rest of us and I appreciate that. I shall avoid at all costs. :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

LadyJ, since you have soft spot for teen slashers you might enjoy this one. I didn't. At all. :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Mel, I'm back just for the weekend. Semester continues on Monday. Damn. :) I didn't expect the film to be great, but it turned out a lot more dumber than I thought it would be.

Maynard Morrissey said...

you watch a lotta crap lately. What about participating in Project Terrible? ;-)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, yes, I do, but I don't do it on purpose. LOL. I just try to watch every single movie released this month, and we all know January releases are mostly crap. :)
Thanks for the invitation, buddy, but I doubt I'll be able to handle all the terribleness. :)

Maynard Morrissey said...

LOL Still, I hope that one day you'll watch and review Troll 2 :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Maynard, I promise that one day I will watch and review "Troll 2". Oh, there's a rhyme! :)

✗✗ said...

Yay!! You're back! You were gone for a while there.

As for the film, yeah I will avoid it. It's pretty bad when the gore of a horror film can't even gain praise. haha!

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Nicole, yep I was away for about a week, and I'm back only for the weekend. It starts all over on Monday, and I need to finish me semester. Just one more week!:)

The film is pretty terrible, don't waste your time on it.

Kaijinu said...

I saw half of it yesterday. I'm starting to feel you maybe right...

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Kaijinu, I told you so. It sucks bad.