I’ve talked extensively with Emmy Award winning director Elise Robertson and her husband producer Mouncey Ferguson. We’ve discussed the genre of Donner Pass and have bounced around the true genre it belongs to. Elise & Mouncey have stuck to their guns and stood firm that it is a “dark-thriller,” while without having actually watched the film yet I said it was definitely “horror.” After viewing Donner Pass, I now agree with Elise & Mouncey because Donner Pass has a big quality that most horror films do not have – and that’s depth. While Donner Pass does contain some grizzly elements, it’s more than just hack and slash and suspense.
Donner Pass tells the story of a large group of friends who travel to a shy, somewhat nerdy kids cabin deep in the woods of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Real life historians recognize the area as the spot of the ill faded Donner Party tragedy, where settlers in 1846 became lost and froze to death, and rumors circulate that several members resorted to cannibalism to survive. But rumors and legends are tricky things. They don’t always tell the truth. The group of teens is about to learn there is more to fear in the mountains than blizzards.
So where do I start with my notes? I’ll start with the cinematics of the movie. I know that parts of the movie were filmed in an actual blizzard, but all things considered – the lighting and picture quality is pretty much perfect. Despite the environment, the audio is amazingly clear as well. Major props are in store for director Elise Robertson, producer Mouncey Ferguson, cinematographer Bobby Scott, sound mixer Andrew Edelman, and everyone else involved on the production side of filming Donner Pass. As far as the acting is concerned, certain actors pulled in better performances than others, but generally speaking the cast did a fantastic job. Donner Pass is fronted by Desiree Hall, Erik Stocklin, Colley Bailey, Adelaide Kane, Dominic DeVore, Brandon Morales, and horror icon John Kassir.
Now, addressing my first paragraph, Donner Pass does contain some horrific elements. There is a window scene that I thought was particularly creepy. Speaking of window scenes, there is another window scene where Desiree Hall as “Kayley” looks out her window and sees someone. This was very reminiscent, although maybe not a blatant nod, to the original Halloween. Two other characteristics this film has in relation to the horror genre are extremely unlikable characters and gore. Yes, gore fans, there is plenty of blood and guts in the latter part of Donner Pass. As far as the cast goes, the “second car people” as I described them are the characters that you really, really will not like. However, while in most movie cases these hated characters are there as cannon fodder, the “second car people” in Donner Pass are all critical to driving subplots along.
And that is what I meant at the beginning that Donner Pass has real depth. Often horror films, or films in any genre for that matter, are just veering along one plot line to the point where you expect the outcome of the film. Donner Pass contains several subplots that are all demonstrated beautifully, do not really contradict each other, and come across cleanly and easily on-screen. Major props to R. Scott Adams for the terrific writing. So calling Donner Pass a “dark thriller” is really spot on in terms of genre. It is a film that contains horror, suspense, history, mystery, drama, and little bits of comedy.
A lot of the times I say that film trailers look amazing and then the actual movie looks like crap. I can say with great honesty and certainty that Donner Pass is a movie where the film trailer looks great and the actual movie is even better. After the screenings on www.constellation.tv this week, Donner Pass will be released to all major home media markets on January 17, 2012. I encourage you to go out and buy it. Click here to view the trailer. I think people will engage this movie because it highlights a very real quality in human nature – everyone has a hunger, a dark side inside of them.
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