slashers

Even those of us a few years removed from our college days no doubt remember the stress of finals week. Those late nights spent staring bleary-eyed into a textbook on a subject far removed from our majors yet essential, from a bureaucratic perspective, to our futures just the same. Tensions were high during those dying days of the semester, and it’s there that Final Exam resides, a slasher more concerned with academics and social circles than actual slashing. Other films, from all genres, have played in this space, but few have done so with such a stunning lack of, well, anything.

Horror filmmakers have a unique opportunity. Wtih several subgenres at their disposal they have the option to morph any franchise into a completely different experience. However, it can be tricky for a well-established series to step outside of its norm and explore a different area of horror. With risk can come great reward, though, and Johannes Roberts' sequel to 2008's The Strangers is a clear-cut deviation from the home invasion subgenre that introduced us to the three masked psychopaths.

"Donner Pass" opens with a flashback, all the way to 1846 and an alternate retelling of the fabled "Donner Party" story pertaining to a group of settlers lost in the mountains who were forced to resort to cannibalism in the face of starvation. This retelling plays out a little differently however, with George Donner himself returning to the camp and murdering the remaining survivors, only to string them up and drain their blood. Seems like an odd choice, given how hard it is to survive in the woods by yourself. As we'll learn in due time though, Donner knew what he was doing.