- Darkstar Pictures Announces Free Online Film Festival!
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- SKYLINES Is Coming! [Poster Premiere]
- Who Hunts Who in HUNTER HUNTER? [Trailer]
- MONSTER HUNTER Coming for Christmas [Trailer]
- Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival Returns with In-Person Event [Line Up]
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- Win a copy of JAMES CAMERON'S STORY OF SCIENCE FICTION [Contest]
- Slice of Life, Blade Runner inspired short
- Is Snowpeircer a sequel to Willy Wonka?
- Re: Yesterday
- Re: Yesterday
- Yesterday
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- A Comet Destoys Earth in GREENLAND Trailer
- Interactive WAR OF THE WORLDS Adaptation Out Now!
- 8K Trailer for Train to Busan Sequel PENINSULA Drops Hard!
- Making a Bomb Shelter in a Funhouse is a Bad Idea in IMPACT EVENT [Trailer]
- Retro Slave: FOX's Post-Apocalyptic Sitcom WOOPS!
- TRAIN TO BUSAN Sequel PENINSULA Gets a Teaser Trailer
- New on Blu-ray and DVD for March 11, 2020
- The Apocalypse Kills Women in ONLY [Trailer]
- Trailer for TheWalking Dead: World Beyond Spin-Off Series
- BORDERLANDS Movie From Eli Roth in Development
- A Woman's Mind Unravels in BIGHT HILL ROAD [Review]
- TIFF 2020: Vanlife Gets a Reality Check in NOMADLAND [Review]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- Fantasia 2020: THE OAK ROOM, MARYGOROUND & CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER [Capsule Reviews]
- UNCLE PECKERHEAD is One Note but Fun [Review]
- Dave Franco Shows Potential as Director with Debut Feature THE RENTAL [Review]
- VIFF2020: Director Loretta Todd on the Making of Her Debut Feature MONKEY BEACH [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- NO ESCAPE Director Talks Influencers, Escape Rooms & Writing [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- The Funny Side of Alien Invasions: You have to SAVE YOURSELVES! [Trailer]
- Kodi Smit-McPhee Goes to the Future to Save the Present in 2067 [Trailer]
- First Look at Denis Villeneuve's DUNE [Trailer]
- Fantasia 2020: LAPSIS, THE COLUMNIST, MINOR PREMISE, FEELS GOOD MAN & HAIL TO THE DEADITES [Capsule Reviews]
- BUNRAKU Writer/Director Returns with LX 2048 [Trailer]
- BLOOD QUANTUM Writer/Director Talks Inspiration, Zombies & Representation [Interview]
- Fantasia 2020: THE OAK ROOM, MARYGOROUND & CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER [Capsule Reviews]
- Sylvester McCoy Talks SENSE8, DOCTOR WHO & THE OWNERS [Interview]
- Fantasia 2020: PVT CHAT, PATRICK, TIME OF MOULTING, SLEEP [Capsule Reviews]
- Scholar Mitch Horowitz Breaks Down Faith, Horror & CURSED FILMS [Interview]
- Actor Cosmo Jarvis Talks About his New Thriller THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE [Interview]
- Director Jay Cheel Talks Making of Horror Documentary CURSED FILMS [Interview]
- Europe is in Shambles in UNDERGODS [Trailer]
Jack In
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Posts
PA News
Latest Reviews
Older News
Crew
Marina Antunes
Editor in Chief
Vancouver, British Columbia
Christopher Webster
Managing Editor
Edmonton, Alberta
DN aka quietearth
Founder / Asst. Managing Editor
Denver, Colorado
Simon Read
UK Correspondent
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rick McGrath
Toronto Correspondent
Toronto, Ontario
Manuel de Layet
France Correspondent
Paris, France
rochefort
Austin Correspondent
Austin, Texas
Daniel Olmos
Corrispondente in Italia
Italy
Griffith Maloney aka Griffith Maloney
New York Correspondent
New York, NY
Stephanie O
Floating Correspondent
Quiet Earth Bunker
Jason Widgington
Montreal Correspondent
Montreal, Quebec
Carlos Prime
Austin Correspondent
Austin, TX
Latest news







Year: 2008
Release date: Unknown
Directors: Jason Robert Stephens
Writers: Jason Robert Stephens & Robert Michael Ryan
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: cyberhal
Rating: 5 out of 10
We’ve followed this film since November 2007, and I was looking forward to seeing it debut at the newly minted Paranoia film festival. There’s nowt like a ghost movie in the middle of nowhere. Necrosis is a supernatural update of the already spooky Donner party tale, in which six friends go to stay up in a mountain cabin and get trapped in a snowstorm. It turns out that the bad weather is least of their worries. The bad news is that despite the great story potential, location, and a fairly spooky Donner ghoul with Axe, this film is cursed by a lack of suspense, a weak script and poor execution.
The Donner party incident, for all of you outside the States, is the true story of a group of intrepid settlers back in the 1800s who tried to cross the wild Sierra Nevada mountains to reach California, but were caught up and trapped in a massive snow storm and ended up eating each other. The movie opens promisingly enough in 1846 with the party trapped in a blizzard. Several guys have gone crazy and are chopping up the other families to nosh on human flesh. It’s a little known but touching fact that the fast food known as the “Donner Kebab,†was actually named to commemorate this tragic event.
Back to the present day and the six friends have stopped off in a local bar, for beer and supplies. Interestingly, there are quite a few well known faces in this movie including Tiffany of 80s pop star fame as Karen, James Kyson Lee of Heroes as Jerry, and also George Stults of 7th Heaven playing Matt. You may also recognize the local guy warning that the cabin on top of the mountain just ain’t safe, it’s none other than horror movie veteran Michael Berryman. They should have listened, but of course they don’t, having never seen any horror movies.
Once installed in the log cabin, the friends settle in to an evening of snow storms, booze and having dreams of eating each other alive (and I mean in the cannibalistic sense). Now all of this could potentially be brilliant, but somehow it wasn’t. The handling of the dreams, and teaser lines like “I dreamed my legs were paralyzed,†felt clumsy and way too obvious. Why not just have a character speak directly into camera and tell us exactly what will happen? Oh, I know, because it spoils the suspense. I did quite like the “spooky child singing†soundtrack, although it’s not a very original approach. The shots of the snow scapes were okay, but except for the opening massacre and finding the first body, the director didn’t use the location to its visual potential. It felt like most of the time they were stuck in the cabin.
As the snow storm worsens, the guys find a body frozen in the snow with weird white eyes, and when the body disappears some time later, they decide to tell “the girls†about it. I still don’t get why they didn’t do that to begin with. Jerry starts to see Donner party ghost ghouls all over the place, and they seem to be trying to warn him of something, or perhaps kill him, but there’s more, Jerry himself seems to be changing into another person. At this point, I am duty bound to say that watching James Lee trying to do what Jack Nicolson did in the Shining was painful. I don’t blame him completely, as being directed to “roll eyes upwards and look mean†cannot always be that easy.
I liked the makeup work on the Donner party ghouls and seeing as the whole “psychotic possession†thing was so unconvincing, I would have liked to see them play a more active part in chopping the Living to pieces. Increasingly erratic, Jerry decides to take charge of the shotgun, and the buddies that are still left alive quite understandably seek refuge in the outhouse (there’s always an outhouse). Most of what you now imagine will happen, does. The one small innovation made was that it’s a women who becomes the leading “fight back hero†rather than the usual guy thing. In conclusion, intriguing idea, a few nice visuals, but the story was terrible.
You might also like







seeminglysquare (11 years ago) Reply
Wasn't Louis Keseberg the guy they found all alone with the mutilated remains? Why isn't he the ghost. I know too much about the Donner history to let that opening scene slide.

agentorange (11 years ago) Reply
Thanks for the review. This one always looked interesting but also like it could be either great or kinda bad. Sounds like it was a bit of both.

Antonio (10 years ago) Reply
I pretty much agree with all your points, but came to a different conclusion. I thought all that silly stuff helped it out, and made it an enjoyable view. But I agree it could've been much better. Some nice nature visuals though