**_Six friends stay near where the Donner Party was snowbound in 1846-47_**

This was mostly shot in northeast California not far south from where the infamous event actually occurred (that being 20 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe on the east side of Donner Lake). As a low-rent indie made with a small cast & crew, it naturally gets a lot of flak, but you can’t beat the wintery Sierra Nevada Mountains location. George Stults and Penny Vital rise to the fore as the main protagonists with James Kyson and Danielle De Luca playing a key couple. Tiffany has a smaller part and sings the end-credits’ song.

Macho man Jason Stephens cowrote and directed. It was his fourth and final directing gig and he does a serviceable job for a quickly shot low-budget flick, but his editing is sometimes dubious. Yet I understand why he did it the way he did because he said he wanted to keep the film moving, as well as keep it relatively short.

At the end of the day, this is superior to “Ghost Keeper,” but not quite as effective as “The Chill Factor.” Two years after it debuted, the similar “Donner Pass” came out and is easily the best of the lot.

Fans of “The Amityville Horror” should find something to like, as long as you don’t mind quickie ‘B’ productions.

It’s short ’n’ sweet at 1h 16m and was shot in late Jan 2008 at South Lake Tahoe, California, with additional stuff done 445 miles south of there at Big Bear, as well Ventura, which is 3 hours’ drive east on the coast.

GRADE: B-