Donner Pass has a well-known and macabre history - the place where George Donner and his party got stuck in the winter of 1846 and were forced to resort to cannibalism to keep from starving. But what if it wasn't just history?

We caught up with director, Elise Robertson, to talk about Donner Pass.

Horror News Network: What was the inspiration to make Donner Pass into a horror film?

Elise Robertson: This is the brainchild of Scott Adams, the screenwriter. I'm not sure what inspired him to write such a twisted vision, but I can tell you what inspired me upon my first read of the script – it was the unexpected turn the plot takes about halfway when all of the kids start turning on each other and you begin to realize that the danger without is the least of your worries. The theme of exploitation as evinced in Mike's lines about the payroll and in the things that some of the jock characters do to each other I found to have a lot of resonance. High school can be brutal, and I think this script does a nice job of showing the dangers emotional abuse.

Horror News Network: Tell us about the filming, especially with the weather conditions?

Elise Robertson: It was tough! We had an incredibly tight shoot schedule, just 17 days for the principal photography, the first seven of which were on location in Big Bear. I was so worried we wouldn't have enough snow, since we were shooting in the first week of March. I had been consulting the weather gurus, trying to gauge whether we could even shoot in Big Bear. Lo and behold, we were welcomed to Big Bear with a howling blizzard that kept the generator from making it up the mountain and was quite a wake-up call to the entire crew, who had driven up from LA. When you see the snow blowing sideways in some of the shots from the film, that's not movie magic, that's a real blizzard!

Horror News Network: What impressed you the most with the cast?

Elise Robertson: Talent plus gameness. We had a combination of film veterans, many of whom were friends of mine from the theatre world, combined with some young people who were really new to it. With my background in theatre and as an actor myself, I scheduled a lot of rehearsal, so the actors were able to develop character relationships and we were able to really go through the beats of the script before we were thrown into the howling wind. That turned out to be extremely useful because there wasn't a lot of time for experimentation on the shoot. But all of the actors were wonderful and skilled and brought their A game and we got most shots in a couple of takes.

And they were, to a person, really game to shoot in the crazy conditions, the late nights, the blood, the makeup. A lot of them did at least some of their own stunt work. Those were really the actors hanging upside down, for example.

Horror News Network: Erik Stocklin was a standout as “Thomas.” Can you talk a bit about the character development of Thomas?

Elise Robertson: Tricky, very tricky. There was a huge amount going on under the surface with Thomas, and it's always tempting as an actor to let that show through. We worked a lot on burying all that stuff and just being in the moment. I don't want to say more but suffice to say it was an incredible character arc and I thought Erik did a wonderful job. We'll be seeing a lot from Erik in the future I think.

Horror News Network: How did the casting of Erik come about?

Elise Robertson: He came in to audition at the open call. I hadn't known him previously. And to be honest he was not a standout at his original audition; in fact we weren't originally planning to call him back. But on my second or third review of the audition tapes, I noticed something behind his eyes that I thought showed an understanding of the character that might be accessed with a little work. And so we brought him back in. And in the callback, I think the direction I gave him was “do nothing, reveal nothing.” Minimal. But something clicked for Erik. He took the note and did the final scene again and it was like a lightning bolt. Chris Game (the casting director) and I looked at each other and nodded and that was it.

Horror News Network: The film features many brutal kill scenes, can you talk a bit about shooting those and the special effects in the film?

Elise Robertson: This a far cry from my days of directing dramas and children's shows for PBS! It was great fun, to be honest – letting things get gory and messy. But also highly technical. Our FX master was Ralis Kahn, and he did a terrific job with the physical effects. As anyone who's worked in the field knows, there's a lot of planning that goes into making these effects come off seamlessly – he had many different makeup appliances for the actors and rigs for the pumping blood, and of course the timing and the order we shot in was key in terms of how we were able to get all the shots we needed to edit the scenes together but still make our days. There's actually a wonderful little documentary about Ralis and the makeup effects on the Donner Pass DVD extras as well as a general making of doc that covers a lot of the other portions of making the film, including the stunt work. If your viewers are interested in how a film like this gets made, I highly recommend renting or purchasing the DVD because you won't get these extras if you watch online.

Horror News Network: There seemed to be a nod to Halloween with the cinematography, particularly the shots of inside the house at the end of the film. Was this done intentionally?

Elise Robertson: Well, thank you for noticing! Yes, John Carpenter was our primary influence for the look and feel of the film. I actually used “The Thing “ as the touchstone, but I think there are echoes of Halloween as well. Our goal with this film was to create something that evoked those classic films from the eighties. It's why we were adamant about shooting on film (super 16mm). And we went for a fairly lush image, with rich blacks, and tried to let the camera move and breathe as much as possible. Carpenter was also a touchstone for the score, so beautifully crafted and performed by Stefan Girardet.

Horror News Network: Would you be up for a Donner Pass 2?

Elise Robertson: Heck yes! Producer Mouncey Ferguson already has some thoughts in that direction and I feel like the thematic elements we're discussing are fantastic and very timely. It would be very different from the first, delving more in to realm of suspense/thriller.

Horror News Network: Where can our readers find out more about Donner Pass?

Elise Robertson: We would love for you to visit our new improved facebook page which features the trailer, clips from the film and behind-the-scenes footage. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Donner-Pass/127659297323110. Our official website is www.donnerpassmovie.com and you can link from there to all the main viewing avenues. Donner Pass is available in the US on-demand through all major cable providers, through Itunes, for DVD purchase through Amazon, and RedBox rental, and soon for DVD rental through Netflix. There's info on IMDB at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1626139/ And you can see more of my work at www.eliserobertson.com Thanks so much for taking the time to interview me about Donner Pass. And thanks for supporting independent film!

Horror News Network: Thank you for your time, Elise. Comment on this interview here.