Reviewed by: Becca and Jeff

Directed by: Antonia Bird

Produced by: Adam Fields

Cast: Guy Pierce, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, and David Arquette

An unlikely hero. Five unsuspecting soldiers. One weary stranger with a story to terrible to be believed. It's a recipe for nonstop action when the inhabitants of an isolated outpost go up against a marauding band of cannibals in a deadly struggle for survival. Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, and David Arquette fight the brutal elements of the Sierra Nevada wilderness - as well as their own murderous instincts - in this thrilling action-adventure.

Though I found this movie slightly disturbing for days to come (like unable to eat any meat products) I did enjoy this movie. It brought cannibalism and almost a slight hint of vampirism (or possible demons?) together. The movie really gets you thinking about cannibalism and why people do it. I don't think the cover description explains the movie at all. It had many twists and turns while you followed the main character, Boyd.

While Boyd was fighting in a battle, he becomes scared and falls to the ground to play dead. The enemies picked his body and take him into their camp. Our hero is under a large amount of dead bodies, and get human blood in his mouth. He, then, becomes brave, and takes out the entire post from the inside.

Boyd's commander knows he is truly a coward, even though he was given a hero's award for his bravery. His commander then sends him away to a secluded, snowed in outpost to live out the remainder of his day in the military.

After, a while a stranger appears telling them a tale so bizzare they had to go and see if they can help those who remained behind. Once here, the true story begins.

In the end you felt satisfied with that it had to offer. This movie is not for the weak of heart or stomach, but if your looking for something a little out of the normal this is a great movie. I enjoyed this movie, and although I do agree with Jeff about how some characters were not needed, I do think the rest of the story covers up that mistake. So, next time your at the video store pick this movie up. You won't be disappointed.

I knew absolutely nothing about this movie when I first saw it, except that it had Guy Pearce in it. From the first scenes I found this gritty, disturbing drama to be very intriguing. The story itself touches on something most movies would not go near, and almost brings alive everything we have read about the donner party in our 6th grade history books.

The one thing that I felt could have made this movie better was a few changes in cast and their role in the movie. Towards the end the commanders role is a bit unnesscary, and his character has a change in attitude that I don't see as being realistic.

The one thing that stood out in this movie was the music. It has a haunting theme that is catchy, but not in the annoying way. It draws upon the time periods musical style, and uses it in a way that helps set a very eerie mood to the entire film.

I rate this four because of some of the character problems, but it definately is worth picking up next time your in the video store.