Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn tells the story of Chris Flynn (Desmond Harrington), a doctor who gets stranded in the middle of nowhere after being late for an important meeting. In hopes of getting to his final destination in time, Chris takes a back road through the woods of West Virginia to avoid the traffic jam and accidentally crashes into a car which belongs to a group of friends led by the somewhat bitchy heroine, Jessie Burlingame (Eliza Dushku). Having two wrecked cars, the group decides to wander through the woods in hopes of getting help, unaware that they are about to get stalked and killed off one-by-one by a group of hideously deformed inbred family who has been living and feeding with human flesh in that area for more than 30 years.

Having seen the film countless times before, I was always strangely fascinated by it, but I never truly understood why. I did always love it, but there was always something about it I just really dug. Having seen the film again now, I've finally realized what, and the reason is very simple - the film is just a very well-done homage to all those bad-ass 70s Horror films, and just combines the highlights of those flicks in one simple and highly-enjoyable Slasher film.

Another reason why I probably like this movie so much is because of its fantastic and unique eerie atmosphere. Throughout the whole movie you repeatedly get that uncomfortable feeling of being watched by someone, and the scares which constantly appear through the movie just add to the atmosphere. The tension and the special effects are very well done too thanks to Stan Winston who creates a really disgusting and menacing inbred family, but he does it so good you don't even look at them in that way; sure they are scary as hell and look horribly deformed, but beneath that all you still do realize they are all just a bunch of humans, well at least sort of.

The cast is really good too. The two leads, Desmond Harrington and the lovely and talented Eliza Dushku, do an amazing job here and since they both play likable, strong characters, you really root for them and want to see them live. The other cast members, Jeremy Sisto, Lindy Booth and Kevin Zegers, are all great actors, but they don't have really much to work with here since their characters are basically wasted, though Emanuelle Chriqui really stands out and plays the supporting female lead role very good and convincing. Even though you already know from the start who is going to survive, there's still plenty of tension and scares present throughout the whole movie, so if you think this is just another typical, gory Slasher flick - think again.

One thing I'm very impressed with here is the directing. Schmidt does a terrific job, and you can say he's a horror geek by just watching several clips from the movie. We get some "Deliverance" references now and then, a little bit of "Last House on the Left", "The Hills Have Eyes", "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", and loads more. The kills are very effective and absolutely gory too, so if you are a fan of brutal death scenes, you will almost definitely dig the deaths.

The film does have some weak points though. Some of the dialog is a bit cheesy in parts, and the ending is really predictable, clichéd, and a bit rushed if you ask me, but the film still really impressed me and is definitely one of my favorite movies now.

So in short - Wrong Turn is a movie you either love or hate. I definitely belong to the first group for a couple of reasons, and even though I do realize Wrong Turn is not the best film ever, I love every second of it for one simple reason - it's a simple, highly enjoyable and scary no-brain throwback to 70s Horror movies, so if you're just looking for a fun and gory Horror film, Wrong Turn is then definitely a right turn, and an amazing film you should definitely not miss! Highly recommended.

8/10

I used to disdain Wrong Turn as a hollow derivative of The Hills Have Eyes and for some time actually preferred the sequel, until checking it out again recently and rather changing my tune. It is still derivative of The Hills Have Eyes to an extent, Wrong Turn being among the earliest of the newer rash of inbred cannibal against resourceful prey films and The Hills Have Eyes being if not the earliest then certainly the first definitive entry in the genre. But the two differ crucially, the earlier film comes from a critical eye, a director who has watched society and sentenced it, while Wrong Turn is simply a fun horror film. And its a whole lot of fun, with some rather wonderful traits that do not seem to often appear among later films in the genre or even mainstream horror in general. The key to it all comes in the very first scene as scaling a rock face becomes a terse nightmare for a couple of cannon fodder youths. The girl falls enough to incur broken ribs and likely unconsciousness, maybe even broken legs and back but still manages to get up and keep moving. The entertaining fusion of tension and silliness seen here informs the rest of the film and it really works, especially since things never aim for truly gruelling nastiness, just engagement and fear. Thus the car crash that brings the protagonists together yields less angry recrimination than instead cooperation and good vibes and in the films barmiest moment characters perform feats similar to that which nearly killed Jackie Chan on Armour of God, one of them even with a gunshot wound to the leg. And the inbred villains of the piece can wield a bow and arrow like Robin Hood, as well as climbing trees like the most fearless of gymnasts. Its all thoroughly silly but great fun at the same time, and it never really jars with the more frightening moments (there's one real winner of a suspense sequence here), unlike say The Hills Have Eyes '06 with its ill fitted marriage of brutality and cheesy action. The gore here is almost well judged as the silliness, there isn't a whole lot of grue but whats there is mostly short, sharp and effectively savage without any appearance of trying to make the audience sick with realism. A smidgen more would definitely have been beneficial though, particularly when the villains are buying the farm. Acting is generally reasonable, a stone faced Desmond Harrington bears little charisma, but Emmanuelle Chriqui emotes to good effect, Kevin Zegers and Lindy Booth make for amusing stoners and in the best written part Jeremy Sisto has chilled out but ultimately heroic ball. And Eliza Dushku delivers mondo hotness which is a big plus. The handiest thing about the characters though is that they are all written sympathetic rather than obnoxious and self absorbed or resolutely vapid, there's a sense that the writer cares about them rather than just treating them as cannon fodder and it makes for a much more involving experience. I'm not sure I have any serious complaints about the whole film actually, it really rubbed me the right way. Actually I have one, it needed nudity. In a fun trashy horror film, nudity is virtually an essential and there ain't none here. Still righteous stuff though, strong 7/10 from me.

I went into the screener of WRONG TURN not expecting much. After the film was over, I was pleasantly surprised. The plot has been recycled a few times, but this version of the "kids stranded in the woods" scenario has some good points. We have seen this before in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and more recently in X-Files Episode "Home". A group of young adults are stranded deep in the woods of West Virginia, and are hunted by a "family of cannibalistic freaks. Wrong Turn is very predictable, and the gore is abundant, but the film is delivered in an in-your-face style, which kept me interested. The acting is on par with most slasher flicks, which is good enough to get the point across. All in all, it was a good waste of a boring thursday evening.

I do want to spoil much, but the tree top chase is very well done. Any fan of the genre might be surprised by Wrong Turn...I was.

Rating: ** out of ****

Wrong Turn seemingly has all the ingredients necessary for an effective slasher: a good setting and decent premise, a very attractive and likable cast, memorable make-up and gore effect, and a refreshingly unironic tone that reminds us of the days when old-fashioned horror didn't rely on self-conscious humor to pass for entertainment value. In that manner, Wrong Turn is actually a little nostalgic, not unlike the rest of the recent batch of backwoods horror flicks (Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake).

But aside from two solid setpieces, the movie rarely fulfills its (admittedly limited) potential. The script matters little in this subgenre, but there's almost no plot after the ill-fated teens arrive at the mountain men's cabin. This is about twenty-five minutes into the film, after we've already dispensed with the obligatory character intros (basically: 3 hot chicks and 3 hunky, but also surprisingly personable guys) and whatever reasons they have for being stranded in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia.

Everything after that is typical cat-and-mouse filler, the killers (three inbred, cannibalistic hillbillies) searching for their prey while our protagonists run and hide behind trees. There's very little in the way of suspense, namely because it's so obvious who's going to live and who's going to die and in what order. And because the cast is so small, you can't even enjoy a particularly large body count (half the main cast is killed off less than forty minutes into the picture).

Wrong Turn is also missing much of what makes slasher movies fun to watch: explicit nudity and the occasional bit of gratuitous sex. With such an attractive cast (Emmanuelle Chriqui is cute, and Eliza Dushku and especially Lindy Booth are total hotties), the movie regrettably skimps on the goods. Such a complaint probably wouldn't matter if the characters were better developed, but despite a talented cast, the most interesting aspect character-wise is noting how different a couple Lindy Booth and Kevin Zegers played in Dawn of the Dead.

As for the rest of the cast, Desmond Harrington is a solid actor, but does little more than run, grunt, and dive headfirst into every dangerous stunt (his volunteering for every dangerous move actually makes him pretty likable even when we question his logic). Eliza Dushku simply coasts on her looks (and proves that all hottie TV actresses are destined to play a big screen scream queen at least once in their lives), while Emmanuelle Chriqui just shrieks her way through her part. Standing out a little is Jeremy Sisto, who infuses a bit of humor into an otherwise very disposable role.

The forest is something of a disappointment, as well. With a potentially excellent setting at his disposal, director Rob Schmidt fails to generate any creepy atmosphere in an environment where you'd think atmosphere would almost come naturally (to be fair, a lot of horror movies also seem to have this problem; the last time I saw a forest setting utilized perfectly was in 2003's terrifically frightening Dead End).

Despite the fact I've done little more than harp on the film, there's no denying that the middle half-hour is occasionally entertaining. There's a semi-suspenseful scene set in a vehicular junkyard (finally, a little variety in setting, huh?) and another effective sequence set inside a watchtower that segues to an exciting chase atop the branches of some very large trees. The murders are too sparse, given the small cast, but they're gruesome and memorable, and thankfully not as relentlessly cruel as the deaths in Cabin Fever, but boast just the right touch of menace and hard-edged violence.

The three hillbilly killers aren't quite as successful as the gore; in fact, seeing less of them would have been appreciated, considering their grotesque appearance almost crosses into the realm of self-parody. Even The X-Files knew better than that.

Anyway, whatever momentum the middle half-hour built up comes crashing down in the final minutes, with the film actually closing out with an explosion, surely a sign of desperation on the part of the screenwriter if he can't come up with any brighter ideas in a slasher (I was, in fact, about to give the movie a ** 1/2 until the climax). Overall, this is mildly recommended to slasher fans or anyone who wants to gawk at Dushku for a little over an hour. Wrong Turn at least has its heart set in the right place, which is more than can be said for most slashers these days.

I rented 'Wrong Turn 1 & 2' a couple of nights ago as I am a huge fan of horror films, and I thought that it wouldn't hurt to watch this even though I didn't know anything about the films. Well, I am glad I watched it as it was better than I thought it would be.

Chris Finn (Desmond Harrington) is on his way to a job interview and is driving through the mountains of West Virginia. There is then a chemical spill on the road, so being short on time, he decides to take a different route, an abandoned dirt road in the middle of nowhere. He then by accident crashes into a car sitting in the middle of the road. He then meets a group of five friends on a hiking trip who include Jessie (Eliza Dushku) whom are stranded on the road. Two people stay at the car, and another group goes for help, only to find a sinister cabin nestled in the West Virgina woods, that is home to a trio of cannibalistic mountain men horribly disfigured from years of in-breeding. They then make a mad dash for their lives through out the woods, only hoping to make it out alive. But, will the trio let them leave their hunting grounds?

This is one of those films which are as cliché as you can get and the plot is predictable all the way through. But still, I did like 'Wrong Turn'. It had more than just the classic kids get lost in the woods and get killed. There was a little spark to it and I loved the fact that the killers were deformed mutated humans who were more closer to real monsters, than the more routine big bad guys. One thing I hated is the fact that the actors are so beautiful and glossed over even when they come out of burning towers, running through the wild and their throats are parched without water. But, I liked it & some of you who may not have seen too many horror movies like me may like it.

7/10