My Review of Wrong Turn (2003)

 

Written by Alan B. McElroy 

Directed by Rob Schmidt 

Scott: "We are never going into the woods again."

A few years ago, I watched, reviewed and generally did not care for the reboot movie. I'm not going to lie and say that this is a franchise I hold a lot of reverence for either but I'm going to watch the remaining movies and try to be as fair as possible.

I mean for a first entry, this was actually a pretty good start with enough familiar faces and a premise that mostly lifted from both Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It also contained a cast of people from some popular shows and movies at the time, including one actor that I really miss seeing in things these days.

The protagonists of the piece included a friends group. This comprised of engaged couples Scott (Jeremy Sisto) and Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), other couple Evan (Keven Zegers) and Francine (Lindy Booth) and the recently dumped, Jessie (Eliza Dushku). As characters, they're fairly by the numbers and fresh victims for the terror of their new surroundings.

Add into the mix a man named Chris Flynn (Desmond Harrington), whom the friend group crashed into and you've got six characters ripe for the picking. One by one as they try to get help, they find themselves being hunted and picked by a group of feral cannibals. 

The villains then of the piece were the likes of Odets, which included Three-Fingers (Julian Richings), Saw-Tooth (Garry Robbins) and One-Eye (Ted Clark). They're not greatly developed characters but their lack of development doesn't get in the way of their ability to cause maximum damage to our protagonists as Jessie and Chris are the only ones to barely escape.

I'll admit these type of horror films don't connect with me that much and I prefer my villains to have something a bit more to them that cannibal hillbillys on offer here. Fortunately though they're at least competent villains, who despite getting a deserved comeuppance do show their own endurance to setbacks.

- A mid credit sequence did show that Thee-Fingers survived as he attacked a deputy sheriff by the side of the road.

- Apparently Eliza Dushku's character was named after the protagonist in the Stephen King novel Gerald's Game.

- The characters originally were supposed to be in their late twenties before being aged down to appeal to younger audiences.

- Chronology: The movie's set in the woods in Virginia. A couple who were rock climbing ended up being killed at the start of the movie.

Wrong Turn does get this franchise off to a decent start and probably is the best in a slew of uninspired sequels. The leads are good, there's some serviceable dialogue and the gore isn't too over the top. It's a diverting watch at least.

Rating: 6 out of 10