Wrong Turn (6/10 Rating)
Released May 30, 2003
For rent/purchase on all major platforms.
Genre: Horror, Thriller
R: Strong Violence and Gore, Some Language and Drug Use
1h 24m
Wrong Turn (2003) is strictly horror and within its own genre probably more of a 7/10 rating. Chris is headed to Raleigh for a job interview and decides to beat traffic and take a backroad through West Virginia where he has a collision with a group of five friends leaving them all stranded in the middle of nowhere. They find a creepy cabin and soon become the prey of three mutated mountain men. If you like The Hills Have Eyes you’ll find some similarities here, mixed with Deliverance. We’ve all been camping or driven on some backroad and seen locations stuck in another time period. In fact, we don’t have to drive far out of Danville just to find locations like the ones in this movie. Maybe that adds to the fun here. You know, if your idea of fun is being creeped out by mutant cannibals and seeing disgusting, gory kills. The film is paced well, gradually unveiling more about the antagonists, building the stakes, and leading us on a thrilling chase through backwoods WV. The scares come mostly because the film stays just within the realm of reality, leaving you questioning your next backroad detour to avoid traffic. There were multiple sequels made, each getting worse than the one before it. Stay away from those. They aren’t even fun in a “so bad it’s good” way. However, a few years ago, a new Wrong Turn (2021), written by the same screenwriter, Alan B. McElroy, came out with little fanfare. It has nothing to do with the original, and barely the same plot, but it is worth a watch for horror fans. A lot of Wrong Turn (2003) fans did not like the shift from the source material, but if anyone had the right to do something new, it was the original creator and it is a fun ride through multiple sub genres. So, if you find yourself searching for the 2003 versionand make a…” wrong turn”…stumbling across the 2021 version, you may have made an enjoyable mistake!
Also check out: Bruce Almighty (7/10), Finding Nemo (8/10), The Actors, The Italian Job (6/10), The Matrix Reloaded (5/10), Down With Love, The Shape of Things (follow @jlucia85 for these reviews and more)
