Wrong Turn (2003) Reviews

• What's worse than a leather-faced madman chasing you through the bush with a chainsaw? How about three!!

  Dkish2003-05-30

  What's worse than a leather-faced madman chasing you through the bush with a chainsaw? How about three!! `Wrong Turn' stars Desmond Harrington as Chris Finn, a man who is late for a very important interview. Finn takes a back country road to avoid a traffic jam and ends up involved in a car accident with three debutantes (Eliza Dushku, Lindy Booth and Emmanuelle Chriqui) and their boyfriends (Jeremy Sisto and Kevin Zegers). The group splits up as they try to find some help. Unbeknownst to them, they are being stalked by an unspeakable horror. Living in the woods around the crash is a family of cannibalistic mountain men who are overtly grotesque from generations of incest. Before the group knows it, they are in a fight for their very lives. `Wrong Turn' was in one word an utter shock to the system. There hasn't been a film this gory, grotesque and chilling in a very long time. Not since the 1970's `Texas Chainsaw Massacre' has a horror film such as this been made. The best way to describe the experience is that if you took 2001's `Joy Ride' and `Jeepers Creepers' added 1972's `Deliverance' then threw them all in a blender. You may come up with `Wrong Turn'. The tension in this film is harrowing and relentless as it bats you back and forth. You are exhausted and maybe even queasy when you come out of the theatre. But if you love horror films then you probably have an ear to ear grin as well. I really liked some of the early editing of this film by director Rob Schmidt, who allows the scares and shocks to come with brilliant accuracy. I also liked how Schmidt barely shows the mountain men throughout the film. The parts we do see are horrific but the filmmaker relies heavily on the chase and shock than on the gore. Schmidt could have easily dived down the gore shoot to hell but he made a wise choice that works in spades. It's the film's harrowing tension and atmospheric pursuit that overshadows the young stars that make up the cast. Dushku is strong and emulates some of her `Buffy the Vampire Slayer' character, Faith in her portrayal here. Dushku loves to play debutantes with edge and her character here has a lot of it. I wasn't extremely familiar with Desmond Harrington before this film but he plays a good leading man. The rest of the cast play typical generic 20-somethings from the horror film franchises of old. I have always liked Lindy Booth but she has nothing to play with here and the same is goes for Jeremy Sisto. But come on, this isn't exactly an intelligently written and detailed drama. I liked `Wrong Turn' purely because of its shock value and its no holds barred return to classic horror. It is always in your face and it doesn't let go till the credits. This film isn't for the faint of heart. What a rush! (3.5 out of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.

• See the unrated version

  bonnie912006-04-16

  I really like this movie. I've seen it 3 times, once in the theatre and then twice on DVD (the unrated version). There's a big difference between the version shown in theatres and the unrated version: as usual, the theatre version is cut a lot, leaving out some pretty gruesome scenes that are not for the squeamish or faint-at-heart. The premise for the movie may be a little cliché (mutated, possibly inbred, group of people living in the remote countryside, wreaking havoc on innocent tourists), but, oh, the way it's carried out! I liked it more than the original The Hills Have Eyes (haven't seen the new one yet). If you're into horror, I highly recommend the unrated version of Wrong Turn.

• So gripping that you don't notice whats wrong with it til its over

  susanburke31832003-07-02

  I decided to see this movie mainly out of boredom plus an eye-friendly cast was promised, so i basically thought it'd turn out to be another standard popcorn horror flick. Thankfully, what i discovered was notably more enjoyable. Yes, it is true to say that it does follow along the same vein as many other horror movies in that many key aspects of it are quiet predictable. However, in spite of this, a distinct empathy can be felt for the majority of the protagonists, who you really don't want to fail victim to the insane, murderous, mountain psychos. Not alone this, but I feel that it is safe to proclaim, as i'm sure have and will many others, that the atmosphere is one of well created nail biting tension, which lasts throughout the duration of the film. In fact, I found the atmosphere that the movie exuded to be so compelling that I failed to notice certain flaws that would normally aggravate me in a film. I of course will refrain from elaborating on these details so as not to spoil the viewing for those who have yet to see it. What I really liked about this film was that it didn't try what so many other horror movies as of the last seven years or so haave tried- and that is to be ironic. It is just a horror movie, with the distinct and generally successful aim of scaring and entertaining. Its atmosphere undeniably achieves this, however its not alone, it is true to say that this film is not for the squeamish. Several scenes prove to be quite graphic. In this respect, I would have to admit that Wrong Turn doesn't have the makings of changing the world of movies as we know it, but it does however, have the capacity to push you to the edge of your seat. My advice is, if you're a horror fan, its well worth the watch!

• Not a bad waste of time...

  terenceramsay2003-05-29

  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.

• Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui & Lindy Booth I'd Have No Problem Being Stranded With.

  BigHardcoreRed2005-03-15

  Wrong Turn is about a group of 6 people (in two different cars) make a wrong turn (hence, the movie title) in the back woods of West Virginia. One car runs over some barbed wire which leaves them stranded in the middle of the road, when another car crashes into it due to not paying attention. They are in the middle of a forest where cell phones get no reception and not a gas station or any other convenience for miles and miles. Most of the group decide to walk back the way they came in hopes of finding help while a couple stay behind with the vehicles. This is where the mountain men begin their murder spree. They obviously began well before the movie started but for these 6 people, this is where it starts. It is also probably the most graphic and creepy part of the movie. The special effects on the mountain men were great. They remind me of someone but I can not put my finger on it. They were creepy enough in the way they walked and grunted that they were not too much of a joke. I would probably run from these people if I was alone in the woods. Much better than the Boogeyman from Boogeyman, anyways. Some characteristics remind me of the main monster in Monster Man, though. I thought the cast for this movie was great. I have always been a big fan of Eliza Dushku and the other two girls, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Lindy Booth, were no slouches themselves. In fact, if there were 3 girls to be stranded somewhere with, I would have no problem if it were these 3. You could certainly do a lot worse. The only guy in the movie that annoyed me was thankfully knocked off first. It was like they were reading my mind. Jeremy Sisto and Desmond Harrington were pretty likable and did a good job overall. The acting in this movie was pretty good, especially considering it was a horror movie. The movie borrowed a little bit from a lot of different movies, most notably Deliverance, which one of the characters even mentions by name, but in todays day and age, when we have seen it all, it was a pretty good effort. 8/10