Wrong Turn (2003)

"We are never going into the woods again!", 26 August 2005

A group of six young people find themselves stranded in the mountains of West Virginia. When four members of the group leave to find either help or a phone they stumble upon a cabin that at first appears to be deserted. But what they find in the cabin proves that it is actually inhabited and not the place they want to be when the owners return home. Just as they are making their exit, a truck pulls to the front of the house and three inbred mountain men enter the house carrying the dead, butchered bodies of their friends with them.

What Works:

- Inbred Hillbillies. Movies with backwoods murderous inbred hillbillies have always fascinated me. Some of my favorite movies (The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Final Terror, etc.) feature this kind of character. These characters are frightening because you know they're based in reality. There really are people out there who look and, to a lesser extent, act like this. As a bonus, the make-up used on Three Finger, Saw-Tooth, and One-Eye is excellent. It's another argument in favor of traditional quality latex make-up.

- No Jokes. Other than a few bits of comedy that fit within the framework of the plot, Wrong Turn is played straight. Most movies made today with this many horror clichés would turn into one big self-referential jokefest. I'm glad Schmidt avoided going down this road. There is no attempt to go out of the way to create comedy or fill the movie with inappropriate one-liners that only serve to ruin mood and atmosphere.

- Scenes of Violence. I found many of the scenes of violence particularly well done. These inbred hillbillies are brutal and savage. They care not for human life. Their methods of killing are primitive but effective. One of my favorite scenes involves a bow, an arrow, and human eye. Nice!

What Doesn't Work:

- It's Not West Virginia. My wife is from West Virginia and I've been there any number of times. I could tell almost immediately that the film wasn't actually made in West Virginia. I wasn't surprised to discover that the actual location was Ontario, Canada. If you're going to film a movie that is set in West Virginia, why not film it in West Virginia? This just bugged me throughout the entire movie.

- Why doesn't Eliza die? With the exception of Eliza Dushku's character, every other victim the inbreeds run across is immediately slaughtered. So why did they (or better yet, why does the script) treat Eliza differently? Why is she spared long enough to be rescued? Obviously I know the answer, but it's an inconsistency in Wrong Turn that I didn't appreciate.

Wrong Turn is a nice throwback to the 70s movies I grew up with. It's vicious, raw, brutal, and a lot of fun. In short, it's my kind of horror movie. Just thinking about the movie should make my family's annual October camping trip to West Virginia a more interesting.

7/10