Whilst the premise is nothing new, Wrong Turn can be forgiven it’s sins for the fact that it does exactly what we were told it would.
As any self respecting fan of the genre should know, any horror films main aim should be to scare. And this is exactly what Stan Winston, director Rob Schmidt and the cast and crew set out to do and thankfully, they do it really well.
Late for a job interview and stuck in traffic, Chris decides to take a short cut through the Apalachian woods of West Virginia and on his way, crashes into a jeep belonging to a group of friends on a camping trip.
Four of the youngsters decide to go for help whilst stay with the cars, however, along the way the group run afoul of a group of inbred cannabalistic mountain men and are forced to fight for their lives.
If you expect Wrong Turn to follow the trends set by Scream, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. However If you like your horror old school, then this is the film for you, complete with Impailments, severed body parts and a very gory decapitation, making it worthy of it’s certificate.
Most of the critics have condemned the acting and dialogue, but whilst the characterisation is very ‘s I still cared for the characters and did not feel they ever crossed the boundaries of taste. (I really liked the nod to Deliverance) Also despite what the critics have said about Eliza Dushku being a soft touch, she isn’t she just doesn’t have Faith’s Slayer power, but props to her for playing a more vulnerable character for a change.
The rest of the cast who all have previous genre credits, do remarkably well with the material, probably because they play it straight rather than making it a farce.
The movie is very quickly paced and offers a few moments of classy directing, as well as some beautiful locations and the villains are also very well handled, though I get the feeling that repeat viewings may soften the effect. It’s like any other villain though, there’s only so many times they can scare you before you start to become a fan (Freddy Krueger anyone?).
OVERALL SUMMARY
In all Wrong Turn is a great Friday night fright flick, for young audiences looking for fun, which manages to conjour up some great set pieces, relying on atmosphere rather than CGI or self-referential humour to attract an audience.
