Wrong Turn (2003) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Rob Schmidt
Producers: Stan Winston, Brian Gilbert, Erik Feig, Robert Kulzer
Writers: Alan B. McElroy
Date Released: May 30, 2003
Cast:
Desmond Harrington as Chris Flynn
Eliza Dushku as Jessie
Emmanuelle Chriqui as Carly
Jeremy Sisto as Scott
Kevin Zegers as Evan
Lindy Booth as Francine
Julian Richings as Three Finger
Garry Robbins as Saw Tooth
Ted Clark as One Eye
Rating = 4/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is about a med student going to an important appointment but got into a traffic jam which made him decide to take a shortcut. This wrong turn led him to a group of five friends supposedly going on a camping trip but got lost and had their tire caught up in a barbed wire. The four of them went out to find help and left the other two to their deaths. They found a cabin in the woods where they saw things which made them realize they’re doomed. Suspense begins when the mutated cannibals come home with their other friend and chopped her up to pieces. They tried to escape but the chase is on. One by one, they get killed until two of them found a way to end the horror… or not!
Gore Factor
As a slasher film with cannibals as the killers, expect a spill of blood and gore. The most notable ones are the chopped up body parts found everywhere inside the killer lair, the barbed wire used for strangling, the chopped up body on the table, the treetop axe chop scene, and the arrow through the eye. The scariest part of this is the physical deformity of the killers. With the dirty hillbilly outfits and the mutated faces up close, these are not just average psycho killers.
The Grave Review
Imagine getting lost in the woods with cannibalistic mutants on the hunt for their next brutal kill. That is a great concept which made this movie effective.
Though getting lost in the woods then discovering a cabin is already an established cliché in most slasher films, this movie made the setting more flexible. The addition of a junkyard for victims’ vehicles, the watchtower, the waterfalls, and the treetops made it more exciting for a game of run and hide.
A great sequence in this movie is the treetops chase. There is an intense feeling of of falling or getting killed by a mutant. This is also the funniest way they got rid of the killer. Aside from learning about the importance of tree hugging, this is where Carly’s brutal head chop happened.
The only problem with Wrong Turn (2003) is that it focused more on the hiding and chasing rather than the actual act of brutality of the mutants. Though there are a lot of violent killings, there seem to be a lack of visuals to the actual struggle of the victims. The chopping of Francine’s body was not even shown. It’s just the blood and guts on the table that was presented. The deaths are pretty much normal for a psycho killer movie. Scott’s death was way too mild. At least the ranger was seen being chopped up on the sink after an arrow through the eye. Evan’s death was not shown as well.
At the ending, just when you think the mutants were successfully killed by the explosion, a post-credit scene shows that they are hard to kill. The premise and setting of this movie is so effective that it became a film franchise with five more movies about it.
Overall, this movie is highly recommended if you are looking for suspense, brutal killings, and all the other gory details.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Wrong Turn (2003) four graves out of five graves.
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