Wrong Turn (2003)

★★
Wrong Turn is so effective at times that the glaring improbabilities in terms of plot development can be overlooked—almost. This is a horror movie that is not afraid to be gory. There's lots of bloodshed to be found, something to give Fangoria fans something to watch. There are also genuine scares, good acting and real tension. I'd recommend it if the premise wasn't so unlikely.

The title sequence contains newspaper clips while eerie music plays on the soundtrack. The headlines shout absurdities about inbreeding and genetic mutations. Chris Finn (Desmond Harrington) is on his way to Raleigh, NC for an interview. He's passing through West Virginia on his way down, but a traffic jam stops his progress. Pressed for time, Chris backtracks and finds a rundown gas station. He checks a map and notices another road that will save him time. Chris leaves the gas station and takes the new route, which is a dirt road going through the woods.

Chris unwisely takes his eyes off the road and runs into a vehicle with a flat tire. Chris gets out, a bit shaken, and meets Scott (Jeremy Sisto), his fiancée Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and friends Jessie (Eliza Dushku) and Francine (Lindy Booth). They're not alone in the woods. As hinted in the opening title scene, inbred mutated men are lurking in the woods, ready to kill and eat anyone they find.

Much of the film has the characters running away and trying to outsmart the cannibals. This all makes for a surprisingly tense thriller. The characters are smart and resourceful, while the violence is pretty gruesome, making the scenario even more frightening. This should all combine for an effective horror film, something along the lines of Jeepers Creepers, but that isn't the case.

My problem is with the villains. We get the message that they are the product of inbreeding, but there's no way these people could have turned out like this. Their faces look inspired by the Toxic Avenger, they speak in some strange tongue, and they're unrealistically big. In history classes, we learned that inbreeding produced mad rulers. Here, we get cannibals. How did that happen? There are three male killers (brothers?), but where are their sisters/mothers with whom they supposedly mated?

In general, horror films are free from the requirements of realism, but Wrong Turn is rooted in realism yet creates villains too unbelievable. It's an unlikely pairing. Still, Rob Schmidt, who also directed Crime and Punishment in Suburbia, creates real thrills and scary moments. He has a good grasp of horror, but a better script would have allowed us to see his efforts in a more positive light.

© 2003 Silver Screen Reviews