Wrong Turn

It starts with a very politically-correct group (black, white, Asian, Mexican, blonde, brunette, gay, straight, the lot) in the woods and ends with a strange and unexpected forest community. The only thing it has in common with the original Wrong Turn is the title, and instead of the cannibals, who were the main thrust of the old series, here we have "just" ordinary rednecks. The gore is mediocre, the actors don't impress, the script is stupid (literally all the traps in the forest are set exactly where the characters go...), the visuals of the forest village are just for effect (maybe they don't want to say that the people walk around with a deer skull on their heads all day), and the characters obviously don't have peripheral vision because what isn't on the screen they can't see. But that's all kind of what we expect from the film, and we go into it expecting it to be a below-average B-movie. So in its genre, it's exactly that (below) average piece of work that is shamefully stupid, but at least manages to entertain on a boring afternoon. The attempt at social insight with life in the woods and the final revenge is rather laughable and hurts the film, but whatever. It may not wow and fans of the original Wrong Turn will be disappointed, but go for it... (15/02/2021)

The relief! I put it on because I was curious to see how they could reboot a six-episode series of average redneck carnage, and to my pleasure, the creators took a major step aside, unafraid of disappointing fans. The intro hints at classic hixploitation in the spirit of the series and the running in the woods among traps and the shadows of the pursuers is playful, yet surprisingly dynamic and even tense at times. The break in the middle will certainly not please many people, but I thought it was great, even though it’s also a rip-off from many places and it didn’t feel very well thought-out overall. It manages to make you care about the characters, and the relatively sudden and short bursts of violence work better than senseless and excessive gore, and, when you think things will turn out exactly as you predicted in the middle, you get the bizarre and in its own way very funny nail that holds this entire satire about an uncommon American neighbourhood – it’s a pity that they don’t sell it at all as satire and the atmosphere is uneven because of that. In any case, a fine surprise with several great horror ideas (blind in the dark) and nice actors. 70% (13/02/2021)

I've seen a few wrong turns in my life, so I thought I knew what I was in for, but I didn't. The filmmakers went about it a little differently, making a thriller rather than a horror film, and it was quite a pleasant surprise. Instead of a well-worn, predictable plot, I got to see something a little different. I was introduced to a community compared to which the Amish are pioneers of progress. I didn’t have to feel sorry for the perfectly politically correct bunch in the car, and I quite enjoyed it. (11/04/2021)

Wrong Turn is a laughable attempt to push the well-known B-movie slasher franchise in the direction of thematically more substantial horror flicks like Midsommar. And what’s more, it does so with would-be clever genre clichés in mold of The Cabin in the Woods. Unfortunately, this attempt is just as dumb as the preceding films, and not as entertaining as a guilty pleasure without the admitted stupidity. It’s watchable only out of curiosity as to what other unexpected twists will pop up to make the film seem innovative, even though it just mechanically borrows everything imaginable from everywhere (the final stylisation of the female protagonist into the archer from The Hunger Games confirms who the film’s target audience is supposed to be). But the ending left me a bit puzzled. It was brilliant, like Jordan Peele’s work at the time of Get Out. And for the first time in the entire film, Bill Sage didn’t come across as a cheap B-movie version of Ray Winstone. (22/02/2021)

The only thing the reboot of Wrong Turn has in common with the original is the name and maybe the traps in the forest, so diehard fans of the series will be disappointed. From the trailer, it was quite obvious that there won't be mutants this time (which is not a big deal, since the best ones were in The Hills Have Eyes anyway) and this new direction possibly brought a fresh breath. Actually, the only thing that slightly bothered me is that most of the murders are off-screen, but fortunately they usually show at least "what's left". The group of teenagers is okay, the blonde is a likeable babe, who at the end comes off as Lara Croft, and I definitely have to praise the decent craftsmanship, the nature, the nice masks of animal skulls, and the very well built-up tension (the fall from the slope in front of the rolling log was great), and that one atmospheric and creepy scene that nobody expected (the corridor of the blind is wonderfully unpleasant). The final 20 minutes are quite intense, culminating in a sharp and interesting ending. It could have been even more brutal and dirtier, but it is still more brutal than most of the horror movies that have come out recently. I am satisfied, I have a weakness for forest massacres and there hasn't been a proper one for a long time and probably won't be. Those 49% are laughable and irrelevant for now. Story***, Action****, Humor>No, Violence****, Enjoyment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Tension****. 7.5/10. (13/02/2021)