In a stretch to find more horror movie franchises to watch, but not
quite feeling like chainsaws being used in Texas, I took the chance to
watch the Wrong Turn series. How can you go wrong with cannibal
hillbillies? Oh...wait...isn't that what those chainsaw movies are
about? Whoops.
Wrong Turn: The first int he
series, and I wonder how it even became a series after this movie. It
starts out OK, with a young doctor trying to get to a new job interview.
His attempt at a shortcut to bypass a traffic accident leads to the
inevitable trouble you would expect. Cue a lot of bad dialogue, stupid
decisions, and so-so effects. With the cast in this, I was hoping for a
bit more. I mean, I recognized 4 of the named actors in the opening
credits and they are all usually pretty good. This movie was so
predictable that I actually got kind of bored watching it and found
myself surfing the internet. I have seen worse, but this was not as fun
as I would have wanted.
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End:A
sequel that is better than the original. Not something that happens
often, especially when the sequel is an obvious attempt to cash in on
what must have been a relatively popular movie. This time we have a
reality show about surviving a fake apocalypse to get our victims into
place. Once I started watching this, i remembered having seen it a while
back on television. Even then, there were bits I had forgotten which
surprised me. The death of a character I assumed was going to be the
protagonists was a nice touch, as was the fact that the entire thing
took place in daylight. Not many horror movies go with the well lit
thing, so it is always nice to see. There was one pretty cool bit of
early movie gore that was both fun and ridiculous at the same time.
Overall, much better than the first movie.
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead:The
inevitable, and dreaded, third movie. Not many series can hold up this
long and fewer still can make something even passable for their third
movie. This one is actually pretty fun, with an interesting and fresh
plot. In this movie the hillbillies are after a group of escaped
convicts, who are themselves pretty dangerous people. Much of the movie
is actually just the escapees fighting amongst themselves, with
Three-Finger the Hillbilly provoking a higher level of tension for them
all. This movie had a couple of surprises in it as well, like the
character I was sure was there just to provide another body having some
real use for a scene or two. He does still die, of course. I also liked
the twist at the end, and the twist on the twist. Half of it was
expected, so good on the writer for throwing another level in there and
catching me off guard. Not as fun as the lat movie, but still better
than the first.
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings:
Movie four, and we hit prequel territory. That taken into account, it
is not that bad. We get the expected torture, the usual horny teenagers
doing stupid things, and the inevitable twist ending. Overall, I was
pretty OK with this one. Nothing fantastic and original, but nothing so
derivative that it ruined the movie for me. Plus, I liked how they ended
it. Nice and sudden.
Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines:
The final (for now) sequel. I'm not really sure where in the timeline
or mythology of the movie this one takes place. I know it references the
last one with the hospital. However, the protagonists in this have
masks based on the look of the villains, so it must have some link to
the other movies. Except it doesn't really feel like it fits in. Instead
of kids in the woods getting picked off, we have hillbilly revenge for
the capture of their...friend? Mentor? Not really sure. The redeeming
factor in this was that Doug Bradley plays a pretty vile character, and
one that isn't in leather bondage gear for once. Not a bad movie I
guess, just feels out of place in this series.
So, big picture, this is a pretty forgettable series of movies.
The villains have no real personality, other than the damned goofy laugh
that Three-Finger has. Which gets old fast. The makeup for the killers
is laughable, but the gore isn't too bad. Didn't like the first one for
being too murky to really see anything, didn't like the later movies for
being nothing special. Kind of liked the second one though. That was a
fun idea that played well. Would have been better off as a standalone,
though.
