Wrong Turn (2003/I)

Director:

Rob Schmidt

Writer (WGA):

Alan B. McElroy (written by)

Release Date:

30 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It's the last one you'll ever take.

Plot:

Six people find themselves trapped in the woods of West Virginia, hunted down by "cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding."

Plot Keywords:

Disturbing | Extreme Gore | West Virginia | Mutants | Wrong Turn

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Desmond Harrington	...	Chris Flynn
Eliza Dushku	...	Jessie Burlingame
Emmanuelle Chriqui	...	Carly
Jeremy Sisto	...	Scott
Kevin Zegers	...	Evan
Lindy Booth	...	Francine
Julian Richings	...	Three Finger
Garry Robbins	...	Saw-Tooth
Ted Clark	...	One-Eye
Yvonne Gaudry	...	Halley
Joel Harris	...	Rich
David Huband	...	Trooper
Wayne Robson	...	Old Man
James Downing	...	Trucker

Also Known As:

Wrong Turn (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, some language and drug use.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Germany:18 | Germany:16 (cut) | Hong Kong:IIB (heavily cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:R(A) (uncut version) | Iceland:16 | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Canada:18A | Finland:K-15 | France:-16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Poland:18 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | UK:18 | USA:R | Venezuela:PG-13 | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Dundas, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Summit Entertainment

Trivia:

In the scene when the four are running from the cabin after awaking the mountain men, Desmond Harrington broke his right ankle after landing on the opposite side of a log. This made it very difficult to shoot some of the scenes after his left leg is "shot" and he has to limp on his right leg.

Goofs:

When Carly hides from Scott on the road, his collar is flipped up in one shot, down in the next, then back up again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rich: Whoo! Whoo-hoo! Oh, yeah!
Halley: OK, you're great. You got the line?

Movie Connections:

References Three on a Meathook (1972)

Soundtrack:

Wish I May

A terrific 70s style horror flick

After seeing Wrong Turn, I decided to look back at other Stan Winston produced movies to see what I may have missed by him. Stan is a special effects master who has created scary monsters for some great flicks: Alien, Predator, Artificial Intelligence, Edward Scissorhands, Chiller, The Hand and more. Wrong Turn begins by introducing you to some very real characters during daytime and in bright sunlight. The plot begins with an intelligent med student (Desmond Harrington), trying to reach a destination but coming across a traffic jam on a main route through a mountain pass somewhere in West Virginia. He decides to make a U-turn and soon afterward finds a shortcut through some very rural woods of W-VA. Or so he thinks! He quickly meets up with a stalled vehicle in the road belonging to four campers thru an accident he has with their car, destroying both vehicles while no one is hurt. They are all effectively stranded in the middle of nowhere. They begin looking for a way to communicate with the outside world. Cellphones are useless out here. As they begin their search we discover they are being stalked by some awful looking inbreds, this flick's "monsters". The monsters are actually disfigured people who capture any unfortunate souls who happen to travel down the road into their neck of the woods. The main characters stumble right into the empty homestead belonging to these inbreds early in the story, which serves to make for some intriguing discoveries about the nature of their stalkers. At this point the story turns to a chase of sorts, with the intelligence of the quarry sometimes helping gain a foothold on their stalkers. You find yourself deeply involved in the movie, pushing all else aside as you start rooting for the stalked as they disappear one by one, until the survivors finally rise to the challenge as you find yourself cheering them on, screaming "Yes!" as they start to get the upper hand on their madmen stalkers! There are some terrific graphics which I haven't seen in other films. I watched the original theatrical version on a whim not knowing that my money would be so well-spent. I would like to point out that there's some good talent being splashed around on the screen here, both in the main characters played by Desmond Harington and Elisha Dushku, as well as in the supporting cast of Jeremy Sisto, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Kevin Zegers and Lindy Booth. I love this cast, and would like to see them reunite for a second effort, possibly in an entirely different setting -- maybe for a great haunted mansion flick. I'd give this movie an A-.