Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong Turn - Horror is back!, 1 Nov 2003
By A Customer
Wrong Turn marks the return of hard core horror films, reminiscent of those that graced cinema screens in the 70's and early 80s (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Friday The 13th etc). Had it not been for Wrong Turn, I doubt that "Cabin Fever" would have been such a big hit, along with the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. It's good old fashioned horror at it's best, with all the gore thrown in that Scream like slasher films of the 90's such as "Urban Legend", "Urban Legends: Final Cut" and "Valentine" decided not to use, ultimately aiming horror films of recent years to a younger crowd and taking away the edge they once had. Wrong Turn isn't toned down for a 15 certificate in the hope of making more money at the box office, it's a real horror film that delivers the suspense, scares and gore that we horror fans have been dying for!
Chris (Desmond Harrington), Jesse (Eliza Dushku), Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), Scott (Jeremy Sisto), Francine (Lindy Booth) and Evan (Kevin Zegers) are six twenty something's stranded in the woods of West Virginia. In search of a phone, the group stumbles upon a house that belongs to a trio of inbred cannibals, who would like nothing more than to prepare them for dinner. What follows is a struggle for the group to make it out of the woods, as the cannibals hunt them down and kill them off in a grisly fashion.
Yes, hardly an original concept, but it's executed very well and creates genuine scares and a hell of a lot of suspense (particularly in the scene where the cannibals come home). As the plot is simple, it is evident that more attention was given to the situations that the characters end up in, and the ways in which they are dispatched. They end up in several different scenarios, some of which have never been done before. This makes it harder to predict what will happen as you have never seen it happen in a previous horror film. The plot may not be original, but the events themselves sure are! For once you may find that you CAN'T guess what exactly will happen next, and this is a refreshing change for the psycho slasher genre. The deaths are creative and very gory, and some of them come as a real surprise (jump out of your seat moments).
The characters are enjoyable to watch, with Eliza Dushku once again playing the strong female (like Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Jeremy Sisto playing Scott with a Jeff Goldblum like quality. For me, the real star in the film was Emmanuelle Chriqui playing Carly. She is probably the most developed of the characters, as the audience get a bit of insight into her personal life. We also see how her character changes as the film progresses. Not only does she go from fun loving to petrified (as most characters do in these type of films), but we see her go beyond this. She shows real emotion for others in the group as they fall prey to the killers (how often do we see this?!!), and then later she seems as though she's not quite with it anymore, being driven to insanity by fear. You really feel for the characters in this film, which just makes it more enjoyable to watch as you wonder who will make it to the end.
The film is also very well made. The direction is top notch and the use of light and shadows give an eerie feel to particular scenes. The beautiful scenery is also captured by the camera. It is impressive how the film manages to look so professional and have such good production values, but also remind the audience of the cheap backwoods slasher flicks from over 20 years ago that so many of us have come to love. Stan Winston (he did the special effects for Jurassic Park!) is on board to bring the cannibalistic mountain men to life, with extremely realistic make up effects. The script is witty on occasion, and only once is it self referential like the Scream films (one character mentions the film "Deliverance"). With a cast full of fresh faces, good acting, likeable characters, suspense, jumps, gore, great special effects, a well written screenplay, fantastic direction and a musical score that is very fitting to the film's main themes, you should find something you like about Wrong Turn. If like me, you like all of these things, you should fall in love with it instantly! For so long I had been making trips to the cinema, hoping to be scared by a film so much that I would be tearing the fabric from the arms of the chair and shouting at the screen, and finally it happened when I went to see Wrong Turn. This is horror at its best, so buy it now!
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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE LITE..., 8 Dec 2003
I rented this film after viewing a trailer for it, because it had reminded me of two horror favorites: the film "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and an episode on the X Files about a backwoods inbred family. I was not disappointed, as it certainly seemed to be a cross between these two favorites.While there were no real surprises, other than a very effective opening scene, the production values were first rate. The inbred family was certainly creepy and their house certainly was appropriately macabre and revolting, as befits such a family that enjoys dismembering and eating their victims. It is these hospitable folks that Eliza Dushku and her friends meet up with in the backwoods of West Virginia with predictable results. The film simply offers a few thrills, some average acting, and, as I said, some first rate production values, thanks to film production veteran Stan Winston. It offers nothing more and nothing less, which is too bad, since it had those great production values going for it. The problem with the film is that it copied too much from other films without offering something of its own to give it that certain edge and make it memorable in its own right. Tobe Hooper did this better in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", as did the X Files television show. Still, notwithstanding its predictability, fans of the horror film genre should find this film enjoyable. It is, at the very least, worth a rental.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
scary as hell, 12 Jan 2004
Okay so this film is no scream or valentine but it is still a good solid horror movie, the cast is preety impresive in their roles, even from the opening credits you know that you are in for one hell of a ride, this film is routine sure but it plays that to its advantage, it's conventiality is nessacery. This film is shocking, frightning, funny and gorey, the tension is almost to much to bare you knuckles will probably be white, by the end of the film you feel like youve been draged through a hedge backwards and then thrown into a pit of sharks. The story is fairly ordinary, a group of people end up in a wood, the group split up and two get left behind after a little sexual intercourse well, (guess what happens next) while the other half of the group have found a hut and stick around long enough to see some really gorey discoveries, then three men walk in, (this is the sickest part of the film) the potential victims are stuck underneath a bed whilst watching there friends get butcherd. Eliza Dunsk plays a charecter not unlick her claim to fame Faith in buffy the vampire slayer, she is strong clever and fast.The actual mountain men are stomach churning enough anyway, Wrongturn have taken some tips from halloween as to not showing you the killer until the very end, this film is suprisingly low budget (you wouldnt be able to tell from the actual film), this film works really on shock value, go and see it but beware it is only for jadded horror fans as some of the scenes are very shocking and scary (arrow in the eye) for a start of. this film is suprisingly good, but dosnt have the intellengence of scream or the pure style of valentine
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