Wrong Turn
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Website: http://www.wrongturnmovie.com/
Release Date: 2003-05-30
Cast: Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Desmond Harrin, Lindy Booth
Director: Rob Schmidt
Screenwriter: Alan McElroy, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage
WorkNameSort: Wrong Turn
Our Rating: 1.00
While driving in the West Virginia woods, Chris Finn (Desmond Harrington) makes an ill-advised left and runs into some generic post-teens, including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum Eliza Dushku. The youths run afoul of some inbred mutant cannibal rednecks who try to eat them; Chris and Co. try not to get et; an hour or so later, the movie ends. Unlike “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” of which this prays to be a passable Xerox, there’s no sadistic black humor, nor is there subtext á la “The Hills Have Eyes'” implied class warfare. Its characters barely pass muster as decent mutant meals. But wait–there’s less. Co-produced/special effected by FX master Stan Winston, it underlights or cuts away from its presumably impressive mutant makeups and designer deaths. It pretends ignorance of the redneck-slaughter tradition running from “Texas Chainsaw” and “Hills” in the ’70s to the recent “House of 1000 Corpses.” Really, “Wrong Turn” is nothing, even less than nothing, and yet there it is, gnawing away your time.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2003.