D V D C R Y P T

WRONG TURN

Directed by Rob Schmidt
Produced by Robert Kulzer, Erik Feig, Stan Winston & Brian Gilbert
Written by Alan McElroy
Director of Photograpy John S. Bartley
Music by Elia Cmiral
Cast: Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui & Jeremy Sisto

2003/84 mins/Color/5.1 DD
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/USA/NTSC Region 1

Review from the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD

With the upcoming releases of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake, KILL BILL, and the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, Hollywood is clearly being influenced by the films of the 1970s, not only in terms of material (the remakes), but the overall tones of the films -- most notably the violent content. WRONG TURN, which was released theatrically earlier this year, but did little business, is another throwback to the films of the 70s. The movie is about as far from original as one can get, but its no-nonsense approach to the material is nonetheless intriguing.

WRONG TURN is set in the backwoods of West Virginia. Chris Finn (Desmond Harrington) is attempting to reach Raleigh, North Carolina (which is near Chapel Hill) for an appointment, but he progress south has been stymied by a traffic-jam. Determined to stay on schedule, Chris takes a shortcut on a dirt road. There, he crashes into an SUV carrying a group of campers, Jesse (Eliza Dushku), Scott (Jeremy Sisto), Carly (Emmanulle Chriqui), Francine (Lindy Booth), and Evan (Kevin Zegers). Now stranded, the group attempts to find a paved road, a phone, or some sort of help. Unfortunately, they are pursued by three shadowy mountain-men, who don't want to let the group leave the forest alive.

And, that's about it for the story. Screenwriter Alan McElroy isn't exactly known for creating great art and he certainly doesn't drag a great deal of plotting into WRONG TURN. The film is incredibly basic -- a group of "city folk" trespass in the woods and are hunted by the locals. The film is clearly a homage to such 70's classics as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, and DELIVERANCE, as the group is pursued over unfamiliar territory by strange individuals using bizarre weapons. (And there's even a line lifted from HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES.) But, unlike any of those aforementioned films, WRONG TURN doesn't even try to offer any story about the attackers. From graphics and icons in the opening credits, we learn that the villains are in-bred and suffer from genetic abnormalities. There's that and the fact that they live in the woods. Apparently, that gives them the motivation to kill and mutilate people. When the film was first released, the governor of West Virginia spoke out against it. And having seen the film, I can say that he has a point. According to WRONG TURN, West Virginia has a lot of trees and killer hillbillies. That should boost tourism.

But, in an almost zen-like manner, director Rob Schmidt (who has nothing even close to horror on his resume) is able to take the lack of any true story and create a surprisingly interesting film. One the main idea of WRONG TURN has been introduced and the hunt begins, the film is merely a series of set-pieces as the characters are picked off one-by-one. Within these scenes, there is a fair amount of suspense, some nice "jump" scares, and a surprising amount of gore. And, there is a chase-scene in a very unique location (I won't give it away), which gives the film at least one original scene. And I must mention the fact that, for once, Eliza Dushku is playing a normal woman, and not some trash-talking, street wise cool chick as she typically does. WRONG TURN can't hold a candle to the films such as THE HILLS HAVE EYES which inspired it, but despite a total lack of plot twists or deep ideas, it is mildly entertaining and a welcome treat for gorehounds.

WRONG TURN finds its way to DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The DVD is a "flipper" containing both the full-frame version and the widescreen version on the discs respective sides. For the purposes of this review, only the widescreen version was screened. The DVD features an anamorphic transfer and the film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no distracting grain, nor any defects from the source print. There are many dark scenes in WRONG TURN and they all look fine here, as the action is always visible. The image shows little evidence of compression artifacting or edge-enhancement. The DVD also contains a dynamite audio track. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track provides clear dialogue and has no hissing. The surround sound effects are nearly constant, coming the guise of musical cues and sound effects. Also, the subwoofer action is very impressive. The film has fantastic sound design and the mix on this disc adds a lot to the film.

The DVD contains several extras, which are spread over the two sides of the disc. Both sides contain an audio commentary with director Rob Schimdt, and stars Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington. This is one of those boring commentaries where the spearkers spend too much time actually watching the movie, instead of talking. So, during the suspenseful and action scenes, all is quiet. When they do talk, their comments aren't very serious and are far from enlightening. Side A (the full-frame side) starts with "Featurette: Making of WRONG TURN" (4 minutes). This is basically a long commercial for the film, as it's made up mostly of clips, containing only scant seconds of behind-the-scenes footage and quotes from the cast & crew. We next have the inexcusably titled "Eliza Dushku: Babe in the Woods" (4 minutes), which examines Dushku's character and allows the cast & crew to comment on the actress. Another profile is offered in "Stan Winston: Monster Mogul" (5 minutes), where executive producer Winston discusses his career and gives his thoughts on WRONG TURN. On Side B, we have 3 very brief deleted scenes, one of which simply shows the dailies for one of the FX shots. More FX are featured in "Fresh Meat: The Wounds of WRONG TURN" (10 minutes), where director Schmidt and Stan Winston discuss the creation of the make-up effects and we get a look at how the creatures were created. There are 4 different concepts for WRONG TURN's poster, three of which are much better than the final product. Finally, we have the theatrical trailer, which has been letterboxed at 1.85:1. The DVD box features the aforementioned awful poster art, which makes Eliza Dushku look as if she's about to fall off of the box.

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