Review of Wrong Turn (2003) by Tim B — 19 Nov 2010

While I don't think this movie was the best throwback to the harsh 70s flick, I DO believe a lot of them have this one to thank for starting it in the early 2000s. Wrong Turn was a simple easy-as-pie horror movie that didn't hold back when it came to displaying the gory goods.

Most movies until that point were the teeny bop whodunit slashers and held back a lot when it came to the good stuff. Wrong Turn ran with it and got a lot of flack for it. I highly enjoyed my first viewing of it and today, I still can get a lot out of it.

The gore was convincing, the suspense was laid on thick and the action was almost non-stop, it drove me in from the start and I acted like I had never seen a horror movie before, I was having so much fun.

Granted, the characters were fairly stereotypical in their roles, but the actors portraying them were excellent, thus having me get into them to a degree. Desmond Harrington kept it to a minimum and came across as quite likable.

So glad to see the guy's off to bigger things (Dexter anyone?). Eliza Dushku's performance is overshadowed by how smoking hot she looks in a tank top, but that factor had me rooting for her and I've seen enough Buffy to know that she's talented.

Emanuelle Chriqui did a good job and displayed her character's emotions very well. Genre regular Jeremy Sisto got to play a nice, funny guy for once and pulled it off. Loved him. Kevin Zegers and Lindy Booth show up in small bits and were good.

Damn, Booth looks good. Rob Schmidt kept an old school feel to the picture while throwing the odd stylish montage in. The guy also has a great talent when it comes to suspense and didn't let up. Wowzers for that part alone.

On the downside, predictability and conventions were a bit overwhelming at times. Though the suspense was bang-on, I can't say that I couldn't play the "who's gonna bite it next" game and win every damn time.

Yep, it was fairly predictable to me the whole way. Then there was those stupid moves again in the name of serving the story (browsing the house wayyy too long and the tower...) that didn't annoy me too much, but needed to be said.

But typical plot conventions aside, I still had a blast with this one. If you don't dig fun in your horror, stay away from this one. This one's about teens-vs-sick-rejects-in-woods with a lot of graphic violence, suspense and action.

That's it. But if you dig on horror and haven't seen it, it's definitely worth a shot.