![]() The handheld camerawork also lends a grittiness sorely lacking from the year's other big cannibal tales, the over-polished remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Abercrombie & Fitch-esque sequel to Jeepers Creepers. But there are definite shades of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's most breathtaking fight scene as Chris and Jessie outfox the cannibals while precariously balancing on some treetops. You wouldn't expect a video nasty throwback to take inspiration from an Oscar-winning wuxia epic. His most impressive set-piece, though, arrives when the three remaining survivors leap from a burning watchtower into the forestry below. Or when Scott tries to outrun the monsters in the forest, only to be arrowed in the chest, just an agonizing few yards from safety. ![]() See when Francine's garroted corpse starts dripping blood into the path of under-the-bed Chris and Jessie, for example. Yet director Rob Schmidt, whose only previous credit was 2000 revenge thriller Crime and Punishment in Suburbia, still manages to crank up the tension in between all the well-worn beats. Given their fondness for sex and weed, it's blatantly obvious which of the six will be brutally murdered first, too. There's the decrepit backwoods home filled with jars of human teeth and creepy doll heads. There's a gap-toothed gas station attendant who fails to warn the unsuspecting out-of-towner that the area is riddled with mutant country bumpkins. Sure, Wrong Turn ticks off several clichés in the hillbilly horror handbook. However, it's only after Chris (Desmond Harrington), a medical student taking a shortcut to escape a traffic jam, crashes into their stationary SUV that they learn they've inadvertently wandered into an inbred family's own personal killing field. Preparing to trek across the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, the film's initial party of five consists of horndog stoners Francine (Lindy Booth) and Evan (Kevin Zegers), loved-up couple Scott (Jeremy Sisto) and Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and plucky singleton Jessie (Eliza Dushku). He once again cuts to the bone here, offing the first two anonymous rock-climbing victims in the cold open before efficiently dispatching its main cast of photogenic 20-somethings across a no-frills 84 minutes. McElroy knew all about delivering a lean, mean slasher. Having previously brought Michael Myers back from the dead in the underrated fourth Halloween, screenwriter Alan B. While the most inessential scary franchise of the 21st century quickly succumbed to the law of diminishing returns, though, its first entry remains a taut, effective detour worth taking. The original 2003 Wrong Turn has undoubtedly been tarnished by the five (yes, five!) direct-to-DVD installments that followed in its grisly path. Hitting cinemas ( if only for a day) later this month, the 2021 Wrong Turn is, of course, yet another follow-up to the same-named modest hit that gave Buffy graduate Eliza Dushku her first major starring role. Shortly after news that the latest installment of the Scream series would be called, erm, " Scream," along comes another franchise chapter that can’t even be bothered to add a number to its title. It seems like we’re entering a boom period for somewhat lazily-named horror revivals.
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