Wrong Turn (2003 film)

Template:Short description Template:Infobox film Wrong Turn is a 2003 slasher film directed by Rob Schmidt, written by Alan B. McElroy, and starring Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jeremy Sisto, and Kevin Zegers. The first installment in the Wrong Turn film series, it follows a group of six individuals being stalked by deformed, inbred, cannibalistic mountain men in the woods of West Virginia.

Development for the film began in 2001 when it was announced Summit Entertainment and Newmarket Group teamed to produce Wrong Turn, a 1970s-style horror pic to be directed by Schmidt, while McElroy wrote the script. The film was a co-production between Summit and Constantin Film, with Stan Winston designing the creature effects and serving as a producer.

Wrong Turn was theatrically released in the United States on May 30, 2003, by 20th Century Fox. It grossed over $28 million worldwide against a $12 million budget but received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics.

Plot

One year later after the massacre at Fairlake, two college students, Rich Stoker and Halley Smith, are rock climbing in a remote forest of West Virginia. Rich reaches the top of a cliff and before he can help Halley up, he is attacked and killed. Someone begins to yank Halley up the cliff, forcing her to cut the rope and fall to the ground. She flees but is caught in a line of barbed wire and pulled back into the woods, screaming.

Sometime later, medical student Chris Flynn drives through the mountains of West Virginia on his way to a business meeting. He stops at a gas station to ask directions, and the elderly owner named Maynard is of no help. Chris finds a map and decides to go down Bear Mountain Road. He collides with a stopped car whose tires have been punctured. The car belongs to a group of college students on a camping trip: Jessie, Carly, Scott, Evan, and Francine. They discover that their tire actually hit barbed wires, which were intentionally laid by someone.

While Evan and Francine watch the cars, the others go to find help. Evan disappears after he hears something from the woods, and Francine finds his ear on the ground. A mysterious figure garrottes Francine with a length of barb wire. The remaining group enters an isolated cabin and are horrified to find human body parts inside. The occupants return home, forcing them to hide. Three cannibalistic inbred mountain men, Three Finger, Saw Tooth, and One Eye, enter the cabin with Francine's corpse. The hiding group watches as they dismember and eat her.

After the cannibals fall asleep, the group attempts to escape, but their captors awaken and chase them into the forest. The group finds previous victims' cars and tries to make up an escape plan. Chris gets shot in the leg while trying to distract the cannibals, and the girls take him to a truck, where they find Evan's body. Scott attempts another diversion for the other three to escape but gets killed with arrows. Jessie, Carly, and Chris stumble upon an old watchtower and call for help using an old radio. The cannibals arrive and are alerted when the radio responds to the group's call. Unable to get inside, the attackers set the tower on fire, forcing the three to jump out into the trees. In the ensuing chase, Carly is half-decapitated by Three Finger, while Jessie and Chris take refuge in a cave.

In the morning, the cannibals find them, pushing Chris down the hill, then taking Jessie back to their cabin. Chris survives the fall and meets a police officer, who is promptly shot by Saw Tooth. Chris hides under Saw Tooth's truck as he drives back to the cabin. Jessie, who is tied down to a bed, watches as the cannibals chop off the dead police officer's head.

Chris sets the cabin on fire and drives the cannibal's truck into the cabin. He frees Jessie, and as they flee Chris destroys the cabin by shooting at a fuel tank. The pair drive away in the cannibals' pickup truck. At Maynard's gas station, Chris stops and rips off the map, before leaving.

In a mid-credits scene, a deputy sheriff who had received the radio call earlier investigates the remains of the destroyed cabin. Three Finger, who survived the explosion, rises and kills the deputy while laughing maniacally.

Production

Development

Development for the film began in 2001 when it was announced Summit Entertainment and Newmarket Group teamed to produce Wrong Turn, a 1970s-style horror pic to be directed by Rob Schmidt.<ref name=ew20>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Alan B. McElroy, who had begun his career as a screenwriter for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), wrote the script.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> McElroy devised the idea for the film after he and his wife were forced to detour on a rural side road during a snowstorm to avoid a major traffic collision: "As we're doing that, in the dark, in a snowstorm, we're thinking, 'Is this a smart idea?'" McElroy recalled. "Anything could go wrong!"<ref name=ew20/>

The film was a co-production, Summit Entertainment and Constantin Films, with Stan Winston designing the creature effects and serving as a producer.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Inking a deal with Fox-based Regency Enterprises, the co-financiers of Wrong Turn secured domestic distribution through Fox.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Fox reportedly had trouble securing an R-rating from the MPAA due to the film's intense violence, with many of the TV spots for the film also being refused approval; this is possibly one of the reasons why subsequent Wrong Turn movies were released straight to video.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filming

Though set in West Virginia, filming of Wrong Turn took place in a nature reserve north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.<ref name=ew20/> Additional photography, including the sequence set in the forest station tower, occurred on a set.<ref name=ew20/> While shooting a sequence in which her character falls through a series of tree branches, actress Emmanuelle Chriqui dislocated her shoulder.<ref name=ew20/>

Music

Two soundtracks were released; one contains the original film score, and the other contains popular music.

Soundtrack

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Track listing

1. "In Stance" – Eris
2. "Bloody Fingers" – Jet Black Summer
3. "Every Famous Last Word" – Miracle of 86
4. "Never Said Anything" – The Belles
5. "Why Would I Want to Die?" – Grandaddy
6. "Haunted" – King Black Acid
7. "Three Murders" – Deadman
8. "Ex" – Tara King Theory
9. "Birthday" – Simple
10. "Even the Scars Forget the Wound" – Gruvis Malt
11. "He's a Killer" – DJ Swamp
12. "Bring the Pain"/"Multiple Incisions" – Candiria
13. "If Only" – Queens of the Stone Age
14. "Wish I May" – Breaking Benjamin

Score

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Original Motion Picture ScoreElia CmiralJune 3, 2003Film score45:43Varèse SarabandeWrong Turn soundtrackx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Track listing

1. "Dark Forest"
2. "Wrong Turn Title"
3. "Mountain Men"
4. "Cabin In The Woods"
5. "Adventure Begins"
6. "Mountain Men At Home"
7. "Francine Dies"
8. "Jessie"
9. "Scott Becomes Prey"
10. "Bear Trap"
11. "Escape From Cabin"
12. "Jessie Taken Hostage"
13. "Fire In The Watchtower"
14. "Grim Discovery"
15. "Are We Safe?"
16. "They Got Carly"
17. "Killing Mountain Men"
18. "We Are Alive"
19. "Three Finger is Back"

Reception

Box office

Released in the United States on May 30, 2003, Wrong Turn earned $5,161,498 during its opening weekend among 1,615 theaters.<ref name=boxmojo/> It went to gross a total of $15,418,790 in the United States and $13,231,785 internationally, making for a worldwide gross of $28,650,575.<ref name=boxmojo/>

Critical response

Template:Rotten Tomatoes prose<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Metacritic film prose<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Barbara Ellen of The Times wrote "This could have been a half decent cross between a Romero zombie movie and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but in the end the gore is so ridiculously overdone and the script so lame, that it undermines all sense of suspense".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> William Thomas of Empire said "It's better than any of the official Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels. Which is probably a good thing".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Scott Foundas of Variety criticized Wrong Turn for being "A negative pickup by Fox", adding that "[it was] dumped into theaters on Friday without benefit of press previews", resulting in "frightless torpor".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

A one out of four stars was awarded to the film by Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle who wrote "This was already tired stuff when cult fave Sleepaway Camp came out in 1983, and it's downright comatose by now".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> BBC's Nev Pierce gave the film two out of five,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while Anita Gates of The New York Times called it "[a] lazy would-be horror film".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Franchise

Sequels

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Wrong Turn was followed by several films including two sequels, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007) and Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009).

Prequel series

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Three prequels leading to the events of the original film, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011), Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines (2012), and Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (2014).

Reboot

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In October 2018, reboot simply titled Wrong Turn (2021) was announced.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The film was written by original film's writer Alan B. McElroy and directed by Mike P. Nelson. Principal photography for the movie began on September 9, 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Though initially planned for a 2020 release, the film was held until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After an announcement on December 16, 2020, the film was domestically released theatrically for a one-night run on January 26, 2021.

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0295700

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