Film Reviews

Wrong Turn

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Desmond Harrington
• Details: US / 85 mins / (18).

Before I went to see Wrong Turn, I was not convinced that the world needed Deliverance for slackers. Now I am certain. Life is too short to spend 85 minutes watching a movie which you have most likely seen more thrillingly executed elsewhere. The threadbare plot starts off with Chris (Harrington) a med student, running late for a job interview. He's driving through the backwoods of West Virginia (a part of the world, according to this pap, where sisters double as girlfriends and sometimes mothers) when he smashes into a jeep parked in the middle of a dirt road. The five unfeasibly attractive passengers had crashed their own car before Chris came along and really finished off the job. Anyways, before long it becomes clear that a trio of - oh yes! - inbreds are intent on hunting the kids down and killing them for the sheer heck of it.
The filmmakers claim that Wrong Turn is a movie steeped in the tradition of classic 1970s horrors, but that's just a nice way of saying there isn't a note of originality here. This wouldn't be such a big deal if the action moved at a fluid, juicy pace and there was enough character on display to get worked up about. Instead Wrong Turn staggers along like a wounded animal, while the inbred sorts are far more interesting than their sleek 'n' toned counterparts. At least they're got some purpose about them.

Review by Garreth Murphy