Very flat, very one-dimensional, and very uninteresting (to me). Think of it as a very weak cross between the 2006 reboot of The Hills Have Eyes and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The characters - both antagonists and protagonists - are dull and uninteresting; the storyline is very juvenile and a complete stretch and the protagonists (the young-ish camper/road-tripper types) give you absolutely no reason to buy into them, for any reason. They're your typical horror-film young couples who just happen to be out for a trip in the backwoods of ... Virginia? West Virginia?... (that's how much I remember about it) to help mend the freshly-broken heart of a friend by taking her camping. Some med school grad makes a wrong turn on his way to an interview, crashes into the parked truck (recently rendered useless, courtesy of the backwoods hillbillies) and the 6 of them become best buds and traipse off into said backwoods in search of assistance. Enter the often-implied-but-seldom-seen-full-on antagonists who somehow have become these misshapen freaks, courtesy of some apparent decades of inbreeding? Who knows...the story never mentions it. We can only assume they look this way (although you rarely see them in any full-on shots; it's mostly just guesswork as to how gruesomely deformed they are) because of where they live: apparently anyone who lives out there in those remote backwoods hills of Virginia can only mate with their immediate family, thus resulting in decades of mutated freaks. Surprisingly, these mutated freaks look eerily similar to the mutated freaks in the aforementioned The Hills Have Eyes although those freaks at least had years of nuclear radiation to thank for their skin conditions...which makes a lot more sense, especially considering these guys here (in Wrong Turn ) didn't even have women around to imply that they were breeding with anything. They never even showed any interest in the female variety (and for that, I was truly grateful; The Hills Have Eyes rape scenes were too gruesome even for my taste) so I still don't get where they got such a horrid appearance. The film never gives you ANY kind of a backstory about anyone except "Jessie" (played by Eliza Dushsku). Nothing about any of the other young travelers nor the mutated hillbilly stalker/murderers, either. The very few "kill scenes" were sudden and short-lived and not original nor even that bloody, so this is not your gore-fest to get your blood churning. Overall, I was hugely disappointed with numerous things about this: how long it took to actually get into the story, how little imagination/creativity went into the capture/killing of anyone, how abruptly everything ended, and lastly, the post-credits scene that was almost palpably foreseeable it was so obvious. I watched it - mainly because I started it and hate leaving a film unfinished (unless it's just actually that bad) - but I can truthfully say I only finished it because, again, I hate leaving a movie unfinished unless it's just absolutely awful. This wasn't "awful" but it was awfully disappointing. I watched it but even at less than 90 minutes runtime, I wouldn't bother watching it ever again. Very predictable, very unoriginal, and very uninteresting.
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2024-04-20T20:01:12Z
Very flat, very one-dimensional, and very uninteresting (to me). Think of it as a very weak cross between the 2006 reboot of The Hills Have Eyes and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The characters - both antagonists and protagonists - are dull and uninteresting; the storyline is very juvenile and a complete stretch and the protagonists (the young-ish camper/road-tripper types) give you absolutely no reason to buy into them, for any reason. They're your typical horror-film young couples who just happen to be out for a trip in the backwoods of ... Virginia? West Virginia?... (that's how much I remember about it) to help mend the freshly-broken heart of a friend by taking her camping. Some med school grad makes a wrong turn on his way to an interview, crashes into the parked truck (recently rendered useless, courtesy of the backwoods hillbillies) and the 6 of them become best buds and traipse off into said backwoods in search of assistance. Enter the often-implied-but-seldom-seen-full-on antagonists who somehow have become these misshapen freaks, courtesy of some apparent decades of inbreeding? Who knows...the story never mentions it. We can only assume they look this way (although you rarely see them in any full-on shots; it's mostly just guesswork as to how gruesomely deformed they are) because of where they live: apparently anyone who lives out there in those remote backwoods hills of Virginia can only mate with their immediate family, thus resulting in decades of mutated freaks. Surprisingly, these mutated freaks look eerily similar to the mutated freaks in the aforementioned The Hills Have Eyes although those freaks at least had years of nuclear radiation to thank for their skin conditions...which makes a lot more sense, especially considering these guys here (in Wrong Turn ) didn't even have women around to imply that they were breeding with anything. They never even showed any interest in the female variety (and for that, I was truly grateful; The Hills Have Eyes rape scenes were too gruesome even for my taste) so I still don't get where they got such a horrid appearance. The film never gives you ANY kind of a backstory about anyone except "Jessie" (played by Eliza Dushsku). Nothing about any of the other young travelers nor the mutated hillbilly stalker/murderers, either. The very few "kill scenes" were sudden and short-lived and not original nor even that bloody, so this is not your gore-fest to get your blood churning. Overall, I was hugely disappointed with numerous things about this: how long it took to actually get into the story, how little imagination/creativity went into the capture/killing of anyone, how abruptly everything ended, and lastly, the post-credits scene that was almost palpably foreseeable it was so obvious. I watched it - mainly because I started it and hate leaving a film unfinished (unless it's just actually that bad) - but I can truthfully say I only finished it because, again, I hate leaving a movie unfinished unless it's just absolutely awful. This wasn't "awful" but it was awfully disappointing. I watched it but even at less than 90 minutes runtime, I wouldn't bother watching it ever again. Very predictable, very unoriginal, and very uninteresting.