7/8/08: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)Wrong Turn was unexpected fun back in 2005, showing up in theaters as a mildly disturbing throwback to grindhouse mayhem about cannibal hillbillies terrorizing hot babes. There wasn’t any conservative content, though.
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End went direct-to-video with a more inspiring message. In fact, this hardcore slasher film would’ve made a nice pairing with our
Frontier(s) review as a concept week celebrating Independence Day with right-wing torture porn.
Now we have
Wrong Turn 2 as a late bookend to
the review that launched this site on July 4, 2006. We’re back in the West Virginia wilderness where inbred hillbillies eat tourists and refuse to vote for Obama. These mutated moonshiners have a tasty new menu driving into their neckbone of the woods. A reality show is setting up camp. It’s called
Ultimate Survivor: Apocalypse, and has a bunch of beautiful young people trying to win $100,000 by surviving in a mock-up of a nuclear wasteland.
Wrong Turn 2’s tone is set in the opening scene, where a real life
American Idol contestant is dispatched in a spectacularly gruesome way. This one’s a real throwback to the splatter overkill of the ’80s direct-to-video market—so we’re not necessarily recommending it to everybody. Those who enjoy this kind of thing will still get a very pleasant surprise from a very unlikely source.
Actually, there are two fine Marines in the cast of
Wrong Turn 2. The lovely Amber is one of the reality show’s contestants, as played by Daniella Alonso. (She appeared that same year in
The Hills Have Eyes II, which wasn’t nearly as good as the first remake.) Amber is one of the more likable presences in both the film and the doomed show, and her lesbianism isn’t treated like any big deal—well, except for Steve Braun showing comic-relief interest as the skateboard champion paired with the tough gal.
Amber is a fine role model, but the big shock comes from Henry Rollins as
Ultimate Survivor: Apocalypse host Dale Murphy, USMC (Ret.). We’re not big fans of the actor/singer around here, but we’re willing to believe that Rollins is a big fan of military men. He certainly creates a compelling character here.
First, let’s consider how most young directors would’ve handled
Wrong Turn 2. They’d hack out a reliable horror film, and use Murphy as some villainous comic relief who’d provide a chance to throw in some political commentary about the war in Iraq. These directors wouldn’t do so out of personal beliefs, but just because it’s a good calling card for the major studios.
First-time feature director Joe Lynch didn’t go that route. He made a great action film that’s thoroughly unpredictable. Now we’ll give away one unpredictable thing by noting that Murphy turns out to be a real hero. He fights for his TV crew, he fights for the strangers who just joined them as contestants, and he even fights for the reputation of backwoods types who aren’t cannibal mutants.
We’re not bothering with spoiler warnings because
Wrong Turn 2 is full of surprises. You’ll probably enjoy the movie more knowing that Murphy’s a good guy. We spent our first time watching the film just waiting for the moment when a great character turned into a sad joke. Waiting for the axe to fall, so to speak, but it never does for Murphy.
Make it your own: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End was a big direct-to-video hit, so it’s easy to find
a cheap used DVD. The extras are all good fun, and Rollins doesn’t say anything particularly stupid in the commentary. We didn’t listen to all of it, of course.
Production on
Wrong Turn 3 was announced a few weeks ago. Sadly, the new director doesn’t seem nearly as promising as Joe Lynch—unless you really liked that Sci-Fi Channel movie about the animated rock.
