Wrong Turn [HD]

We are never going into the woods again!
This movie is similar in tone to the recent remake of The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although not nearly as gory as "Hills", the theme of mutation runs through both. During the opening credits, we see images and newspaper clippings reporting the mutations. This time, however, the mutations are due to good ol' fashioned inbreeding in the mountains of West Virginia, rather than from nuclear fallout.

The movie starts out with a decent scene. After the initial havoc is wreaked, you hear the haunting, maniacal laughter that will follow through the rest of the ride. Our main character, Chris, is running late for an appointment. He takes a "shortcut" and "runs" into a car containing two clueless guys, a redhead and two pieces of fine, stranded @ss. They go looking for a phone and stumble upon a shack that is reminiscent of the house in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: creepy, filthy, full of trash and hidden stashes of gore.. nasty.

This is where we get...

Worth the Detour
Jesse (Eliza Dushku) and her four friends (two other hot women - Filet and Ribeye, and two guys - Sirloin and Porterhouse), are on a trip in the wilderness of West Virginia when they run over some barbed-wire, destroying their car's tires. Soon thereafter, a young doctor named Chris rams their car. The six are stranded on a seemingly abandoned dirt road; however, they just happen to be trespassing.

The six interlopers are on the ol' Johnson land. Brothers Bubba (nicknamed Three Finger, he's the young one who likes to climb trees and laugh), Cletus (nicknamed Saw-Tooth, he's the middle one who's fond of archery), and big brother Bobby Ray (nicknamed One-Eye, he's the brain of the family who likes canning and preserving) soon see the six outsiders, and become rightfully enraged. Forced to fend for themselves from a young age - their parents dying young as a result of "bad genetics" - the three brothers were left with no other kin to help with cookin', cleanin', and...

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE LITE...
I rented this film after viewing a trailer for it, because it had reminded me of two horror favorites: the film "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and an episode on the X Files about a backwoods inbred family. I was not disappointed, as it certainly seemed to be a cross between these two favorites.

While there were no real surprises, other than a very effective opening scene, the production values were first rate. The inbred family was certainly creepy and their house certainly was appropriately macabre and revolting, as befits such a family that enjoys dismembering and eating their victims. It is these hospitable folks that Eliza Dushku and her friends meet up with in the backwoods of West Virginia with predictable results.

The film simply offers a few thrills, some average acting, and, as I said, some first rate production values, thanks to film production veteran Stan Winston. It offers nothing more and nothing less, which is too bad, since it had those great production...

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