| “ | Carly, Carly, Carly, sweet pea, look at me. We are gonna get out of this, I swear to you, we are. Okay? We're gonna find a road, we're gonna get to a town, and we're goin' home. And we're gonna get married. All right? And we are never going into the woods again. | „ |
| ― Scott to Carly |
Wrong Turn is a 2003 horror film, directed by Rob Schmidt and written by Alan B. McElroy. The film stars Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku. The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and was followed by Wrong Turn 2: Dead End due to its commercial success.
Six people find themselves trapped in the woods of West Virginia, hunted down by "cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding."
Plot[]
Medical student Chris Flynn is on his way to a job interview and is driving through the mountains of West Virginia. Due to a chemical spill in the road ahead, he decides to take a different route, leading him through an abandoned dirt road in the middle of the woods. He then crashes into a car stranded in the center of the road.
The car he crashed into belongs to a group of friends on a hiking trip, which includes Jessie. The car's tires were punctured by barbwire strung across the road. Francine and Evan stay with the cars, while the remainder of the group goes for help, only to find an old cabin isolated in the West Terre Haute woods. Meanwhile, the two who stayed behind are killed by the cannibals. The others discover that the cabin has many grisly horrors inside, such as entrails in a fridge and body parts in the bathtub. The cabin is home to a group of cannibalistic mountain men, who are horribly disfigured due to generations of inbreeding.
The group realize that the owners of the cabin will not be friendly. They hide within the house when the cannibals come back home. The group is forced to watch as the remains of Francine are cut up and eaten. After the cannibals fall asleep the group tries to escape but accidentally wake them. A confrontation erupts with the disfigured men and the group flee through the woods. They spend a couple of days running from the mountain men. They succeed in stealing the cannibals' truck but Scott is killed by being shot with arrows.
Then the remaining three survivors hit a dead end in the road and continue on foot. Meanwhile, the cannibals track them. Eventually, they end up at an old watch tower in hopes of finding a radio or rangers. They find a radio but get no response. Someone responds just as the cannibals reach the tower and alerts the cannibals to the group's whereabouts. The cannibals then proceed to burn down the tower, but the three escape by jumping into a nearby tree. Unfortunately, Carly is decapitated by an axe wielding cannibal who climbed up the tree. The remaining two people, Chris and Jessie, make it out of the woods alive and end up destroying the cannibals and their cabin. However, at least one cannibal survives, as shown in the ending credits.
List of deaths[]
| Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard "Rich" Stoker | Axed in back, thrown off cliff | Three Finger | No | |
| Halley Smith | Throat slit, teeth pulled out | Three Finger | No | Dragged offscreen |
| Evan Ross | Ear sliced off/throat sliced | Unknown | No | Was found in truck |
| Francine Childes | Barbed wire wrapped around mouth | Saw Tooth | Yes | |
| Scott Korbee | Shot in back with 2 arrows/1 arrow through back | Saw Tooth | Yes | |
| Carly Numan | Decapitated at jawline with axe | Three Finger | Yes | |
| Police Officer | Shot through eye with arrow | Saw Tooth | Yes | |
| One Eye | Run over by tow truck, blown up in house | Chris Flynn | Yes | |
| Saw Tooth | Shoulder burned, tire iron in stomach, back of neck shot with arrow, blown up in house | Chris Flynn, Jessie Burlingame | Yes | Three finger
Hacked with axe in shoulder and blown up in house |
| Deputy Sheriff | Hacked with axe | Three Finger | No | Screen fades black |
Cast[]
- Eliza Dushku as Jessie Burlingame
- Desmond Harrington as Chris Flynn
- Emmanuelle Chriqui as Carly Numan
- Jeremy Sisto as Scott Korbee
- Kevin Zegers as Evan Ross
- Lindy Booth as Francine Childes
- Yvonne Gaudry as Halley Smith
- Joel Harris as Richard "Rich" Stoker
- Wayne Robson as Old Man
- Julian Richings as Three Finger
- Gary Robbins as Saw Tooth
- Ted Clark as One Eye
Response and Box Office[]
The film received mixed reviews from critics. It earned a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many criticized it as the film having no originality, taking its plot from other horror films such as The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The New York Post called it a "dull, humorless slasher flick." The Boston Globe called it "A stultifying blend of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, boot camp, and maybe The Blair Witch Project, Wrong Turn is profoundly less than the sum of its influences." Positive reviewers considered it to be a fun, scary Friday night horror film. The Detroit Free Press called said "While this movie doesn't have the warped sensibilities of 1977's similarly plotted The Hills Have Eyes, it has decent performances and genuine suspense." Also Glenn Lovell from the San Jose Mercury News praised the film quoting "Schmidt makes us flinch the old-fashioned way — by giving us a box seat to the unspeakable." The film also did moderately well at the box office, debuting at #6 with $5.1 million. The film went on to earn a total of $28.7 million worldwide at the box office.
Media[]
DVD[]
The special features on Wrong Turn are:
- Theatrical Trailer
- Featurettes
- Francine's death outtakes
- Extended waterfall sequence
- Audio commentary by director and lead actors
Soundtrack[]
Note: The following list does not include composed music
- Label: Lakeshore Records
- Release date: June 2, 2003
- Dream Syndicate - "Halloween"
- Queens of the Stone Age - "You Can't Quit Me Baby"
- Queens of the Stone Age - "If Only"
- Simple - "Birthday"
- Breaking Benjamin - "Wish I May"
Videos[]
External links[]
Wrong Turn (2003) at the Internet Movie Database- Wrong Turn (2003) at AllMovie
- Wrong Turn (2003) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Wrong Turn (2003) at Wikipedia
| Wrong Turn | Pages in this category are related to the Wrong Turn series. |
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