Horror History: The Original WRONG TURN Is Now 18 Years Old
Josh Millican
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If Rob Schmidt’s Wrong Turn was a person, today he’d be old enough to vote! The film that launched a franchise and spawned five sequels and a reboot (which, at the time of this post, is still one of the best I’ve seen in 2021).
Also Read: Dread Central is now on Google News!
Delivering an irreverent and unapologetic mix of survival horror and torture porn, 2003’s Wrong Turn remains both terrifying and (most importantly) immensely entertaining! With a crackling script by Alan McElroy, brutal practical effects and make-up courtesy of Stan Winston Studio, and authentic chemistry from the film’s talented cast, it’s a movie that hits the ground running and keeps its audience rapt.
If it’s been a while, or if you’ve never experienced 2003’s Wrong Turn, check out the trailer and synopsis below.
Synopsis:
Friends Jessie (Eliza Dushku) and Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui) are traveling with pals Scott (Jeremy Sisto), Evan (Kevin Zegers), and Francine (Lindy Booth) when they have car trouble in West Virginia. Moments later, motorist Chris (Desmond Harrington) crashes into their disabled vehicle. Stranded, the friends discover that they’re being stalked by a horde of backwoods cannibals. The woodsmen are hungry and fierce, and they’ll be eating well unless Jessie and pals can outsmart them.
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Trivia:
When the four are running from the cabin after awakening the mountain men, Desmond Harrington broke his right ankle after landing on the opposite side of a log. This made it very difficult to shoot some of the scenes after his left leg is “shot” and he has to limp on his right leg. (Source)
Despite only being credited for his producing, Make-up master Stan Winston was pivotal in the key design of the Mountain Men, in particular now post-modern horror icon Three-Finger. This marks the second last major horror film he has been involved in before his death in 2008 at age 62 and the third slasher horror film he had been involved in following uncredited work in Friday The 13th Part II and III, the latter of which he had been a core designer on the original hockey mask of also horror icon Jason Voorhees and the respective mongoloid appearance of Jason for those two parts. (Source)
Unlike the sequels, this first movie doesn’t have any nudity. There were attempts to include some nude and sex scenes typical for the genre when writers like Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, and others were working on different versions of the scripts. For example, the opening was changed and had Rich and Halley bathing nude in the river before being killed while having sex on land, Francine and Evan having sex in woods and not near their crashed cars, Jessie’s clothes being torn off from her while she’s tied to the bed, and more similar scenes which weren’t kept at all in the film. (Source)
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Are you a fan of 2003’s Wrong Turn? What do you think of the franchise as a whole? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican. Dread Central is now on Google News!
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