Wrong Turn reboot review

Wrong Turn is an underrated horror franchise that has in my opinion, a classic first film, which is one of the best of the 2000s. Instead of trying to recreate a stellar film, director Mike P. Nelson instead rolls the dice and takes the franchise into new waters. The reboot takes a new approach and instead of the villains being inbred cannibals, the reboot’s antagonists are the descendants of Civil War-era extremists who went off the grid believing America would go to shit. The group, named The Foundation, desired to tuck away in the mountains and come out on the other side of whatever catastrophe that they anticipated. Their descendants are antagonistic, but not cannibalistic to outsiders, making the film starkly different than the original in this regard.

The reboot takes a familiar approach as it follows a group of 6 twentysomethings on vacation and venturing off into the woods, and off the beaten path that they have no business being off of. The group is diverse and it’s implied that they are neoliberals. This is in direct contrast with the residents of the small southern town who are hinted at being staunchly conservative. Within the group are a black & white interracial couple and a gay couple. This makes them stick out profoundly, which culminates in a brief but unsettling conflict with some of the locals.

This sociopolitical schism depicted is unique to the reboot and is one of a handful of examples of how the new film stands on its own as a movie different from the original. The antagonists have different motivations in the remake than they did in the original. Also, there is initial ambivalence on the nature of the conflict between the two parties. It’s initially painted as a misunderstanding leading the viewer to question the villainy of the antagonists.

The film has some nice chase sequences through the mountains. The traps aren’t original but are nice, nonetheless. The film runs for an hour and fifty minutes but it uses every minute efficiently as the film never really has a dull point nor does it feel like it’s close to 2 hours. Wrong Turn doesn’t dedicate much if any time to a backstory and instead informs about the characters as we go.

This comes at the sacrifice of deeper characterization but we do get a film that moves effortlessly and sequentially into its plot. The downside is that outside of Jen (Charlotte Vega) and to a lesser extent Darrius (Adain Bradley), we don’t learn a lot about the cast. This isn’t paramount to the plot and allows the film to crank into its suspense from the opening sequence.

The Wrong Turn franchise had 6 films prior to the reboot, with the latest being released in 2014. The franchise is underrated but a 7th film following the same blueprint would have ran the franchise stale. It was a gutsy decision to shift the storyline but It paid off. The Wrong Turn reboot is exactly that: a reboot, not a remake. In some ways this could be a totally different film with only a resemblance to the OG. This current iteration stands on its own as a relatively different film than the prior 6. The reboot opened the door for a sequel. I’m not sure if there should be one, but you get creative licenses when you tell good unique stories.

In many ways this is a stark departure from the 2003 original. It gave the franchise new life but hardcore fans could potentially be disappointed with so many theatrical changes. I think change is good and those disappointed have 6 prior films to rewatch. Wrong Turn is a very good horror franchise that got jumpstarted with a good new film. It’s not particularly scary and relies on thrills over chills and suspense over gore, but it’s a very nice film and is another modern horror film that succeeds by avoiding redundancy and common tropes outside of The Final Girl.

----7.0/10