WRONG TURN
US, 2021, 109 minutes, Colour.
Charlotte Vega, Matthew Modine, Bill Sage, Adaiin Bradley, Dylan Mc Tee, Daisy Head, Emma Dumont, Valerie Jane Parker, Rhyan Elizabeth Hanavan.
Directed by Mike P.Nelson.
Wrong Turn is a pretty good title for a creepy thriller. In fact, it was used back in 2003, a group of young people, the Virginia mountains, difficult tracks and treks, mysterious inhabitants in those mountains. Good reviews. Fan support. And the title held good for another four sequels from 2007 to 2011 with added themes to the titles: Dead End, Left for Dead, Blooody Beginnings, Bloodlines.
And, in 2021, here we are again. But, better.
Prolific writer, from Star Trek to horror films, Alan McElroy?, created the original characters and wrote the screenplays for the sequels. He has written this film. We are back to a group of young adults trekking the Appalachian mountains, warnings from the locals, looking eerie and suspicious, not to veer from the tracks, that nature devours travellers and no one returns. But, this time the subtitle of the film is: Foundation. And we discover what Foundation means, quite an arresting idea, that in 18 59, 12 families took to the mountains, prior to the Civil War, and set up a society that would be an exemplar so that if the world collapsed, the members of the Foundation and their descendants could emerge.
However, the film opens with veteran Matthew Modine as a father searching for his daughter who was one of the trekking group. The locals are not particularly welcoming or helpful. Then the action goes back six weeks to the group arriving in the town, getting the same warnings.
The six adults on trek are not entirely sympathetic. The main one who is is Jennifer, Charlotte Vega (who has some action sequences which she could do because she was a star of the Netflix series, Killer Nuns!). Matthew Modine is her father. Her boyfriend is the leader of the group, urging them to go off the beaten track to see a Civil War fort, only for them to get lost (understatement) and experience weird goings-on in the woods.
So, a lot of weird scenes, characters wearing huge animal masks, stalking the group, vicious traps in the forest, lots of fear – and, one of the characters, more than smugly arrogant, denouncing these backwoods people. (We look forward to his comeuppance!)
Actually, these are not supernatural experiences at all. It is the members of The Foundation, the descendants of the original people, preserving their isolation (although we have seen the daughter of the leader and a little girl in town and selling souvenirs). Actually, the members of the foundation are rather barbaric, despite their claims that they are not, with a large prison, execution rites…
There are some flashbacks to the father, then he takes centre screen for a while, locals offering to help him search for his daughter, experiencing the traps in the woods, face-to-face with the Foundation members, and seeing the fate of his daughter.
There are sufficient twists and turns, some wrong turns, to keep us alert – and the screenwriter seems to have prepared three possible endings, and includes them all. One seems ordinary enough. The other is a dramatic trick. And, just as the credits start to come up (and a warning not to leave), the third and final ending (quite effective) takes place as the credits roll.
The young adults are prone to limited vocabulary over-swearing – something which tapers off as we encounter the foundation people. There are some gory moments. But, overall, this is an entertaining variation on its themes.
