Wrong Turn (2021 film)

Wrong Turn
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mike P. Nelson
Written by	Alan B. McElroy
Based on	Wrong Turn by Alan B. McElroy
Produced by	James Harris Robert Kulzer
Starring	Charlotte Vega Adain Bradley Bill Sage Emma Dumont Dylan McTee Daisy Head Matthew Modine
Cinematography	Nick Junkersfeld
Edited by	Tom Elkins
Music by	Stephen Lukach
Production companies	Constantin Film The H Collective Tea Shop Productions
Distributed by	Saban Films[1]
Release date	January 26, 2021 (2021-01-26)[2]
Running time	109 minutes
Countries	United States Germany Canada
Language	English
Box office	$4.5 million[3][4]

Wrong Turn^[5] (originally known as Wrong Turn: The Foundation)^[6] is a 2021 horror film directed by Mike P. Nelson and written by Alan McElroy. The film is a reboot of the Wrong Turn film series, and stars Charlotte Vega, Adain Bradley, Emma Dumont, Dylan McTee, Daisy Head, Bill Sage, and Matthew Modine. It is an international co-production between the United States, Germany, and Canada.

The project was announced in October 2018, with Nelson signed as director, from a screenplay written by McElroy, who wrote the original film. Principal photography began on September 9, 2019, and wrapped on November 2, 2019, in Felicity, Ohio.

Wrong Turn was theatrically released for one day, January 26, 2021, by Saban Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $4.5 million at the box office.

Plot[]

Scott Shaw travels to a small town in rural Virginia to search for his daughter, who has been missing after visiting the area with her friends. He gets little help from the locals.

Flashback to six weeks earlier: Jen Shaw, her boyfriend Darius, and couples Adam and Milla, and Gary and Luis, arrive in town to hike the Appalachian Trail. They encounter hostility from locals in the bar, especially from Nate. Jen also meets a strange woman called Edith; with her is a young mute girl, Ruthie.

The friends set off on their hike and despite being warned not to, go off the trail to find an old fort. A huge tree trunk comes crashing down the hill and Gary is crushed to death. Bruised and disoriented, the group gets lost and set up camp for the night. The following day, Milla is missing, as well as their cellphones. They find a plaque dated 1859 commemorating the creation of a group of settlers in the mountains called the "Foundation", who believed the end of the United States was near.

While looking for Milla, Adam is caught in a trap and dragged into a pit. Jen, Darius and Luis come across a barn full of backpacks and clothing, then see Adam trussed to a pole, carried between two men clad in strange costumes and wearing animal skull masks. The friends rush to confront the men, who talk in a language they can't understand. Adam breaks free and manically beats one of them to death while the other escapes. Milla appears and reveals that she went for a bathroom break and hid when she saw the two men. The friends encounter other traps and are surrounded by more masked men. Milla falls into a pit and is impaled on stakes. She is killed with an arrow. Jen, Adam, Darius and Luis are all captured.

The friends are taken to a primitive settlement deep in the forest, the headquarters of the Foundation, and put before a "court". Edith is one of their captors. Morgan, the brother of the man Adam killed, says they killed Milla to spare her a painful lingering death in the spike pit. Morgan testifies how Adam murdered his brother, Samuel. The group is charged with murder. The leader, Venable, sentences Adam to death. The others are sentenced to "darkness". Adam breaks free and holds Ruthie hostage, demanding the release of his friends. Ruthie uses a concealed blade to stab Adam in the leg; he is then executed in front of his friends by Venable, who beats him to death using the log he used to kill Samuel.

Luis tries to flee and Venable blinds him with a hot poker. Jen begs Venable for mercy. Venable agrees, and she and Darius are initiated into the community. Jen reluctantly becomes Venable's sexual partner.

Scott pays a local tracker to take him through the forest. After the tracker and his son are killed by a trap, Scott finds the settlement but is captured. Jen, now married to Venable, shoots her father with an arrow. Venable sentences Scott to "darkness" for trespassing and imprisons him. That night, Jen releases her father, revealing she only shot him so as not to raise suspicion. She tries to get Darius to run away with her and Scott but he refuses to leave. Ruthie helps them escape before Venable and the other cultists pursue them. They discover an underground chamber full of blinded and shambling prisoners, including Luis. Jen kills him out of mercy, and she and Scott flee, killing several cultists, including Edith. They encounter Nate and other armed townsmen who offer to help. The cultists attack them, wounding Jen, but Scott and Jen escape.

Several months later, Jen and her father have returned to their normal lives. Jen visits her stepmother, but finds her in the process of welcoming Venable and Ruthie to the neighborhood. Jen confronts Venable, who notices that she is pregnant with his child. He asks Jen to return with him to the Foundation. Jen agrees on the condition that Venable never again interfere with her family. She, Venable, and Ruthie leave, driving away in a recreational vehicle (RV). As the end credits roll, the RV crashes into a parked car. Jen stabs Venable to death and kills the other cultist. She then takes Ruthie's hand as they walk back towards her family home.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

In October 2018, a reboot of the Wrong Turn film series was announced.^[7] The film was directed by Mike P. Nelson and written by Alan B. McElroy, who wrote the original film in 2003.^[8] In May 2019, it was announced that Charlotte Vega would star in the film.^[9]

In an interview with director Nelson for Fangoria, he stated:

"I was fully prepared on the first read to be thrust into a crazy slasher world of cannibals eating human flesh and splitting people down the middle. When that didn't happen, I was pleasantly surprised. There was something else at the core of the story that got me."^[8]

Filming[]

Principal photography began on September 9, 2019 in Ohio^[10][11][12] and wrapped on November 2.^[13]

Music[]

The film was composed by Stephen Lukach. The soundtrack album, which was titled Wrong Turn: The Foundation,^[14] and was released by Konigskinder Music on February 25, 2021.

Release[]

Wrong Turn was originally scheduled for release in 2020, but was pushed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[15] On December 16, 2020, it was announced that the film would premiere in American theaters for one night only on January 26, 2021.^[2]

The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 23, 2021, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.^[16]

Critical reception[]

On Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the site gave the film a 64% approval rating based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's consensus reads, "Wrong Turn is a cut below more effective horror outings, but viewers in the mood for some gory chills will find that this franchise reboot does more than a few things right".^[17] On Metacritic, it assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on seven critics who gave the film "mixed or average reviews".^[18]

Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, writing that "McElroy and Nelson evolve Wrong Turn into a bizarre, winding odyssey, albeit with a lot more on its mind than just a cool kill."^[19]

References[]

External links[]

• Wrong Turn at IMDb