Went Down the Wrong Road Backwoods Horror

Second time watching this. First time was on Rob Zombie hosted TCM Underground but I was too stoned to remember the whole thing. Second time is right now on RealPlayer SuperPass (and I'm sure a few other streaming services offer it too).

And for my "Went Down the Wrong Road" Backwoods horror list, I HAVE found a flick predating Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs.

The title credits creep me out but maybe because I have a thing about eyes and their ability to scare.

"We don't like school teachers. Do we, Judy?" from this line on you know there will be some sadistic shit going down besides a simple carjacking.

I do think the "Big Man" was being a coward, as both the Sadist and hostage girl accuse. And then he keeps being "yellow" during the gun "game".

The ending sequence is a bit long and stretched out which affects its tension.

Arch Hall Jr.'s performance and the shooting style are the highlights of this film. The shot setup is really thoughtful and the best is early in the movie, where the perspective makes it feel like we the audience are holding the gun and seeing from Sadist Johnny's viewpoint.

Horror Not to Miss List Commentary:
This middle movie of Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood trilogy offers a great contrast of the grotesque with large celebration. The acting gets a bit annoying, and any gore hound will complain that their isn't enough blood on the screen, but I think what is there and what is implied is sufficient. I get tired of the victims wandering about befuddled and acting poorly in a "middle of a Twilight Zone episode" sort of way, but it pays off when those scenes cut to a killing ritual occuring simultaneously on the other side of town. Don't waste your time with the over-gored and shitty remake '2001 Maniacs' until you've watched Lewis' hugely influential piece.
"So Fucked Up" highlight:
the barrel roll

a benchmark visual expression of insanity, rage, and violence

Hopper (as God's right hand sheriff) is the best part of this flick. The grandpa gimmick is done again successfully, and this manic character controlling Leatherface is refreshingly witty and political. But that's where the goodness ends, as this is simply not very scary, being primarily set in places other than Leatherface's house and homegrounds.

This version of the family is interesting and devilish - particularly the gas attendant and little girl induced shivers for me. The mother character is the most original and perverse. It's fun to see Aragorn kicking around campy horror. My biggest problem with this movie is that Leatherface does not appear solid and large enough in wide shots (most of the killing shots). Some padding could have fixed this lack of mass problem easily. Far better than TCM 2. The grotesque credits alone outshines the entirety of Eli Roth's repetitive reel. Plus horror darling Ken Foree makes an appearance as a survivalist trying to outwit the Texas gang. If Leatherface was just a bit bulkier, this would be nearly on par with the first film.

It's entertaining to see Renee Zellweger playing a "survivor girl", but the "family" is quite weak in this one, as is the gore. For queasy types and kids, it's plenty grotesque, but there are no memorable kills or scares here for a horror fan. I saw the "dead family around the table" scene as a kid and was not only horrified, but offended, that this shocking trash was circulating; now, the corpses play as substandard production value and the concept of the overall scene is not as classic as prior "TCM family dinner scenes". Another dinner scene comment: Grandpa appears dead as usual but radically different from other incarnations of the character. He looks particularly corpsey in this flick, there is no dialogue on the family's part hinting that he is alive, but at the climax of the scene he gets up to walk, which is not an effective scare and very out of character (we just wanna see Grandpa struggle to lift a hammer, not see him bouncing about the room). McConaughey plays a good self-mutilating psychotic and I like the direction Leatherface has taken - extremely introverted and seemingly obsessed with the death of his mother whilst still struggling with yearnings for sexual contact with women, and expressing both this grief and longing as serial murder. I do hate the chainsaw swinging at the end which is an uninspiring exact re-enactment of the end of Hooper's original (you can only do that shot once in film history and make it meaningful, plus it has to have been a truly horrific film to warrant that bold ending). I also don't like concept that we are introduced to at the end *SPOLIER** that the world is run by an elite group and they fund and cover the Texas family's mayhem as part of a larger scheme to remind people of "true horror and fear". The "elite man" we meet has some cool fleshcraft and piercings on his body, but this menacing visual goes nowhere and his character barely registers as one dimensional besides not really adding to the plot.**SPOILER DONE.

Overall, I can see why the series had to "reboot" after this film.

revived the TCM franchise and inspired countless copy films
May-03-08
Had a craving to rewatch this today, partly because I needed a gorefest and finally because this movie has received so much praise from horror fans in particular so I had to re-watch this to get a fuller view of it.
The biggest thing this movie has going for it is that it is scary. From Leatherface's design and characterization, which went down many twisted and too revealing versions of the character. Leatherface didn't need the pageantry he displays in TCM2 and TCM The Next Generation; TCM3 elevated Leatherface to that "supernaturally indestructible" level, and this remake goes with the original plan, the best one: mysterious, a human bull, deviant in unimaginable ways living out his supreme fantasies. Still, this is no TCM original; I have only seen the original once, much the same as The Exorcist or The Last House on the Left, because I felt I didn't want to see it again because those films were so solidly jarring and within their own demented yet believable universe.
With this remake, somehow most of the gore and chasing seem more entertaining than frightening.
R. Lee Armey gives a standout performance; I think his character is given the best lines and delivers them well to make for a supreme baddie and a believable totally horrifying character.
Script wise, I always have my complaints. Obviously, this is just the first TCM re-written in the same plot sequence and premise. I especially don't like that when the film needs to move on to a scare scene, it typically does so by condescending the viewer and portraying the characters as foolish and oblivious whose fear does not justify their actions, especially in incidents before gore is unleashed upon them.
Also more technical complaints: this movie made me question many anatomical things such as, if you have a meathook puncturing your lung and several other severe cuts, how long would one really live and how does a simple knife in the stomach end that? So this movie isn't consistent on being realistic in the death scenes, and though horror can be said to have a license to exaggerate above any other genre, it is too gratuitous here that sometimes a death loses its scare appeal
(the kid on the meathook).
Filming and set design: well done. As I said in my opening line, every twenty something serial slasher since has imitated Leatherface's basement and the Crawford mill in general. It's tightly cut with a great shot of Leatherface chasing two protagonists through several laundry lines of white sheets.
Basically, this is a thrill ride. You get your jumps, but if you've seen the original TCM, you're not going to see anything near that impeccable portrait of insanity; this movie is for this age, instead of atmosphere and story, this moves quicker and concentrates on being very showy with any special effects or sets.

could have been longer and less identical (more like less of a carbon copy) to its 2003 predecessor

a misunderstood and underrated movie

a bloody let-down

Nothing special here. Just another TCM based story that is more akin to "The Hills Have Eyes" set in woods as opposed to desert. It's not a bad movie, but it's just not memorable. Example: I thought I hadn't seen this movie, but halfway through watching it yesterday, I realized that I must have seen it before because I remember the watchtower element, though that was ALL I remembered. At this point, these plots (we went down a road off the map and we're now being killed off by a family of cannibals) need to have a satirical spin such as House of 1000 Corpses or they need to be inventive re-creations of the genre: Aja & Levasseur's The Hills Have Eyes. The enemy creatures' homes are full of leftover props and dialogue from other movies of the same premise (Wolf Creek, the 2 TCM "Reboot" movies): "Look at how many families they've done this to!" "Look at all these sets of keys, guys!"

On the plus side, the makeup is well done. The movie is clearly shot, but there is nothing new. It's not a bad movie, just not a particularly good one, and its sequel is far better.

It's great that Wrong Turn was made because that caused Wrong Turn 2 to be made!

This sequel is a hell of an upped ante. More bodies, better kills, more original premise, better script, improved effects. For horror fans, the first movie is just a regurguatation of so much that we've seen already, but Wrong Turn 2 allows itself to be self-deprecating and campy, which makes for a much better flick.

There are some fantastic kill sequences in this flick that I won't soon forget. My favorite is when a girl is perfectly halved, and two creatures each drag a half, leaving minimal blood behind (which means that I think it is staged in a way that it knows this is ludicrous having two perfect body halves, so why make that more outrageous by showing us massive amounts of blood so early on?). Because plenty later, we get all the blood splatter we want, and it's mostly the creature's blood.

This flick has actually got some scary moments, some grotesque moments, some funny moments, and some thrilling action moments. A must watch for horror fans.

"So Fucked Up" highlight:
the creatures giving birth

Survival horror for the art house crowd, Calvaire has a unique oddness that drives its deranged story straight into the eyeballs of viewers. The horror here is in the insanity of the captors and the atmosphere of the area where the main character is stranded.

If you want silly excessive gore, this is not your movie. If you want a captive survival horror narrative that dares to flirt with believable mental illness and bothers to use the camera and cinematography to tell the story as much as dialogue, this is it.

This is middle of nowhere backwards crazy people done to a perfect chime; look no further for your pigfucking scene needs. I hereby declare that I believe this film is superior to "Deliverance".

"Most fucked up" highlight: the village dancing around the piano

Just another "we went down the wrong road and shacked up with a family of cannibalistic serial killers" movie. It's not a poorly done movie, it's just not anything substantially great. If you like the Wolf Creek, Turistas, or Hostel treatments of this subject matter, then you should like this. There aren't any memorable scares, some decent cinematography but the images do not amount to a consistent piece like another new French horror film, A L'Interieur or the watershed work of Switchblade Romance (Haute Tension). The little bit of saving grace in this movie is the Gothic horror aesthetic of a demented family hiding secrets that kicks in for the last thirty minutes with the revelation (SPOILER) that the "people' in the mines are the deformed offspring of the daughters' that the father wanted killed, but instead were hidden from him within the mines.
For the script my biggest complaint is that the fanatical Nazi patriarch speaks French instead of mixing more German and raising his children to speak German, as he has given them proper German names. He does throw a bit of German here and there, and even a little English, but not enough.

This was an uber effective and fun treatment with a special twist on the "went down the wrong road and got stuck with serial killers" movie. In this one, the backwards serial killers make marketed snuff from all their victims, and this film's two protagonist victims discover this fact while waiting for their death on the same "set".

The tension built up great and stayed strong. I like that the layout of the set is easily communicated that I can visualize and make real the dimensions of the setting. The simplicity of the scares (the masks, the banging on the door, being watched by the killers) is effective. I like the physique of these killers, how they are so quick and flexible. The voyeur aspect of this film adds great dimension to it. I think the best thing about it is that the protagonists act (for the most part) pretty damn rationally; they do what we as the removed viewer can suggest they do and stay within the script (see Devil's Chair or Scream 2 for films that jump out of the script to guide the characters through horror). All of the acting is solid, and that's often a back-breaker for a survival horror. Just a solid flick.

"Most fucked up" highlight: seeing the first snuff scenes on the room's TV set and watching the characters realize that they're in that room

I kind of can't believe I watched the whole thing, but that's a testament to the editor I suppose. Even though the script, acting, score, shots, and kills are terrible the piece is well paced and watchable. So much less thrilling than the first, and reused plenty of tricks.

I didn't believe that's how this idea got started (with the captured killer proposing it to the motel attendants) and the ending doesn't tie to the first movie (this is a prequel). This is meant to depict the first "Vacancy" victims, and the first mistake is to pick a younger and less interesting bunch. These victim characters are flat, and all the attempts at fleshing out the killers fail as well. I would have rathered the honeymoon couple in the opening segment be used as the first victims; as it could be used to contrast the victims of the first movie (married for some time and considering divorce). I would have rathered an story with echoing character components than a clumsy directionless story with echoing scare devices.

Completely illogical script, many "went down the wrong road" cliches. Small setting that makes for the only genuinely jarring emotions. Too many plot twist jump-scare combos. Photography is a little more considerate than expected but on par with anything else and offers no innovation. Lost my attention a couple times. Two decent gore scenes of footage set in the torture bus, but again setting over gore or filming in terms of what is effective.

It's better than Wolf Creek, and far better than Hostel, so it's alright. I think the characters are agreeable and sympathetic. The setting is...well it looks like beautiful Brazil should look. Of course this concept is tired, so the movie has to be tight or satirical; this movie is tightly directed to raise the tension, but the final sequence kills the potential. I understand that aquatic camera operators need employment (I'd like to do that job myself) but setting the final act in the underwater caves was a huge mistake. The caves are nice for showing our protagonists "bond" with their would be captor and a logical place for the film to conclude, but this is far too drawn out. The "caves" scene should have ended once they were spotted in the "secret place" and had to escape.

This is such a fun exploitation flick. It suffers from a few filming problems (jump cuts that don't reveal what just happened, esp the race against the random "Boy Next Door" at the beginning). A great thriller story, and you can clearly see the influence on today's directors, especially Tarantino, and the rumor that he would do a remake of this has been reported numerous times on cinephile sites, but he sort of did his version of this with Death Proof and the Kill Bill films.
For my horror fan friends, this isn't horror perse but it is a very cool psychological thriller you need to check out if you have appreciation for compelling story as opposed to just gore. The body count is plenty high, but the accent here is on the distinctive characters and this odd world they've happened into. A must-see for anyone interested in film history as this film personifies much of the commonalities in exploitation film and bridges the gap between the masters of the 50s and the upped visual ante of the 70s.

"So Fucked Up" highlight:
conclusion of the story

I screened this for the second time today and its rating jumped a star. The first time I saw this was right after being stunned by "The Last House on the Left" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" so it was tough for me to be as stunned by this in comparison. Watching it now, it's a solid classic story and an extreme accomplishment of Craven's to make daylight in an open desert area as scary as a dark cramped place. I love the juxtaposition of the two families, and despite the production value (Craven didn't have) the shots are great and the editing is tight. This movie spun, not as big as Freddy but just as important, a world and story to be treasured (as much as you can treasure your cannibal serial killers). Great hard end.
"So Fucked Up" highlight: Big Bob death distraction

great example to cite if you want to promote the idea of remakes

Another pointless tortured American tourists movie. This one doesn't even try to scare. Have to endure seventy minutes of drivel only to discover that they're gonna have the main baddie naked but NOT give a good butt or dangler shot? Screw that. There weren't even any memorable tits in this either. Not to mention that it wasn't scary, and this is supposedly a horror movie. I watched this just before I watched Turistas, and the two sort of blended together until I mentally separated in my mind the decent from the mediocre and annoying, all of this movie falling in the latter category. Borderland: go there for shitty movies.

Re-watched this again a few days ago. Has gotten cheesier with age and I can, for once, see why a remake might be justified as every plot point that isn't gore or grotesque related is flimsy and paperthin. For example, keeping that girl as their sort of "pet", who is supposed to be the protagonist, is really odd and feels misplaced. The relationship between her and the farmer is not believable because neither actor is trying to sell it.

Onto the goodness: the "farmer's" whole process is great. Any scenes with the grounded people are fascinating and funny yet scary. The part which I remembered from childhood, which I still really love today, is when the ground people have escaped and begin their zombie-like descent upon the farmhouse; the lighting is great and it's one of the better examples of making victims frightening to the audience. The chainsaw showdown is great because although illogical to don a pig head mask, it's damn weird and creepy.

This movie just feels inconsequential. It is mentally tiring to try and come up with anything to say about this movie other than there's a few cool shots, it's a very standard 'went down the wrong road story', and I think it has got some tense moments, but overall it's nothing impressive. Some dirtbikes, devil-worshippers, dog-killers, and dirty cops collide in a big "car fight" at the conclusion, and several other times during the movie. So there's cool stuff, but it just doesn't come together to make a significant piece.

Nobody yells, "Laura!" like Ray Wise, but unfortunately that's the most powerful thing in this movie. It's also cool to watch a character play with their own exposed brain, and I want whatever kind of weed that makes you so high you don't notice when a ghost bites your lower lip off. The actors give their best, but this is just a mostly crap script with no special effects to make it tolerable. A very mild horror, suitable for family viewing during the holidays, but genuine horror fans should avoid unless you're looking for crappy horror to share with loved ones instead of reruns of "It's a Wonderful Life". Very predictable ending. One other positive point: the credits include a thank-you at the ending for sticking through the credits (more films should do this).

Moral of the story: don't take shortcuts on road trips because whichever family members don't die will start confessing things better left as secrets.

It's not bad considering its genre (check my "Went Down the Wrong Road" Backwoods Horror List), but the last shot gives an auto deduction of half a star (the killer is still alive! and traveled to the victims' home town - it's not even laughable satire, just PATHETIC).

Anyways, the rest of the movie is decent. There are a mix of crap and good special effects, and most of it appears to be practical (well done there). The actors give their all, and I like the idea that these captors want their victims to have a baby for them. The set design of the torture basement is tops, and the pacing is decent. Action segments are well filmed. The primary weapon is really cool, but I don't really like Deacon's (main baddie) makeup job; it could have been tweaked a little better.

The plot structure is fine, but some of the dialogue is really weak in conveying the perversion of religion to violent means and portraying the stereotypical secular response to this violent fervor. Okay if you like this niche genre of horror.

As the characters say in the titular scene of the movie, this is a clear tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis. Instead of an entire town as in 2000 Maniacs, this is a small trailer park of six (or seven) murdering ghouls.

The original music is the highlight of the film, and so is the character that plays the songs on his guitar. Most of the teenage victims get a killing suited to their in-life vices, and the girl we all know is gonna live does. It is unclear what happened to the gay fella, but I'm not gonna rewatch this to clarify. The fat lady that "smells meat" is pretty damn scary, and the backstory gives Rob Zombie a run for his money in terms of hillbilly hell.

There are some creative kills including deep frying one of the kids. The effects appear as if they stay practical, and they're mostly pretty cool. The one definitely CG effect that I loved was Norma Jean re-applying faces to herself.

This will scare the bejesus out of pre-teens to mid-teens, but your experienced horror enthusiast will just find a somewhat satisfying intoxicated weekend night flick. Better than most of the dreck in this genre, but you do have to be predisposed to the genre.

The introductory car scene is cinematically identical to Funny Games.

On deciding to confront the kids, "If everyone said that, where would we be?" Leave it to a fuckin Englishman to be so damn... English about it, almost deserves it. Still, with this kind of proactive approach, I'm expecting a fighting couple for a chance.

I've gotta do a hit by hit analysis as I've the browser open; expect many SPOILERS. First mistake was to be sorry about the dog; if he had acted all hard and used it as an opportunity to pound the lead little bastard, they might have stopped out of respect for equally reckless ego-driven violence. And then once they get the car, "I can't see!", right so how about slowing it down a bit; they couldn't catch a slow car on foot right away.

The knifing scene: and my case for keeping guns legal stands strong; I'd rather a few quick trigger happy caps than this kiddie medieval torture shite. And are we just NOW checking our mobile service bars to concoct a clever Blackberry trick? The youngest kid Cooper is the same actor who plays the central character in This is England and he is clearly retreading dramatic territory with this scene which I'm sure the producer was thrilled to have happen.

It's always best to give up your hiding spot the moment your boyfriend yells out to you to run and the mean little kiddies all pause from their torture sesh to peer about.

Okay that is WAY too convenient for the plot to have our fleeing heroine step on a massive spike in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and cry out uncontrollably.

"Can you please just show me the way?" How about can you please just whip out your mobile and call the police?

What happens next...damn that leader kid is FUCKED.

I guess tit for tit... random screwed-overs leads to one decent break in a grotty bin. Of course Cooper gets the "oops"...sympathy scene. Am a bit annoyed at the stereotypical "battle paint" look had from the roll in the bin.

Isn't this the fence scene from Ils? (just before the heroine is "saved" by a passing car)

Wow I don't think ever before in film history has killing a kid been so restorative for the audience.

Though predictable and too clearly contrived in plot, this film is sufficiently fucked up and realistic about it to earn an extra half star.

"Most fucked up" highlight: "Is it warm?" through "I'll burn him instead", and also the ending

A huge flaw in the premise: taking a small boat through unknown areas WITHOUT any form of navigation, nevermind Global GPS which even experienced fishermen in my local Louisiana waterways have had since the 90s. Another small flaw: who grows indoors when you have so much unmonitored land? (actually, unlike the former point, this one can be explained away) Still, these dumbasses give a bad name for marijuana farmers everywhere, but unfortunate for my entertainment, the yuppies are none too brighter when it comes to negotiating their circumstances with a bit more common sense.

On the positive, I feel like the characters of the two brothers and father are very well developed. The boys do a good enough job dropping hints at their father's disposition that by the time he is ready for screentime, we already know his character just as well as if he'd been around all that time. Perhaps one of the scariest elements is how much implied incest and bestiality has taken place on the farm.

For the final third of this film, the woman takes on the traditional empowered asskicker role as her man has been temporarily disabled. One striking bit of originality is the dick-deadly diaphragm she devises for use as her anti-rape kit. Also, the trap the couple sets in the barn will no doubt be referenced for the new Hellraiser's chains-n-hooks sequence.

The set design is killer - detailed, grimy, and wholly believable and suited to the characters it represents.

This is pretty decent for its genre, but treads no new territory in the story format of "rural male vs urban male = the contended female was the only one who ever had a chance at winning".

But what of the gore?, you other blood fiends ask. Well the version I saw was the "Extreme Edition" (and unrated) one. The final kill scores for originality, but too little wind in the sails too late. The blood is colored beautifully and used effectively (sparingly for the genre). But what isn't used sparingly and nearly gave me a seizure? The crew's strobe light throughout the entire climax. Hungry gorehounds will wonder: who copied who in for the dog eats dicklet scene (between this and Teeth - same breed of dog, same idea of vagina dentata)?

This is pretty incredible for a low budget feature. At the conclusion of this film, I definitely decided that this is one fictional horror town I NEVER want to end up in; I'd rather face Leatherface to be honest.

Now the downers. The acting is at best lukewarm. The makeup varies in effectiveness from "you need to reapply that" to "okay that's acceptable for an amateur"; in a few wide shots, it is clear that the production couldn't afford/bother to makeup the antagonistic children. The effects crew seems to do much better with the blood, keeping coloring and flow pretty consistently good. The characters often make questionable decisions, but what is this genre without such idiocy on part of the characters?

You can feel that these people are truly stranded and surrounded. The town, once revealed, is just as eerie and backwards as you would expect. The girls' ritual performed on the surviving Brit is quite satisfyingly sick.

This is one of the better indie efforts I've seen in a long time and I wouldn't be surprised to see a large budget American remake in the pipeline.