Wrong Turn (2003)

40% of critics liked it
(77 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(134,181 ratings)

A turn down an uncharted dirt road leads six young people into a night of pure terror in this horror story. Chris (Desmond Harrington) is driving through West Virginia on his way to a job interview when an auto accident slows highway traffic to a near standstill. Afraid he'll be late, Chris takes a… More A turn down an uncharted dirt road leads six young people into a night of pure terror in this horror story. Chris (Desmond Harrington) is driving through West Virginia on his way to a job interview when an auto accident slows highway traffic to a near standstill. Afraid he'll be late, Chris takes a detour down an old dirt road; a distracted Chris doesn't see an SUV stuck in the middle of the road before it's too late, and he plows into the back after his tires suddenly blow. The driver of the SUV, Jessie (Eliza Dushku), was out on a camping trip with four of her friends -- Evan (Kevin Zegers), Francine (Lindy Booth), Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Scott (Jeremy Sisto) -- when their tires went out, and as Jessie and Chris compare notes on their accidents, they discover that the road has been sabotaged with barbed wire. With both parties in need of a telephone, Evan and Francine are left to look after the cars while the other four set out to find help. However, Evan and Francine soon discover they've been led into a horrible trap, and as Chris, Jessie, and their friends search for help, they find that they've fallen victim not to local pranksters, but a gang of inbred backwoods killers with a taste for blood. Wrong Turn was produced in part by Stan Winston, a legendary special-effects artist whose work has appeared in such films as Jurassic Park, Aliens, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 24 min.
Directed By: Rob Schmidt
Written By: Alan McElroy
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

In Theaters: May 30, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Oct 14, 2003
Studio: 20th Century Fox Distribution

Critic Reviews

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
While this movie doesn't have the warped sensibilities of 1977's similarly plotted The Hills Have Eyes, it has decent performances and genuine suspense.
Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic
It's gruesome and nasty and a heck of a lot of fun for people who get a kick out of Fangoria.
Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly
A blood-simple backwoods spatterfest that makes shameless use of the same old antirural moonshine Hollywood's been bootlegging for decades.
Anita Gates, New York Times
Lazy would-be horror film.
Scott Foundas, Variety
A negative pickup by Fox, dumped into theaters on Friday without benefit of press previews, Wrong Turn is steeped only in frightless torpor.
Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News
Schmidt makes us flinch the old-fashioned way -- by giving us a box seat to the unspeakable.
Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News (Maine)
The understatement of the year. Essentially, ax-wielding rednecks unite in a slasher flick that drives itself into a brick wall of no return.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
It gives what it promises: violence, creeps, and solid performances from the great cast...
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
It's the usual quick-cut, this-is-all-we-can-show-you R-rated mayhem.
Bill Clark, FromTheBalcony
A cut above the recent lot of slasher films...it does not feel as if it has to cater to audiences who want every plot point spoon fed to them.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Headed in only one direction: straight into the toilet.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Ao contrário da maior parte das produções do gênero realizadas nos últimos anos, este filme acaba se revelando acima da média graças à boa direção de Rob Schmidt.
Blake French, NutzWorld
...talent does not matter much, just as long as the women?who, of course, all look like supermodels?wear skimpy, transparent outfits throughout the movie.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Eric A

Very unrealistic, it moves too fast and has really poor acting. Might get a scare or two out of you, but that's about it.
Melvin W

Scott: We are never going into the woods again! "It's the last one you'll ever take." Wrong Turn is easily the most unoriginal horror film I have ever had the displeasure of watching. The plot steals ideas from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, lines from The… More
Scott: We are never going into the woods again! "It's the last one you'll ever take." Wrong Turn is easily the most unoriginal horror film I have ever had the displeasure of watching. The plot steals ideas from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, lines from The Blair Witch Project and ends up basically being the ReRemake of The Hills Have Eyes. If you don't know what's going to happen next, you've probably never seen a horror film. If you are disturbed by this material, you have never seen a well done horror film. If you like this; either A, you are 12 years old and think every movie labeled horror that you see makes you a badass or B, you don't watch many movies. This movie is extremely unlikable and the scariest thing about it is that it doesn't feature Eliza Dushku's worst performance. Yeah, she has been worse. Watch The Alphabet Killer and you'll see what I mean. The acting isn't really even worth talking about. It's one of those movies where you don't care about the characters. I want the guys to die quickly and leave the very attractive girls for last. Yeah they are horrible actresses, but damn. Then I want the girls to have a nice lesbian scene(never happens), then they can dies. I'm not a pervert, but it is the only thing that would make the movie at all interesting. The characters are dull and stupid and the plot has been done before; what else should be looking forward to. The sad thing is that it seems like director Rob Schmidt thinks he is shocking and disturbing. I don't think that's true, but at least it seems that way. He has to know everything about this movie has been copy-pasted from better movies. It actually turns out to be pretty offensive to horror fans. He thinks we are going to enjoy this. He was sorely mistaken.
Bethany M

Those creatures scared me so much. I was hiding under my covers and was genuinely scared. A great horror film!
Sophie B

Predictalbe, annoying, bad acting and obvious. With that landscape they could have done SO much better.
Dead A

Why maximum horror movies have the same idea like retard and ugly people kill normal people without any reason. I find it similar with "Hills Have Eyes". I wouldn't say that i was bored. It was okay enough to keep me watching till the end. And I must confess that the… More
Why maximum horror movies have the same idea like retard and ugly people kill normal people without any reason. I find it similar with "Hills Have Eyes". I wouldn't say that i was bored. It was okay enough to keep me watching till the end. And I must confess that the makeup was really good. I think I'll watch the second part. Not expecting to be spectacular but just to satisfy my curiosity :|
Jeff "

I've seen this film under a different title. Hmmm what was the title? Oh yeah, The Hill's Have Eyes remake. The film starts of good enough and you think it will be good, but then thirty minutes in, it becomes very predictable as it follows basically the same pattern as the… More
I've seen this film under a different title. Hmmm what was the title? Oh yeah, The Hill's Have Eyes remake. The film starts of good enough and you think it will be good, but then thirty minutes in, it becomes very predictable as it follows basically the same pattern as the remake of Hills Have Eyes. With that said, for those who don't care about such things there is plenty of things in this film to enjoy, there's plenty of gore and violence for the gore hounds. If you can get past the fact that this film isn't at all original, then you might actually enjoy this film. I thought that Wrong Turn was mediocre, but the violence and gore was pretty intense, if it had a better plot, then I would've enjoyed this film a lot better. Luckily the sequel was better, much better.
Tim S

A less than mediocre horror standard. If The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho were never made, what would have been made over and over again the last 40 years? I'm pretty tired of this genre of horror films and this movie isn't much different than the… More
A less than mediocre horror standard. If The Hills Have Eyes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho were never made, what would have been made over and over again the last 40 years? I'm pretty tired of this genre of horror films and this movie isn't much different than the rest. People get lost in the middle of nowhere, cannibals/inbreds/psychos/rednecks kill them, rape them and eat them. Bleh.
Anthony L

Enjoyable trashy horror.
Cassandra M

I decided to see this movie mainly out of boredom plus an eye-friendly cast was promised, so i basically thought it'd turn out to be another standard popcorn horror flick. Thankfully, what i discovered was notably more enjoyable. Yes, it is true to say that it does follow along… More
I decided to see this movie mainly out of boredom plus an eye-friendly cast was promised, so i basically thought it'd turn out to be another standard popcorn horror flick. Thankfully, what i discovered was notably more enjoyable. Yes, it is true to say that it does follow along the same vein as many other horror movies in that many key aspects of it are quiet predictable. However, in spite of this, a distinct empathy can be felt for the majority of the protagonists, who you really don't want to fail victim to the insane, murderous, mountain psychos. Not alone this, but I feel that it is safe to proclaim, as i'm sure have and will many others, that the atmosphere is one of well created nail biting tension, which lasts throughout the duration of the film. In fact, I found the atmosphere that the movie exuded to be so compelling that I failed to notice certain flaws that would normally aggravate me in a film. I of course will refrain from elaborating on these details so as not to spoil the viewing for those who have yet to see it. What I really liked about this film was that it didn't try what so many other horror movies as of the last seven years or so haave tried- and that is to be ironic. It is just a horror movie, with the distinct and generally successful aim of scaring and entertaining. Its atmosphere undeniably achieves this, however its not alone, it is true to say that this film is not for the squeamish. Several scenes prove to be quite graphic. In this respect, I would have to admit that Wrong Turn doesn't have the makings of changing the world of movies as we know it, but it does however, have the capacity to push you to the edge of your seat. My advice is, if you're a horror fan, its well worth the watch!
Lady D

Wrong Turn has all the ingreients for a typical Scary Teen movie, ie. it's not particularly scary and it's very predictable. 'The Mountain men' weren't very original and I felt needed to be scarier than they were, having said that, this was a lot more… More
Wrong Turn has all the ingreients for a typical Scary Teen movie, ie. it's not particularly scary and it's very predictable. 'The Mountain men' weren't very original and I felt needed to be scarier than they were, having said that, this was a lot more bearable than most. I'm not sure I'll hold out for Wrong Turn 2 though.
Ken S

Thoroughly boring clichéd crap
Dean !

A very gory, violent horror at times. It has a cool change of theme for a horror film.
_kelly .

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… More
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.
Sarah G

A suspense film with no suspense and a very weak plot with a predictable outcome. Pretty much a terrible film. Now I realise why I stay away from these films.
EightThirty .

Pretty typical...very predictible...Its a plot that everybody will catch on to real quick ^_^
Dan S

Familiar plot with a lot of stupid people making stupid decisions.
Daniel J D

This movie was fun... to make fun of... Like a much tamer Hills Have Eyes.
Bobby H

Turned out to be pretty much pretty like every other horror movie, but it's worth a watch or two. I didnt mind it too bad, and that says alot coming from someone who dont like horror movies, 75% of the time.
Lafe F

A savage battle with gross mountain men; I would say more gritty and engaging than "Deliverance" ever was. The plot is very straightforward however, leaving us to sit and witness an episode of terror and torture.
Lee ?

A little Gem of a Horror movie! Really enjoyable and one of the best I've seen in recent years. The disturbing looking inbred mountain men made this movie for me. They were hideous, disgusting and very creepy in their look and actions. Stan Winston and his team did an excellent… More
A little Gem of a Horror movie! Really enjoyable and one of the best I've seen in recent years. The disturbing looking inbred mountain men made this movie for me. They were hideous, disgusting and very creepy in their look and actions. Stan Winston and his team did an excellent job on the special make up effects and props. There are some good jolts along the way and a few very gruesome moments of gore, and the whole movie moves along at a good pace and doesn't drag on at all. Highly recommended!!