''Wrong Turn'' is a 2021

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by Mike P. Nelson and written by franchise creator Alan McElroy. The film, being a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

, is the seventh installment of the ''Wrong Turn'' film series, stars

Charlotte Vega Charlotte Elizabeth Vega (born 10 February 1994 in Madrid) is a Spanish-British actress and model, known for her role in the 2014 Spanish film '' The Misfits Club'', the lead role in the 2017 Irish film '' The Lodgers'', and main roles in two t ...

, Adain Bradley, Bill Sage,

Emma Dumont Emma Dumont is an American actress, model, and dancer. She is known for her roles as Melanie Segal in the ABC Family series ''Bunheads'', as Emma Karn in the NBC series ''Aquarius'', and as Lorna Dane/Polaris in the FOX series '' The Gifted''. ...

, Dylan McTee,

Daisy Head Daisy May Head (born 7 March 1991) is an English actress. She played Grace in the American drama series '' Guilt'', Amy Stevenson in BBC One's drama '' The Syndicate'', Kate Bottomley in the third season of Hulu series '' Harlots'' and Genya Sa ...

, and

Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character ...

. 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 Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. History Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Neal H ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began on September 9, 2019, and wrapped on November 2, 2019, in Felicity,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. ''Wrong Turn'' was theatrically released for one day, January 26, 2021, by

Saban Films Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commun ...

. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $4.8 million at the box office and $2 million in home sales.

Plot

Jen Shaw, her boyfriend Darius, and couples Adam and Milla and Gary and Luis, arrive in a small town in rural Virginia to hike the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

. 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 Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

girl, Ruthie. They begin their hike and, despite warnings, go off the trail to find an old fort. A huge tree trunk rolls down the hill and fatally crushes Gary. Bruised, disoriented and lost, the group sets up camp for the night. The following day, Milla goes 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 triggers a

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

and is 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 wearing strange costumes and animal skull masks. The friends 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, having earlier gone for a bathroom break and evaded 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 by a member of the Foundation. Jen, Adam, Darius and Luis are all captured. The group is 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, testifies how Adam murdered his brother, Samuel. The group is charged with murder. The leader, Venable, sentences Adam to death. The others try to lie before the court to save his life, only to be exposed as perjurors by other witnesses, and are therefore sentenced to "darkness" for perjury in court. 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 tries to manipulate Venable and fellow Foundation members for mercy. She sells Darius to the group as a desirable professional who is able to solve social problems of their closed society; and offers herself to anyone as wife and mother to their children, advertizing herself as having good genes and no genetic predispositions to cancer, of which she's found the Foundation people are afraid. Venable agrees, and she and Darius are initiated into the community. Jen becomes Venable's wife, as he discloses he's been widowed for over a year after his wife died in a mountain slope accident. Six weeks later, Scott Shaw, Jen's father, arrives the town to search for his daughter. He pays a local tracker to take him through the forest. After a trap kills the tracker and his son, 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 mercy kills him and flees with Scott, 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 A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

(RV). As the

end credits Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

roll, Jen causes the RV to crash into a parked car. Jen stabs Venable to death and kills the other cultist, the RV driver as well. She then takes Ruthie's hand as they walk back towards her family home.

Cast

as Jennifer "Jen" Shaw * Adain Bradley as Darius Clemons * Bill Sage as Venable / Ram Skull *

as Milla D'Angelo * Dylan McTee as Adam Lucas *

as Edith *

as Scott Shaw *

Vardaan Arora Vardaan Arora (born 22 April 1992) is an Indian recording artist, songwriter, and actor based in New York. Early life Vardaan Arora was born in New Delhi, India. After attending The British School in New Delhi, he went on to study theatre a ...

as Gary Amaan * Adrian Favela as Luis Ortiz * Tim de Zarn as Nate Roades * Rhyan Elizabeth Hanavan as Ruthie * Chaney Morrow as Hobbs *

Damian Maffei Damian Paul Maffei (born June 27, 1977) is an American actor. He appeared in the thriller film '' Closed for the Season'' (2010) and played an antagonist in the slasher films '' The Strangers: Prey at Night'' (2018) and ''Haunt Haunt is a synon ...

as Morgan / Deer Skull * Mark Mench as Standard / Wolf Skull * David Hutchison as Cullen / Boar Skull * Chris Hahn as Samuel / Elk Skull * Valerie Jane Parker as Corrine * Daniel R. Hill as Reggie

Production

Development

In October 2018, a reboot of the ''Wrong Turn'' film series was announced. The film was directed by Mike P. Nelson and written by

Alan B. McElroy Alan B. McElroy is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film, television, comic books, and video games. He is best known for his collaborations with Todd McFarlane on the ''Spawn'' franchise, and for penning horror films such as ...

, who wrote the

in 2003. In May 2019, it was announced that

would star in the film. In an interview with director Nelson for ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'', he stated:

Filming

began on September 9, 2019, in Ohio and wrapped on November 2.

Music

The film was composed by Stephen Lukach. The soundtrack album, which was titled ''Wrong Turn: The Foundation'', 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On December 16, 2020, it was announced that the film would premiere in American theaters for one night only on January 26, 2021. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 23, 2021, by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...

. The film grossed $2 million in home sales.

Critical reception

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the site gave the film a 65% approval rating based on 65 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. 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". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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". 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."

References

External links

* {{Wrong Turn 2021 films 2021 horror films American horror thriller films American LGBT-related films Canadian horror thriller films Canadian LGBT-related films Constantin Film films English-language Canadian films English-language German films Films about cults Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films set in 2019 Films set in West Virginia Films shot in Ohio German slasher films LGBT-related horror films Reboot films Saban Entertainment films Wrong Turn (film series) 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films 2020s American films