Rating of
1.5/4
The real Wrong Turn was going into that theatre
SIngli6 - wrote on 02/25/21
This film seems to be building a small reputation as 'surprisingly good'. I don't know how much this has to do with the quality of the first six 'Wrong Turn' movies (have seen none, will see none) lowering expectations so significantly that practically anything remotely better would suffice. I appreciate that this film has good moments, I appreciate that this film has a great final shot, and I appreciate that this film has atmosphere for days, but it is just suffering. The film makes the seemingly invincible cult so extremely hate-able and demands the protagonists be so absurdly submissive (except for one member who the film couldn't decide if we were supposed to dislike or not) until the final half hour that it over-promises on the expected catharsis. The tables are turned, but they are frankly not turned enough. We sit through misery and pain and degradation in the worst tradition of torture porn and expect a few retaliatory kills to justify that? Perhaps that is exactly what some people look for in horror, but it just made me so violently angry.
If the film was trying to offer some commentary with its degradation, like Jennifer Kent's 'The Nightingale' or the Black Mirror episode 'Shut Up and Dance', I would celebrate this aspect of the film, but there's no real point to any of it. There's a band of vindictive Luddite c**ts living in shitty hidey-holes who act personally offended whenever an outsider tries to defend themselves. They're basically tankies, I suppose. If you're going to evoke that level of hatred in a shitty B-flick for your villains, you'd better be prepared to deliver on the gory retribution. And thanks for treating the gay characters particularly horrendously, Alan McElroy. I usually try not to notice that sort of thing, but I'm angry enough right now to assume the worst of you.
