Hey folks, Harry here -- I suppose Pyul was in Austin at the screening tonight, since in the past he's been at the Austin screenings for such things, but I think he's going way overboard here... at best this is stupid goofy fun, and by no means is this what an R-rated horror film should be... it is the bare minimum of what an R-rated horror film should be to not be a piece of shit, but that's about it. And as for no self-referential moments... that point where they mention DELIVERANCE was fairly self-referential. But maybe I'm remembering wrong.
Hey Harry,
It's been a while since I've last reported in, so I thought I might share my review of the much maligned new Horror Cliche, Wrong Turn. There's been seemingly a flood of negative reviews and normally (and I stress NORMALLY) the early buzz is usually close to the pulse of what's going on. This time, however, the buzz is way the fuck off.
Wrong Turn is a surprisingly entertaining horror film that really gets to the nitty gritty of what an R rated horror film should be: Scares and Gore. After years of dry, bland, almost scareless "R" Rated horror fare from the studios, a movie has appeared that has the sheer balls to be what it is. A gory, twisted feast of visceral, athstetic delight.
Is this film wildly original? No. Are there any amazing twists? No. Does it push the genre forward in new and exciting ways? No. It's cut and dry, or more appropriately, fairly cookie cutter by design. The story is nothing new, let me repeat that, NOTHING NEW. AT ALL. There is not a single original story idea here in the slightest. And this, I feel, is why the early reviewers have been so eager to lambast this thing into oblivion.
However, and this is the big HOWEVER, what this film does have is its heart in the right place. Wrong Turn sheds most of the current horror conventions that have been boring audiences as of late and turns back to the horror story telling styles of the 70's and 80's. Mentioning this film without mentioning The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is impossible, not just because it aspires to be or is clearly inspired by Chainsaw, but rather because it could have easily been a draft for the remake of Chainsaw. And while this film is clearly lacking in the originality that made the first movie a classic, it wonderfully updates the genre without some of the silly conventions that ruins most modern attempts to recapture the genre.
First and foremost, this movie plays it straight. Absent is the kitchy physical comedy or rediculous situations that many films have incorperated into the genre. Gone is the witty repartee about movie banter, or movie within a movie refrences that seem to populate mainstream horror these days. And gone, thank god almighty, are any attempts at cheesy one liners or seeemingly witty "From Hells Heart I Stab at thee" type of statements. This movie never tries once to make you laugh. Oh, you just might laugh, in ways that might make those around you slightly nervous, but not because the movie is trying to make you do so, or even worse, because it's that bad. It's serious, the whole way through.
Secondly, and most importantly, this film never forgets for a second just how gory and disturbing a youth-in-the-woods horror film has to be to be entertaining. Stan Winston pulls out all the stops here visually. While I must say that a few of the deaths here are fairly pedestrian, two in particular are clearly the work of a deranged genius. Two absolute HOLY FUCK moments that that clearly push the envelope on gory special effects. One in particular will no doubt go into the pantheon of greatest horror deaths ever. It is simply a masterstroke, a work of art that I dare not share but you'll know when you see it. And it happens so perfectly, so unexpectedly.
And to add to Stan Winston's special effects are a myriad of amazing sound effects that litterally hurt more than the visuals. The sounds of saws working on bone, the crunch and crack as ribs are smacked with a hammer. The sounds are mixed so eloquently into each scene that your body seizes at each strike. Now I'm not a sound guy. I'm one of those guys that only notices sound mixing when it's done wrong. But for the first time in my life, I came out raving about a films sound effects editing. The sound work here simply blew my mind. I've never been one to say that a horror film like this deserves an oscar nod, but the sound here does more to serve the film than any film in recent memory. This is simply astounding work on the part of the sound team.
And the visual look of this movie is simply fantastic. Rob Schmidt, who last helmed a "Crime and Punishment in Suburbia" (a slick, good looking but all too forgettable film) really manages to take a pedestrian "I can't believe they're actually making another one of these done to death" scripts (from Alan B. McElroy, the man who brought you Spawn, Left Behind and Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever) and made it something not only watchable, but damned entertaining. The way he handles certain sequences, like the inevitible trip into the rednecks shack of a home, which while borrowing HEAVILY from Tobe Hooper's Chainsaw and Jonothan Mostow's Breakdown, does so with the same kind of illicit fetishism that David Fincher exhibited in Seven and Jonothan Demme did in Silence of the Lambs. This scene, while seemingly cliched, really manages to work and pay off in all sorts of ways. I'm curious to see what happen's when and if Rob Schmidt ever get's his hands on a terrific script. He definately knows how to capture certain looks and sell them to the audience (and pretty much make them not care that there's no story or character development), but with a REAL script he might be able to really do something.
My only real beef with this film: They stick to one convention too many. The damned, accursed, Kevin Williamson style unnecessary opening death sequence that does nothing whatsoever for the movie. In fact, they even do it again later, in the exact same fashion with another pair, for no reason other than to raise the body count. While the scenes aren't handled badly, they feel forced and overly cliche. But I assure you, once the movie get's past these two scenes, it really takes off and goes nuts.
Wrong Turn is frenetic, jump filled horror fare that really delivers despite it's obvious short comings. This film is by no means perfect, but it sure had the audience glued to their seats, swearing audibly at every jump. This is one hell of a popcorn flick that fans of the genre, particularly fans of gore should not miss in a packed theatre. Midnight Movie Viewing is almost a must for this film and is well worth the price of admission (something that can't often be said about horror these days.)
Pyul Mactackle
