The Wrong Turn series has become one of the most surprising long-running horror movie franchises in recent memory. The first movie was never an iconic entry into the genre, and it was followed mostly by straight-to-video sequels. But, after six movies in the original series and a new reboot released this year, there is clearly something about the tale of mutant cannibals that appeals to audiences.
These movies have never been hailed for their cinematic achievements, but they have always delivered on the promise of inventive kills and over-the-top gore. This has made for some pretty unforgettable and entertaining moments in the franchise.
Meeting The Cannibals
The first movie in this series sets up a simple story that was followed in just about every subsequent installment. A group of people get turned around in the mountains and have the misfortune of meeting the mutant cannibals.
The first proper introduction to these terrifying villains comes when the heroes discover a mountain cabin while looking for help. After discovering various body parts inside, they wisely hide when the cabin owners come home. They are then forced to witness the cannibals carving up one of their victims while hiding under the bed. It is a very suspenseful sequence the likes of which are missing from the later movies.
Dale Fights Back
The cannibals featured in the Wrong Turn horror series may have lacked any real motivation, but they were memorable, nonetheless. However, the same could not be said for most of the movies' main characters. One notable exception is Dale Murphy (Henry Rollins) from Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. Dale is the host of a survivalist reality show that stumbles into the cannibals' forest.
In a nice change from the usual mindless victims of this series, Dale proves to be a real threat to the villains. He is a former marine who dons warpaint and exploding arrows, resembling Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator.
Brain Food
In Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, the mutant cannibals are not the only villains of the story. Chavez is a ruthless criminal who takes control of a group of survivors when their prison bus is run off the road by the cannibals.
The movie does a good job of making Chavez truly unlikeable to the point that the audience is sort of cheering for the cannibals to kill him. This leads to a climactic fight between Chavez and the cannibal Three-Finger, which ends with a fittingly gory death as Three-Finger cracks open Chavez's skull and feasts on his brain.
Half Decapitation
With the level of gore in the later sequels, the original Wrong Turn might seem a bit tame by comparison. However, it does deliver a very memorable and well-executed kill that ranks about the best in the franchise.
While the heroes climb some trees while being pursued by the cannibals, one of the killers follows them up the tree. He corners one of the victims and swings his ax at her face. It is then revealed the top half of her head lies on the ax blade while the rest of her body falls down through the tree branches.
Snowmobile Getaway
Wrong Turn 4: The Beginnings replaced the rural setting of the previous movies with a snowed-in hospital where the cannibals' origins began. The heroes of the movie are trapped in this hotel after being sidelined during a snowmobile trip and hunted by the cannibals.
In the end, only two survivors are left, and they attempt to make their escape on a snowmobile. Just as they seem to have made it to freedom, they run into a barbwire trap that decapitated them. It is a shockingly brutal way to end the movie while allowing the villains to win.
Harsh Punishment
The recent reboot Wrong Turn—one of a number of highly-anticipated horror reboots—is a very different movie than what came before and takes things in an entirely new direction. Instead of cannibals, it focuses on an isolated society of people known as The Foundation living in the woods who take revenge on a group of young hikers who kill one of their own.
While the woods people might not be as sadistic as the cannibals in the other movies, they can be just as brutal. When the hiker who killed one of their members is revealed, he is punished in front of his friends by having his head smashed in with a large club. Though not as elaborate as other kills in the series, it is still sickening.
Cannibal Fondu
Despite all the horrific kills in these movies, the Wrong Turn franchise has largely been able to have fun with itself, but that fun is often done in twisted ways. In the fourth movie in the series, one of the unlucky victims finds himself the main course in a disturbing meal for the cannibals.
Strapped to a table and unable to move, the cannibals cut him open and proceed to use parts of him for a fondu party. The gruesomeness of the torture is hard to watch, but, when the cannibals act like they are having a sophisticated meal from this poor fellow, it's easy to buy into the absurdity.
The Tunnel
While the head-bashing was certainly the more severe punishment for the trespassing hikers in the Wrong Turn reboot, The Foundation had other disturbing plans for the remaining survivors. For lying about their role in the murder, the leader has one of the survivors blinded with a hot poker and taken away.
Later in the movie, when the main character is making her escape, she comes across a dark tunnel where she finds her friend. However, he is not alone, as other transgressors had been similarly blinded and trapped in this tunnel to wander in darkness forever. It is an effectively creepy sight.
Mowing The Field
This is another example of the movies combining the blood and guts with a very silly sense of humor. After being set up as the potential heroes of Wrong Turn: Bloodlines, two young men are attacked by the cannibals and wake up on a soccer field. One man is chained to the goal post, and the other is buried up to his neck, so it's pretty clear things aren't going to go well for them.
Indeed, one of the cannibals shows up on the other end of the field in a lawn tractor and begins slowly heading towards the helpless men. It is a hilariously drawn-out sequence, with the cannibal giggling on the slow-moving mower as the victims freak out, and it ends with an impressively gory spectacle.
Runaway Log
Though some fans complained the reboot of the series was a slower horror ride than what came before, it certainly has better production values and the most impressive sequences in the entire movie.
When a group of city kids go hiking in the mountains, they make the terrible decision of going off the marked trail. Their pleasant time is interrupted by a massive tree log tumbling down the hill towards them. It is a chaotic and nerve-wracking moment as they try to run out of the way. Unfortunately, one of the kids isn't quick enough and gets crushed between the log and a tree.