On Tuesday, October 13, horror fans will be able to get their hands on the third leg in the Wrong Turn trilogy when “Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, much like the second entry in the series, drops directly into the lap of the DVD market. Wrong Turn 3 is the story of a group of prisoners who wind up stranded and must go toe to toe with the deformed and hungry family of the first two Wrong Turn films.  If it’s one thing horror fans have proven to love it’s inbred backwood folks who eat people! Thus far, the Wrong Turn series has managed to deliver.  

Before you sink your teeth into Wrong Turn 3, Let’s take a look back at the previous films in the series. If you missed them, you may want to consider backtracking. The Wrong Turn series has offered up quite a few mindless moments of horror that a large portion of horror fans should likely find the means to appreciate.

WRONG TURN (2003)

In the 70′s, it was within the norm to run into a big cannibalistic family while getting lost in the middle of nowhere.  There was no way around it. They were everywhere. On the way through Texas (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) or perhaps even in the desert on the way to California (The Hills Have Eyes)? Check!

 During this time, even though people were aware of these happenings, they still continued their inbreeding ways. This brings us to 2003 West Virginia, the setting for a definite throwback to these times where we took our first terribly misguided shortcut into inbred the cannibalistic tribesmen of ”Wrong Turn”.

Released at the start of 2003′s “Horror Boom” (that also featured Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Freddy vs Jason, and more)  “Wrong Turn” kind of came and went seemingly unnoticed amongst the already-established franchise heavy hitters. The theaters weren’t packed yet the movie developed an early cult following, much like it’s early predecessors in which the makers of “Wrong Turn” never denied trying to mimic. People liked this movie. I, for one, was one of those people.

How does this flick match up to “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” storyline-wise? These days, it seems like every other horror flick features a similar premise, just as it did back then. Yet in 2003, this was only beginning to take shape again. The plot sets itself up nicely. On his way through the woods via a detour down an old road Chris Finn’s (Desmond Harrington) car is sabotaged by a creatively placed booby trap. Now Chris and a group of teenagers who were wrecked just ahead of him which include Jessie (Eliza Dushku), Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Scott (Jeremy Sisto) are lost, looking for help, getting more lost, and getting stalked by a group of cannibalistic, wild, deformed inbred mountain men all the while. It doesn’t get any better (or old school) than this folks! Some don’t make it out of this movie alive as if you couldn’t figure that out.

The look and feel of the film is great. The mountain men are rather creepy looking and look familiar (coming from a Kentuckian). The cast plays their roles decently well for this type of film. Once the movie got intense, it kept that pace throughout much to my surprise. I didn’t expect this film to be as fun as it was.

A lot of folks didn’t give “Wrong Turn” a chance when they should have. It was sure-fire a throwback to 70′s cannibal horror and did so tastefully (no pun intended) and stylishly.  I personally enjoyed “Wrong Turn” ten fold over films, also considered throwbacks, release somewhat within the same time period such as  House of 1000 corpses. Wrong Turn never really tried to be a dark comedy (though it does contain it’s share comic relief with hillbillies) and it was overall a much better experience. If you like 70′s stranded-stalked-cannibal horror you shouldn’t be disappointed by this “tribute” to those flicks.

WRONG TURN 2: Dead End (2007)

Back in 2003, though it got a short run in theaters, Wrong Turn seemed to take horror fans back to the days of road survival/cannibal horror flicks. Somewhat inspired by The Hills Have Eyes, the film told the story of a group of people who get lost in the deep woods of West Virginia and must fend for their lives when they discover a group of cannibalistic hillbillies inhabiting the surrounding wooded area. The movie was ultimately a fun experience, albeit overlooked by many. It did manage to generate enough of a buzz and a mild cult following, to result in a sequel that landed directly on TV.

So how do you get another group of people to go into those same woods? A reality show of course! One of the most addicting evils currently inhabiting television.  That’s the idea behind Wrong Turn 2. Deep in those same woods, a group has been brought together to take part in a reality show entitled “The Apocalypse”, a “Survivor” style reality program, where they must survive for 5 days with nothing more than what they can find in the woods, and the clothing on their back. You get your typical group of reality TV type stars. Jock, snotty girl, slut, Lesbian, annoying guy, and of course, the good girl. You are also supposed to have a former reality TV star (Kimberly Caldwell of American Idol playing herself) who is supposed to take place in the show as well but she takes her “Wrong Turn” a little earlier than the rest of the cast. The show is hosted by a retired Army drill sergeant played by Henry Rollins.

With that, the group sets out into the woods and soon discover that the group of inbreds have a much deeper family than we witnessed in the first flick, and the extended family is equally as brutal.

Does the sequel stack up to the original? I felt that it did. It’s a little more comical than it’s predecessor, though I didn’t see any reason to like this film any less or any more than the original. Where the acting in the original was decent, it did lack a more in the follow up. But where the kills in the original were ok, they were equally, and in some cases MORE, effective in the sequel. Where one film might have lacked, the other shined. It was the methods in which our ill fated characters met their maker that made this film fun. You get people gutted, chopped completely in two down the middle and more, and for a direct to DVD movie, the effects were great and gory. The extended hillbilly family was excellent. I actually liked the look of the trio in the original, and the new family members didn’t stray all that far away from the look. They had similar mannerisms and we are even introduced to a bit of a back story behind the clan that kind of makes sense and doesn’t do anything to hurt the story.

Wrong Turn 2 doesn’t try to take itself all that serious which made it better for me since some of it was a tad over the top (hillbilly sex anyone?!). Especially when Henry Rollins starts looking for the hillbillies “Rambo Style”. Henry Rollins rules in this film. When he’s hosting the reality show, he legitimately seems like he’s hosting a reality show. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how much he sounded like some of these ridiculous reality hosts. When he goes Commando on the Hillbillies, he’s just simply fun to watch and get a kick out of.

As a whole, the film works for an afternoon of mindless fun. If you liked the first film, I can’ imagine why one would be disappointed in the follow up. It was at least equal to the original as a whole, and the kills really shine in Wrong Turn 2.

All things considered, with two films in the bag and a third hitting DVD this coming Tuesday (Oct 13), there’s just no reason not to give “Wrong Turn 3″ a try if for no other reason than the fun that was the first two thirds of this series. The excellent trailer gives hope that Wrong Turn 3 could be just as fun as the previous entries. The Wrong Turn series could be well on it’s way to becoming a successful and fun direct to DVD franchise.

WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD TRAILER