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Wrong Turn 2: Dead End Blu-ray Review |
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Wrong Turn 2: Dead End Blu-ray
20th Century Fox | 2007 | 93 mins | Unrated | Sep 15, 2009
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End Blu-ray ReviewThe family that flays together stays together…Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, September 18, 2009 Those cantankerous mutant cannibals are back at it again, stalking and slobbering through the bumble-brush of wild, wonderful West Virginia, taking down oblivious city folk with extreme prejudice, and proving that there's more than one way to skin a co-ed. As an ode to the splatter sequels of yore—Evil Dead II, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, etc.—Wrong Turn 2 ups the ante with more gore, more gleefully wicked methods for dispatching our mutant fodder, and a decidedly higher kill count. It's still schlocky, grade-z horror, but this direct-to-video sequel surprises by being a hell of a lot more fun than the franchise's dour first installment. Here, the series drops all pretension of seriousness and goes for guts instead, letting the entrails fall where they may. You might not care about the characters, you may not give a deuce about the plot, and you won't be scared at all this time around, but if you're after gross-out gags and giddy mutant mayhem, Wrong Turn 2 will take you there.
The film opens with an epic kill that proves hard to top. American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell—playing herself—is on her way to participate in "Ultimate Survival," a post- apocalyptically themed reality show set deep in the backwoods of West Virginia. After making, yes, a wrong turn, she crashes into a mutant pedestrian, sending him flying over her car. When she goes to see if he's alright, the mutant promptly bites off her lips while another inbred monstrosity sneaks up and chops her in half, head to groin, with an enormous ax. Intestines land with a goopy, satisfying smack on the pavement, and the two mutants shamble off into the woods, each dragging a piece of Caldwell's symmetrical remains. Really, you could roll the end credits right there. Meanwhile, the other contestants have assembled and the show's host, retired Marine Dale Murphy (a perfectly cast Henry Rollins), explains the overly complex rules of the game in a subtle jab at reality show ridiculousness. While the director (Matthew Currie Holmes) keeps watch from video monitors in his trailer, the six players head off into the woods in pairs of stereotypes. We have the slut (Crystal Lowe) and the jock (Texas Battle—yes, that's his real name), the jackass (Steve Braun) and the butch, Latina lesbian (Daniella Alonso), and finally the bitchy goth (Erica Leerhsen) and the good girl (Aleksa Palladino). Of course, the mutants don't take kindly to strangers in them thar hills, and most of the players are picked off before a late-in-the-game reversal sends Wrong Turn 2 into revenge film mode. Aside from the big opening kill, the first half of the film is a tepid, clumsily scripted attempt to set up all the characters in the shortest time possible. The reality show gimmick makes this pretty easy, but it's just that, a gimmick. Once the action really gets started, the whole game show aspect is nearly entirely dropped. There are a few pokes at the conventions of so-called reality TV, but the genre does such a good job of skewering itself that the jabs seem almost pointless. As you probably expect, the characters are flat caricatures of typical reality show contestants, and you won't give a lick about their petty plights and jealousies. That said, the acting isn't nearly as bad as the phrase "straight-to-video" might lead you to believe. Former Black Flag front-man Henry Rollins is totally in his element here, and his arc from TV personality to ultra badass with bow and dynamite-tipped arrows, a la Rambo, is undeniably fun. Erica Leerhsen's goth girl is the other standout, and she manages to squeeze some juice out of the relatively dry material. If you're this far into a review about Wrong Turn 2, though, you probably don't care about the performances, right? The kills are the allure, and this sequel dishes up a variety of splatterific fatalities, from an exploding old man to a Fargo-inspired trip through a meat grinder. But the shocks don't stop with gruesome deaths. Have you ever wanted to see a mutant masturbating in the woods? What about two twin mutant siblings aggressively perpetuating the cycle of incest while the female wears a skin mask harvested from a recent kill? No? Well, too bad. "If you can't scare 'em, shock 'em," is the mantra that Wrong Turn 2 perpetually recites, and while jaded horror buffs may simply roll their eyes, the squeamish may want a barf bag handy. Did you know that when a pregnant mutant's water breaks, the effluence has the color and viscosity of crude oil? Were you aware that deformed babies are given severed fingers for pacifiers? Be prepared for an education in perversion. In Wrong Turn 2 we're given much more insight—I'm not sure that's the word—into mutant family life, but the more we learn about them, the less scary they are as monsters. The intensity of the film is seriously ratcheted down by some patent familial dorkiness, like when the dad with the cleft palate teaches his Elephant Man look-alike son how to bow-hunt for humans. I get it—Look, they're bonding!—but the effect is neither creepy nor funny. The final act finds our survivors trapped in the mutant home, and if there was a laugh track, you might mistake the movie for some backwater version of All in the Family. Mutant dad pops a cold one on his Lay-Z-Boy and catches some religious programming on the tube, while mom dices up a corpse for dinner and the kids have some fun with their dangerous toys. By the time they tie up our vegan goth girl—with razor wire wrapped around the scars from her suicide attempt—and proceed to stuff her face with, um, slow-boiled man meat, you might very well be fed up yourself. If you can suffer through some of the silliness, though, and you don't mind being grossed out, Wrong Turn 2 is definitely above average for a direct-to-video genre offering. Video  Wrong Turn 2 goes straight-to-video in another sense, foregoing the 35mm film photography of the first installment for the quick and easy (and cheap) route of shooting on video. If you read my review of Wrong Turn, you'll know that I had a few bones to pick with the picture quality. Despite being sourced from a different medium, Wrong Turn 2's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer exhibits many of the same problems. Softness is once again an issue, as the majority of the shots look indistinct and undefined. It does appear that some DNR has been used to filter out noise, and as a result textures are muddied and smeared and fine detail is practically non-existent in many scenes. The overall clarity is probably a hair better than that of the first film, but that really isn't saying much. I did find it strange that there are a few shots—Rollins stitching himself up and the mutant teenager gobbling up dripping blood—that look noticeably sharper than the rest of the film. A particular trait of cheaper video cameras is the tendency to blow-out highlights, and you'll notice the plaid pattern on Jonesy's shirt is frequently overwhelmed by a wash of overheated white. On the plus side, black levels seem more stable than in the first film, with fewer crushed details and better contrast all around. Still, there's not much color depth, and the image overall is only slightly better than DVD quality. Do note that the back of the case says the film is on a 50 GB dual layer disc, but you'll actually find a 25 GB platter inside. Audio  While Wrong Turn packed a surprising wallop in the sound department, the sequel's DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 is somewhat less impacting and engaging. I'm not sure if it has to do with Wrong Turn 2 being a direct-to-video release, but there's not nearly as much activity in the rear channels. Sure, you'll hear some bleeding score and woodland ambience—buzzing flies and droning wind, mostly—but while the first film had plenty of rip roaring pans, there are few discrete effects here. Subwoofer use is also modest compared to Wrong Turn, and there's less detail in the soundscape overall. That said, the front-centric track literally lands a few good blows, as much of the violence is rendered with grisly crunches, splatters, thuds, and twitches. I especially like the frequently used bone-cracking foley effect when the mutants pop their joints back into place. I have a friend who can pop his entire spine on command, and it always sends shivers down mine. Dialogue too is presented clearly from the center channel, and I can't remember ever loosing any lines to poorly mixed levels. While not as impressive as the first film's beefy sound, this is a serviceable track that at least gives the film a lossless upgrade. Supplements  Commentary by Director Joe Lynch and Actors Erica Leerhsen and Henry Rollins From the start, first time director Joe Lynch is super-enthusiastic about this commentary track, bubbling up when the 20th Century Fox fanfare plays at the beginning of the film. Lynch pretty much dominates the conversation here, chatting hyperactively about genre conventions and the movie's so-called character development. Rollins gets a few words in, but Leerhsen is pretty quiet throughout. Not a bad commentary track, but not exactly essential listening either. Commentary by Writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien Likewise, if you're up for watching Wrong Turn 2 a third time, writers Meyer and Septien offer up a listenable, but ultimately disposable track. It is refreshing that the two men have no pretentions about the script—they know they've written a splatter film, not some grand artistic statement. As the comments are coming from writers, expect plenty of character analysis and plot dissection. More Blood, More Guts: The Making of Wrong Turn 2 (SD, 9:32) Producer Jeff Freilich goes though the casting choices, director Joe Lynch claims he's personally as disturbed as the script, and the cast members give a few words about their characters. Short and sweet, but not much to eat. On Location with P-Nut (SD, 2:14) Friend of director Joe Lynch, bassist for 311, and videographer P-Nut—I'm not going to ask how he got the nickname—visited the set for the mutant sex-in-the-woods scene. Fun times! Here he provides us with some brief, poorly edited behind the scenes footage. Making Gore Look Good (SD, 11:32) By far the best featurette on the disc—I know, that's not saying much—Making Gore Look Good gives us an on-set look at some of the film's grisly special effects, including the head- to-groin split of the opening ax kill and the explosion of one of the mutants. Practical effects geeks will definitely want to watch this one. Final words  Second verse? Slightly better than the first. Wrong Turn 2 doesn't supply Dead Alive-levels of gore, but it does best the first film with better kills and a more entertaining, gut- busting experience overall. There are definitely some visual deficiencies in the transfer, though, and there are much better horror films to be found on Blu-ray. If you're a fan, I'd consider holding out for the Wrong Turn box-set that's set to release later this year. 
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