Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings (2011)

So have you ever wondered where the cannibals from Wrong Turn came from?  Well this movie is going to explain all of that for you.  It opens in the early ‘70s with the cannibals locked up in an asylum to keep them away from the rest of society.  They make their escape and cause a bloody riot, and it is very bloody.  The action then moves to 2003 (right before the 1st Wrong Turn takes place) and we see the now grown up cannibals tear into a group of college students that stumble across the now abandoned hospital.  Much mayhem and gore take place as the killer stock their pantries full of fresh meat.

This movie is what it is, a low budget horror flick.  It does some things well and other things not so well.  I liked the look of the cannibals and they obviously made a real effort to have them match the makeup in the original.  That was a good thing.  I also thought that they did a pretty decent job on the origin story.  Normally I’m not a fan of going back and trying to explain the killers in a series like this.  But here they just give us some background and don't over do it.  This simple approach works well for the characters and proves yet again that spending too much time rationalizing the actions of characters like this is just dumb.  Plus it was fun to see them as kids ripping thru victims.  Also horror movies like this have a very simple formula.  You need boobs, beast (already said this looks good), and blood (more about the effects in a minute).  There is a surprising amount of nudity in the early stages of the movie.  More so then I would have expected and that is a good thing.  I mean you really should follow the formula.

Now lets talk about the last bit of the formula, the blood.  Another positive for Wrong Turn 4 are the special effects.  Sure there are some CGI kills that I wasn’t fond of including a lame bit with a snowmobile but we get a surprising amount of practical effects work too.  I’ve already mentioned the look of the cannibals in addition to that we get some severed heads/limbs, eye gouging, a nose getting bitten off, a brutal group stabbing, and someone is skinned alive!  Not bad for a low budget movie I’d have to say.  Again the effects work isn’t perfect, but overall as a horror fan I was happy with it.

So far I’ve been positive about Wrong Turn 4, now I need to talk about what isn’t so good.  The story stars off with a bloody bang, but then slows down as we are introduced to the college kids.  There is a 30-minute stretch where nothing much happens.  Not only is this disappointing after the quick start, but I was kind of bored.  I was also very surprised at how little they develop the characters after spending this much time on them.  They have a very set them up and knock them down feel.  Unlike the original Wrong Turn I didn’t give a damn about these characters.  When the killers are the most interesting characters in your “body count” movie you have a problem. 

There are a couple of other things that I wanted to mention.  We get a really lame ending that I saw coming.  This is the same cheap ending that almost ruined 2001 Maniacs for me.  It is such a cheap way to close things out.  This is also the kind of movie where you have to really suspend logic.  Yeah I know it is a cannibal hillbilly movie.  But why is the supposedly abandoned hospital so damn clean after 30 years?  For that matter how is 30-year-old fuel going to immediately fire up a 30-year-old generator?  See what goes thru my mind when your movie is boring for 30 plus minutes?  Keep the action coming and the audience doesn’t think about such things. 

My final thought on Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings is that it is okay.  If you are looking for a flick with a decent body count then check it out.  Though I just don’t see this one being something that you will revisit often, if ever again.  So maybe a rental is the best idea.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer