Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)

Waste of time

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

While out in the Virginia woods, a group filming the pilot for a survivalist reality TV show run across a group of deformed inbred cannibals intent on killing and eating them all, forcing them into a real-life race for survival against the vicious killers to get out of the woods alive.This was an awesome, brutal, hyper-gory and entertaining slasher effort that was much more enjoyable than expected and wasn't at all expected. One of the best elements here with this one is the outline of the proposed reality show they're attempting to film is quite fun and original and would've been quite a hit. The apocalyptic scenario is worn through really well here, and since they're given quite a lengthy introduction which makes for a solid layout and gives this a really enjoyable setup to lead into the action once they get going into the woods. The opening roadside ambush on the detour trail, the first encounters with the crew being seen over the game's video monitors and the great attack on the host along the treeline before getting abducted by the group get this going nicely along into some great chase scenes here. There's the chilling escape from their house where after watching them give birth on the table they have to run off into the woods which leads to some great chasing, a truly enjoyable ambush down by the river where a bikini-clad contestant is alerted to their presence by the blaring game contraptions and causing them to come roaring out of the jungle hacking away with the knife leading to a gruesome, bloody kill and the rather fun and thrilling scene where the host escapes and battles with the lone member left at the campground which features some solid action throughout as well as getting to up the brutality angle. That brutality angle is furthered in the final half where they're finally aware that somethings going on in the woods around them, the last set of traps in the forest as they get hunted rather viciously and setting the stage for the great finale in the abandoned plant. The setting is great, but once the family arrives there's plenty to like as the non-stop tormenting of the family forcing them into rather brutal attacks to stop them gives this some really over-the-top moments that gives this a lot to really like. Alongside the graphic and brutal gory kills, there's also a lot to really like here with the family as their demented nature, gruesome looks and hilarious social structure makes for some intimidating and imposing villains. These here give this a lot to really like, except for one sequence here most will spot easily. This is the lame and protracted dinner sequence in the finale which is a shot-for-shot lift of such a classic scene from another horror effort and even manages to crib the same mannerisms and mocking tone while doing so, an activity that flies in the Face of their established behavior only to showcase this homage which lowers it significantly. An early kill scene featured here is also worth mentioning for the CGI needed to showcase it is so distracting that there's nothing about it that works. Beyond that, there's nothing really wrong with this one.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.

Wrong Turn 2 (2007) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A group of contestants, producers, cameramen and a host (Henry Rollins) heads into the woods of West Virginia to film a reality show but soon they're coming under attack by a cannibal family who are needing some food in their stomachs.The original film went for scares and for the most part was a success but there's no question that this film decided to go in the opposite direction. Instead of there being any real atmosphere or scares, WRONG TURN 2 goes for non-stop violence, outrageously gory scenes and some of the most blood soaked mayhem that you're ever going to see. There are some major problems scattered throughout this film that keeps it from being much better but at the same time, for a sequel, it's really not too bad and there's no doubt that those wanting the red stuff are going to be extremely happy.We'll start with the problems but the biggest is that there are simply way too many characters early on. There are so many different subplots going on at the start of this film and none of them are all that interesting. We've got six contestants all with a story going on and these stories are mixed with other plot points and they just don't go anywhere. These story lines really aren't character development but instead they're just boring dialogue scenes that go no where and add nothing to the picture. Another problem is that there are some scenes early on that just drag on to the point where you're bored. This includes the "promo" shot towards the end where the Rollins character is talking about the reality show contest. This here should have been cut all together.The first hour of the film is pretty mediocre but once we get down to the final few characters things really pick up and I'd say the final thirty-minutes are a real blast because we just get all sorts of craziness. What I really liked about the picture is that it really keeps you off guard on who's going to live and who's going to die. I'm not going to lie but I was completely caught off guard with who died first and who ended up surviving. For the most part all of the actors did a nice enough of a job to at least bring the characters to life and make you care about them. Again, there are too many at the start but none of them are overly annoying and there are actually a couple good moments between them including one sequence where two that have been fighting come together as they prepare to die.WRONG TURN 2 succeeds in being downright brutal in terms of violence. There are some very clever death scenes including one poor woman who gets split in half and there are countless other scenes including people getting chopped up, broken apart and even some people being blown to pieces in hilarious fashion. The gore effects are extremely believable and there's no doubt that the budget allowed for gallons of blood. Another major plus are the actual mutant rednecks. All of them have a terrific look and the actors really deserve a lot of credit because they really give these characters a personality no matter how disgusting they are.

Hey! What would be a better setting for a new Reality survival series than the heavy backwoods of West Virginia where the original Hillbilly cannibals from the first film killed everything in sight? A film crew and their actor contestants make this fatal choice and more hillbilly cannibals show up and kill them off. From the opening scene, which has blond Hollywood contestant Kimberly (Kimberly Caldwell) being literally split in half down the middle; Director Joe Lynch sets out to make this sequel a gore fest that out does the original. Lynch does achieve his sick out goal of out doing the original in gore but he fails to deliver a superior film. The original "Wrong Turn" has some stomach turning moments for sure, but it also delivered great suspense, and some classic jump scares. The film also provided some characters that the audience liked and could pull for. This film offers Herny Rollins as an ex-military man doing his Rambo impersonation while the hapless actors and crew get easily killed and picked apart by the hillbillies. It takes a while, but eventually the audience can get behind the characters of Nina (Leerhsen) and Jake (Battle) and that helps a bit since most of the characters here are very stereotyped. The acting and production value are good and the film looks good. Where Wrong Turn 2 makes its wrong turn is in its over the top attempt to gross out the audience. Yes it's a horror film, but the excessive gore becomes the entire point of the film and takes away from any true terror the film can manufacture. It's hard to tell if it's intentional or not, but there is a dining room scene the echoes the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Nina is being force fed human remains in a tasteless scene that is hard to watch. This isn't scary, just disgusting. The filmmakers here would have benefited by watching Tobe Hooper's Texas diner scene and realize that what made it so terrifying was its style, editing and suggestion. Wrong Turn 2 would have been a better film with some subtlety.

Where to begin? Wrong Turn 2 takes its' own wrong turn as being the most terrible movie ever. Trust me. This film is full of disappointments. I have not all seen a sequel do this bad before. Except for one which is Rob Zombie's Halloween II. But in real good horror films I have never seen this. Usually it's the third film that brings it all down. But surprisingly this one did bring it down really far. And after this one there was no turning back. I have but one question. Why? Can someone who's a film expert because I'm just a critic. Please explain to me why this film was made. Because from my point of view it just doesn't make any sense. This might as well have been the same story over again in just a different situation. To me all of The Wrong Turn films are the same. If you've seen the first film you've seen them all.