31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 16 Wrong Turn 2 UNRATED

 

TITLE-Wrong Turn 2 Dead End

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD set

Back in the spring of this year I was looking for stuff to watch. Found at a local store a pack with the first 6 Wrong Turn films in it. Having already seen the first 2 film,and already owning the first one,plus the 6 film set being right at 10 bucks I grabbed it.Get home open it up and it is what I figured.Repacked discs from all these films solo releases. So that means films 2 thru 6 are unrated. 

Before sitting down to watch Wrong Turn 2 I had seen it maybe 2 times. But both times I caught it on Syfy channel. Which means of course I saw the film chopped to shreds. Getting a chance to see it uncut and unrated was a nice experience.

Directed by Joe Lynch,who I knew from his short in Chillerama,this is a interesting way to continue the Wrong Turn franchise. Set out in the backwoods of West Virginia,which is a scary scary place,we have Henry Rollins as the host of a reality show. Kinda a Survivor that has more of a military feel.

Rollins plays Dale Murphy. Love how good Henry is at playing these meathead roles. Like when he was a cop in The Chase. Or the White Power Skinhead guy on that season of Sons of Anarchy. Rollins is great and playing roles that are total opposites of him. And yea I've been a fan of Rollins since I discovered his time in Black Flag back in the mid 80s. 

The only other member of the cast I knew is Erica Leerhsen. Took a bit before I remembered what I had seen Erica in previously. She was the hitchhiker in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Plus played the wiccan lady in Book of Shadows:Blair Witch 2". Kinda surprised she hasn't had bigger roles in cinema. She is a good actress and appears to work often. But it is small stuff that few see.

And I can't not mention the best name I have seen in a credits list in years. TEXAS BATTLE!! And it is the guy's real name. He appears to mostly be a soap opera actor. But that name is great. TEXAS BATTLE!!! Sounds like a old cheap western. Or maybe an early 80s Italian Mad Max ripoff with George Eastman.

So we got our reality show people out in the backwoods. And the inbred mutant hillbilly family from the first film trying to kill them. Like in the first film the FX work is really good. Looks to be 90% practical effects. Like that they made sure to bring back Three Finger from the first film.

Now the first Wrong Turn came out in 2003,cost a bit over 12 million and made right at 28 million from the box office. Plus who knows what it did on home video. So 4 years later Wrong Turn 2 hit theaters for what appears to be a 1 month limited run. Costing 4 million,I can't find how much the film made in it's short theatrical run. But saw that it hit home video about a month after theaters and made 9 million on home video. That is a damn good for a pretty much DTV horror. And explains why they made a 3rd,4th,5th,6th and I think a 7th film.

The FX work is good. The main members of the cast are all good actors/actresses. And I liked how they kinda spoofed the reality show tropes.

Wrong Turn 2 Dead End Unrated gets a B.