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.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 15 Mirrors 2 Unrated

 

TITLE-Mirrors 2

SOURCE-20th Century Fox DVD

Cause I buy lots of my DVDs used from thrifts and pawn shops I end up buying in bulk. Most of the local pawns will charge you as little as 50 cents a dvd if you buy say 20 at a time. One of my more recent trips to a pawn that is overstocked with DVDs I was needing one more DVD to hit that magic number of 20. So dispite having never seen Mirrors or the Asian film it was a remake of,I grabbed Mirrors 2. It was the best choice. And it being unrated I figured "Hey I might get lots of gore!"

Nick Stahl is the lead. He recently lost his fiancee,has a bad case of survivor's guilt and now is working a nightwatchman job at his Dad's store in New Orleans. After starting the job Nick AKA Max learns that one of the other nightwatch crew has went missing And the person who's job he has now went crazy.

Being named Mirrors you kinda know that late at night in a closed and almost empty of humans store you are gonna get a few mirror scares. Sadly this film is nothing but mirror scares... 

Whoever did the gore FX did a decent job. But after the first few mirror scares it all just becomes a jumble in my brain. I actually stopped the movie at the 45 minute mark and called up a close friend who is a huge fan of both Mirrors films. Asked her if there was anything from the first film that I should know before I go about finishing the sequel. After being asked why I watched the second film before watching the first movie,and being called weirdo I got told "Nah not really.The second film is more of the same just set in New Orleans."

So now I'm wondering,why did this DTV sequel to a horror film that wasn't a big hit get so much chatter online when it was coming out? Thought it might be the cast. Besides Nick Stahl you got Emmanuelle Vaugier. Who I kinda remembered from one of the CSI shows. The other person I knew was William Katt. Best known from Greatest American Hero and House and House IV. 

Hmmm maybe there is someone in the cast that I just don't know is a big or cult star. So I messaged my girlfriend. Sent her a link to the IMDB page."Hey scan this cast list and tell me if there is anyone in it that is a star that I wouldn't realize is a star."

Get a reply telling me the woman in the picture above this was on some Disney teen show for a long time and after that was the voice of Kim Possible. Ok so that might explain why people talked this movie up. Then a scene happened and I realized Mirrors 2 is to 90s kids what Streets was to the kids that were teens when Married with Children was the hottest show around. 

Yep Christy Carlson Romano,I hope I spelled that right,aka Ren Stevens of Even Stevens wanted to shed her good girl image and went topless in this movie.

Yall older folks will remember how a few seasons into Married with Children how there was press all over the place about how Christina Applegate was doing nudity in an upcoming film called Streets. This press helped this tiny low budget Roger Corman movie be a huge home video hit.

And it appears all that hype I saw in 2010 for Mirrors 2,a really bad DTV sequel to a from what I have been told crap original film,was cause a former teen star showed some skin.....

Man this movie just isn't good. Stahl and the rest of the cast appear to be trying their best with what they have. But movie is crap. 

When I see movies this bad I make it a point to see who directed it. So I can IMDB the direcotr and make sure to skip the rest of their filmography. Off to IMDB to look up Victor Garcia.

Ok he did the DTV sequel to 30 days of night,which I have heard was horrible. And I didn't think 30 Days of night was worth a fuck.

Same year he had Return to House on Haunted Hill.The unneeded sequel to a unneeded remake.But this time they got Cabin Fever and Power Rangers star Cerina Vincent.What ever happened to her?

Then some movie titled Artic Predator,which isn't a Predator sequel. It looks like one of those creature features that premieres on SyFy channel on a Saturday night. Mirrors 2 was 2010. His next film is 2011...

Ok yea fuck Victor Garcia. Fuck this shitty movie. Even if you have wanted to see that Disney chick naked you entire life don't torment yourself with this horrible shitstain of a film. Google image the screenshots and prevent having to endure this bottom of the barrel 90 minute film.

Mirrors 2 gets a D-.