Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Wrong Turn
The Girl and I watched Eliza Dushku (aka Faith, the Rogue Slayer) in Wrong Turn on DVD Sunday evening. Didn't really expect much but a thriller so bad that it might be entertaining. I was surprised by much of it. Aside from adherence to the standard scary movie rules making it entirely obvious who would die and in what order, the really over the top bad guys, and the entire implausibility of these particular bad guys having been able to continue their fiendish ways for so many years, it wasn't that bad.
Okay, let's take this from another angle. What was good? Eliza Dushku (who is from Watertown, where The Guyfriend and I walk for lattes at Starbuck's most days at lunchtime) and Desmond Harrington (you might remember him from Sci-Fi's modern masterpiece Taken - also starring Julie Benz of both Buffy and Angel) are very good actors, and the two of them made the movie watchable. Jeremy Sisto is also always enjoyable. The filming was of a much better quality than you'd expect from a silly thriller, and even the stunts for the most part were well done.
The big question was actually asked in the movie - "How could this happen?" None of the other characters answered the question, mostly because the situation really, really couldn't have happened. The story is that three brothers who came from a very long line of inbreeding and are therefore burdened with multiple severe physical and psychological problems. This is established during the opening credits by showing us various reports and newspaper articles documenting their violent tendencies, psychotic episodes, increased strength and incredibly high pain tolerance. Also during the opening credits we see numerous clippings telling stories of the many, many people who have disappeared in this particular region of West Virginia over the years.
How are these related? Why, the bad boys have been hunting people, either by stalking them personally or by laying booby traps in the roadways and forest. They then take the bodies and all the vehicles and their contents back to their ramshackle compound not too far from the main highway, where they have been stockpiling this stuff for years. Yes, all the cars, all the possessions, and all the bodies (conveniently chopped up for easier storage in the antique refrigerator and jars of I guess formaldehyde). At least some of the locals know that the brothers are a threat, as evidenced by some passing comments and actions of the guy at the rundown gas station.
There are cops and search and rescue officials in the area (the three we see don't make it out alive), and you'd think that the authorities would have been investigating ALL THESE DISAPPEARANCES which have occurred IN THIS SAME REGION over the years. You'd think at least once someone would have paid a visit to the compound to ask if they had seen anything, or maybe to collect their property taxes, and would have seen ALL THE STUFF LYING ABOUT, not to mention THE BLOOD AND THE BODIES!!!!!
But apparently no one has, and apparently either these are the first cops to be killed or no one INVESTIGATES POLICE DISAPPEARANCES, and apparently the brothers have been free to wreak their havoc unchecked.
Morals of the movie: don't have sex, don't do drugs, don't whine, don't take part in in-breeding, and don't leave the main road. Yeah, the usual horror movie pearls of wisdom.
But Eliza's fabulous.
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Okay, let's take this from another angle. What was good? Eliza Dushku (who is from Watertown, where The Guyfriend and I walk for lattes at Starbuck's most days at lunchtime) and Desmond Harrington (you might remember him from Sci-Fi's modern masterpiece Taken - also starring Julie Benz of both Buffy and Angel) are very good actors, and the two of them made the movie watchable. Jeremy Sisto is also always enjoyable. The filming was of a much better quality than you'd expect from a silly thriller, and even the stunts for the most part were well done.
The big question was actually asked in the movie - "How could this happen?" None of the other characters answered the question, mostly because the situation really, really couldn't have happened. The story is that three brothers who came from a very long line of inbreeding and are therefore burdened with multiple severe physical and psychological problems. This is established during the opening credits by showing us various reports and newspaper articles documenting their violent tendencies, psychotic episodes, increased strength and incredibly high pain tolerance. Also during the opening credits we see numerous clippings telling stories of the many, many people who have disappeared in this particular region of West Virginia over the years.
How are these related? Why, the bad boys have been hunting people, either by stalking them personally or by laying booby traps in the roadways and forest. They then take the bodies and all the vehicles and their contents back to their ramshackle compound not too far from the main highway, where they have been stockpiling this stuff for years. Yes, all the cars, all the possessions, and all the bodies (conveniently chopped up for easier storage in the antique refrigerator and jars of I guess formaldehyde). At least some of the locals know that the brothers are a threat, as evidenced by some passing comments and actions of the guy at the rundown gas station.
There are cops and search and rescue officials in the area (the three we see don't make it out alive), and you'd think that the authorities would have been investigating ALL THESE DISAPPEARANCES which have occurred IN THIS SAME REGION over the years. You'd think at least once someone would have paid a visit to the compound to ask if they had seen anything, or maybe to collect their property taxes, and would have seen ALL THE STUFF LYING ABOUT, not to mention THE BLOOD AND THE BODIES!!!!!
But apparently no one has, and apparently either these are the first cops to be killed or no one INVESTIGATES POLICE DISAPPEARANCES, and apparently the brothers have been free to wreak their havoc unchecked.
Morals of the movie: don't have sex, don't do drugs, don't whine, don't take part in in-breeding, and don't leave the main road. Yeah, the usual horror movie pearls of wisdom.
But Eliza's fabulous.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 12/07/2004 09:12:00 AM
