5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.7 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Follows a group of friends that decide to go snowmobiling during their winter break. They make a "wrong turn", getting lost in a storm.
Starring: Jenny Pudavick, Tenika Davis, Kaitlyn Leeb, Terra Vnesa, Ali TatarynHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 46% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
The Wrong Turn rednecksploitation series that got its start in 2003 is about a family of backwoods, bramble-brush West Virginian killer hillbillies who have mutated into grotesque monsters after several generations of inbreeding. The franchise is now in its own fourth generation, and its newest bastard spawn, the direct-to-video Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, itself seems like the product of incest—a mishmash of cinematic DNA that, after being constantly reused over the course of the series, has left this latest film deformed and deficient, barely recognizable as entertainment. It’s part Texas Chain Saw Massacre, part Deliverance, and part The Hills Have Eyes, but this chimera takes only the worst genetic material from its horror movie parentage. In other words—and I’ll abandon the incest metaphor now—Bloody Beginnings is terrible. It’s tasteless, cruel, and not scary in the slightest; an exhausting experience that just isn’t enjoyable on any level. (Unless, that is, you’re looking for laughably gratuitous lesbian softcore sex scenes, of which there are two.) I’ll concede that the movie is minimally better than the criminally awful Wrong Turn 3: Dead End, but that really—really—isn’t saying much.
Pubescent Three-Finger, One-Eye, and Sawtooth...
I will say this: out of all the Wrong Turn films, Bloody Beginnings easily looks the best on Blu-ray. Easily. The 35mm grain in the first was smeared to oblivion with DNR, the second was shot on soft-looking digital video, and the third—which went back to actual film photography —was generally murky and unresolved. What a difference a few years makes. Bloody Beginnings was shot digitally, but the quality is much improved over that of the second film. The 1080p/AVC encode here is generally crisp and defined, with skin textures easily visible in close-ups—and believe me, you'll definitely see some close-ups of skin—and a strong sense of detail throughout. The daylight scenes tend to look best, with bright, saturated colors and next to no noise, but even the darker sequences are much, much cleaner and more vibrant than any of the previous films. You can tell there was some serious digital color grading in post to give some of the scenes inside the asylum more mood, but it's handled well and not overdone. Noise does spike occasionally, and there are some faint traces of banding, but nothing too distracting. The only oddity you might notice is that some of the snowmobiling scenes appear to have been shot with DSLRs, as you can see the common "rolling shutter" problem, which gives a kind of judder in shots with lots of motion.
Wrong Turn 4 features decent low-budget horror sound design by way of a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. You know the drill —a mostly front-heavy presentation that occasionally calls the rear channels into action for directional effects and ambience. Wind whips through the surround speakers and water drips ominously, snowmobiles go tearing across the soundfield and mutants let rip with an enormous gas-powered ice borer. The mutilation scenes include all sorts of grisly, goopy sound effects. The Blue Danube and other less-classical musical cues have an appropriate amount of dynamic heft and, most importantly, dialogue is always clean and easy to understand, with no hissing, crackling, or muffling. The disc includes English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles.
How and why are more Wrong Turn films being made? I have no idea, but hopefully the franchise ends here. Although Bloody Beginnings probably isn't the worst entry in the series—that honor goes to part three—it's hardly worth recommending to any besides the most undiscriminating horror fans. You can certainly do better for pre-Halloween entertainment. Unless you're some kind of Wrong Turn apologist— and a few of those do exist in the wild—avoid this one at all costs.
Unrated
2009
Unrated
2012
Unrated
2007
2003
Collector's Edition
2013
Unrated | Re-release
2014
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1980
2012
Theatrical Cut
2006
Unrated Edition
2006
2006
2013
2015
Unrated Collector's Edition
2007
2016
2002
Collector's Edition
2013
2017
2019
Unrated
2010