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misterdarwin24
Reviews
Wrong Turn (2021)
Forget the title and enjoy the film.
I understand the importance of marketing, so I get the reason why this was put under the "Wrong Turn" banner. Be warned the enemy is different from the hillbilly mutant cannibals of the first 6 films. The screenplay leans into those prior conceptions to throw some curves at the audience, but I suspect that would have worked even with a different title.
So, putting the title aside, how does it stand up? I'll say I'm mixed, there is a lot of formulaic "cast must pay for transgressions" plotting here, and it fluctuates from predictable to insipid to inspired pretty quickly. Many horror films sleepwalk through the tropes, so if I am to recommend one I need something that sticks. Here there are two things that stuck with me - one particularly disturbing scene (your mileage may vary) and the final shot which plays out all the way through the closing credits.
Wrong Turn plays on stereotypes, alternately affirming then undercutting them, and aims a critical eye at those who look down on "the other". While that adds a bit more depth (not much, but a bit) than most horror films, it also leaves with a bunch of annoying "hipsters" and crass "hicks" who don't offer a lot to root for through most of the run time.
The main cast is so diverse it feels like it was made from a checklist. I couldn't tell if they were embracing diversity or spoofing it. That goes for a lot of this film - were we supposed to root for the Foundation? I'm not really sure which side the films comes down on, but given how many films try to force their views on the viewer, I appreciate not being told how I should feel.
Recovery (2016)
A serviceable entry in suburban horror
NOTE: I was given a screener copy of this film for the Dark Discussions Podcast.
Reverse home invasion films seem to be a thing this year. Films like Intruders and Don't Breathe tell tales of people breaking into the homes only to find something horrible waiting for them. I am sure there is something significant in that.
Unlike those other films, in which our protagonists are criminals trapped by bigger threats, Jess (Kirby Bliss Blanton), Logan (James Landry Hebert) and Miles (Alex Shaffer) are relative innocents drawn into a spider's web spun by the suburban equivalent of TCM's sawyer family.
How effective you find the film will likely depend on how much empathy you have for the teenage characters (Jess is about to graduate High School), who mostly act like teenage characters; in search of a good time, they lie to their parents, experiment with drugs, cheat on each other, and spend too much time on their phones. It is telling that the characters spend much of the film looking for Jess's phone, with little concern over the fate of their new friend Kim, who vanished along with it. Still, in a genre that is still grappling with how to deal with new technology in old tropes, using the phone as bait to draw in victims is inspired.
The film is a slow burn - though only 82 minutes long, more than half of that is spent leading up to the confrontation between Jess's friends and their would-be abductors. Once they arrive at the death trap that is the antagonist's home, there is still much Scooby Doo style investigation that takes place before Daddy gets home. Much of the action in the house is confusing, and I never got a handle on it's layout, but I suspect that was the director's intent.
Once the action does take place, I found the violence to be more authentic than stylish, with a few moments of good practical gore, and I rather liked the Phantom of the Opera tension between Jess and Edward.