This review might contain spoilers!
Those expecting to see something similar to the 2003 cult fav Wrong Turn when they sit down to watch this reboot will be sorely disappointed. Despite having been written by the original Wrong Turn‘s Alan (Halloween 4) McElroy, the new Wrong Turn offers up a completely different tale, one that feels more inspired by Ari Aster’s Midsommar than any of the previous six Wrong Turn flicks. I’m even going to guess this film was written as an “original” story and at the last minute was slapped with the Wrong Turn label at the hands of worried investors.
The only similarity between this new WT and the first movie is the trapped-in-the-woods plot, but unlike the original film none of the characters in this new one at any point take a wrong turn, making the title even more pointless. This new group of aggressively annoying Gen Z hipsters run afoul a violent backwoods community in the wilds of West Virginia, a community of dirty rednecks who dress in animal furs and speak in a Danish dialect. Deformed, ax-wielding hillbillies are out; suave, handsome woodsman are in.
The biggest sin the new WT makes is its overly complicated mythology surrounding the woodsy society known as The Foundation: these characters are not as interesting as the filmmakers think and their history and politics for why they do what they do are unconvincing and hollow. They live in the woods and preach to outsiders and burn their eyes out of their heads because on paper it probably sounded good. What us WT fans want is simple stalk-and-hack splatter fun and not a film, as well made as it is, that’s trying to be something it’s not.