If you want slow dread, watch the first one. If you want to see a punk rock icon blow a mutant’s head off while screaming about his "personal brand," watch the second one.
The film takes place one year after the events of the first film. A group of friends, including Jessie (Marla Sokoloff), Adam (Michael McMillian), and Cheryl (Erica Leerhsen), embark on a road trip to visit a friend. However, they soon find themselves on a dark and isolated highway, where they are stalked and hunted by a group of cannibalistic mountain men.
Wrong Turn (2003) is a solid, atmospheric thriller. It has Stan Winston’s thumbprint and a great final girl. But it plays it safe. It follows the Hill Have Eyes formula beat for beat. wrong turn2
It’s prescient. In 2007, we were still in the golden age of Survivor . Today, in the era of "influencer" challenges and dangerous TikTok stunts, Wrong Turn 2 feels less like a horror movie and more like a documentary.
What follows is 93 minutes of pure, unadulterated carnage as the mutants hunt the cast for sport, turning the game of survival into a very real—and very fatal—episode. If you want slow dread, watch the first one
The film’s genius lies in its setup. It follows a group of contestants on a post-apocalyptic themed reality show called The Ultimate Survivalist , hosted by a retired military powerhouse, Colonel Dale Murphy (played with legendary charisma by Henry Rollins).
Lynch treats the film less like a sequel to the 2003 Eliza Dushku movie and more like a modern love letter to Cannibal Holocaust (the reality TV critique) and Evil Dead II (the slapstick energy). The pacing is relentless. There is no 45-minute buildup of characters walking through the woods. The first kill happens before the opening credits finish. From there, it’s a rollercoaster that only stops to reload the shotgun. A group of friends, including Jessie (Marla Sokoloff),
If you are here for the red stuff, let me list the five best deaths in the film (minor spoilers, but you know what you signed up for).
Let’s talk about the MVP: Henry Rollins as Dale Murphy.
Most direct-to-DVD sequels are soulless cash grabs. Wrong Turn 2 is different. Director Joe Lynch is a horror geek first and a director second. He understood the assignment.