Review of Wrong Turn

Scott Shaw (Matthew Modine) is searching for his missing daughter Jen who was hiking the Appalachian Trail with her friends. The small town locals don't seem to care. Six weeks earlier, Jen and her five young friends suddenly get a flat tire. They arrive at the small town to start their hike and it goes downhill from there.

The kids are unprepared and a bit annoying. The rooting interest is a little thin. These characters get less and less appealing. One of them should be over-prepared and the movie can play around with that. They already touch on it with the girl changing the tire. It can add a scene where a character lays out the props with the possibility of them being used later in the movie. The first half is basic horror-in-the-woods movie. The characters are rather iffy. They're dumber than they should be. They are presented as smart young urbanites but a couple of the guys are as dumb as movie frat guys. The second half becomes a cult torture horror movie. It's better when the characters stop being so dumb. It's more interesting with a couple of interesting ideas. It does some really interesting stuff. If only the first half is as good, this would be one to build upon.