Reviews

The original Wrong Turn from 2003 was fantastic and it still today ranks among my favourite horror films of its type. The first sequel to it wasn't as good, and then the remaining sequels from three onwards were utter rubbish. Considering how much people here first complained and hated this 2021 remake, my hopes for this film weren't high. But in the end, it did manage to entertain me reasonably well, which was a surprise.

Let me start by saying that all of the actors in the remake were disappointing, especially the male characters who act in such an annoying manner that you pretty much are looking forward to getting them killed off. The first half of the film serves absolutely nothing new to seasoned horror film fans, and I would totally get if someone were to choose to stop watching. It is only around halfway of the film that things start to get more interesting.

I do understand why Wrong Turn fans can hate this film since it doesn't really have any of that same real survival suspense as the original film. Plus it focuses more on the cult aspects of things rather than people being cannibals. So while you can argue that there is a link between this remake and the original film, the connection is quite vague, in my opinion.

Summary: This is neither a good but neither a bad remake of the original cult classic film as they don't really "link up" to each other like that. This remake will be quickly forgotten since there are too many similar films out there featuring young adults getting killed in a forest while being hunted by people with skull masks.

While the first half looks like any poorly written and produced horror film, the second half of the film saves the film from being a total lacklustre. This remake will provide decent horror entertainment for a little less than two hours, but if you haven't seen the original from 2003, skip this remake and stick with the classic.

When I began watching this movie I didn't know anything about the story, I just knew it was a gay themed film. I will say that I have seen a great number of gay themed films so my only reference in this genre isn't the classic Brokeback Mountain everyone always praises about (which in my opinion is barely an average gay themed film, there are much better films out there that are less known). Out in the Dark belongs now to my Top 5 gay themed films and here are the reasons.

This film represents the reality and how gay people are seen and treated in Palestine/Israel. If you thought that in western culture being accepted as a gay person was a difficult process, it is million times harder if you happen to born in Palestine. This film isn't trying to be "the best film of the year" nor it doesn't have the most "intelligent" storyline, but it is about showing how things can differ from our (western) way of experiencing and seeing things. Out in the Dark takes the viewer to a trip to the streets of Palestine/Israel and shows those moments most Hollywood screenwriters would not add to the screenplay since they are not what the "screenwriting manual" tells you to write. This is also what makes this film so appealing; you are following a journey of a person as it happens, aka "live", without any editing tricks or plot twists taking place all over the film. During the film I was constantly thinking how this could end and if the film can retain that level of intensity during the whole film, it means the film is well-made. At the end Out in the Dark is a film about love and how strong love can be between two people regardless of their sex. The ending will certainly divide people whether they like it or not, but I would have personally loved to see more, but I will not tell more since I would otherwise spoil it for you.

Out in the Dark shouldn't really be compared to films like Brokeback Mountain since this has a completely different narrative mindset as a film. Brokeback Mountain is a classic Hollywood polished love story just made with well-known actors and a director, but I personally feel that Brokeback Mountain gets praised more than it should. Films like Shelter (2007) and Just a Question of Love (2000) are million times better than Brokeback Mountain and I would recommend them anytime for anyone who wishes to see a well-done gay themed film. Even though by itself Out in the Dark isn't in my opinion as good as these two I just mentioned, it is still best gay themed film when it comes to this type of films; films which represent reality as it appears in a current day. Brokeback mountain is simply a reality sugared with all possible drama elements when in Out in the Dark the main thing is not to go through the "beginning, middle and end", it's the part of the journey one person must take to survive.