(more than a) Quick Look: Wrong Turn (2003)

A group of six 20-something, good looking men and women, are stalked by three in-bred, deformed, cannibalistic hill-people in the West Virginia woods.  Wrong Turn stars Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku, and it's directed by Rob Schmidt.  'R' rating is for language, violence, and gore.
With several fairly intense sequences; the make-up on the 3 "bad guys" being definitely cringe-worthy; the gore and on-screen fear of the actors being almost believable, Wrong Turn is nice little 84 minute thrill fest.

The Good: Interestingly there was kind of a cool montage while the opening credits were rolling where the audience sees flashes of old newspaper clips with stories of inbred "mountain men" with deformities.  The director took great care to not let the audience see any of the three hill-folk (referred to in the credits as Three-Finger, Saw Tooth, and One-Eye) until over 30 minutes into the film.  This was a nice touch to build up the tension for the "eww's and ahh's" upon their physical disclosure.  The reveal scene was made twice as exciting because Chris (Harrington), Jessie (Dushku), Carly, and Scott (Jeremy Sisto) were investigating a cabin, looking for help; unknowingly inside the cannibals' home.  The 3 bad guys return with the body of Francine (one of the other friends), which they proceed to partially eat, while the four would-be victims, hiding (still) inside the cabin can only watch and attempt to stifle their screams at the sight of their dead friend's body being consumed.  In my opinion, it's the best scene in the movie.
The whole section of the movie focused on Chris, Jessie, Carly and Scott was intense, well shot, and pretty well acted, and really makes the movie worth seeing.

The Bad: Most of the material, story, and plot are recycled.  The "inbred deformed cannibal" theme was done in 1977's The Hills Have Eyes.  The antagonists stalking a bunch of white, middle-class, attractive 20-somethings is horror movie cliche.  Eliza Dushku was very good at points, but her emotions seemed "off" at other times.  I actually put that discontinuity on the director, not her.
After Carly is killed, the 3 bad guys capture Jessie and take her back to the cabin.  This did not hold with the whole prior movie plot - to capture instead of killing a victim.  Chris, predictably, rescues her with a "slam-bang" ending, fiery explosion included.  However, as the movie is coming to a close, we see Three-Finger emerge, almost defiantly, ready for a sequel.         

Final Thoughts: I suppose, in general, most horror films are all recycled in one form or another, so that fact is not really one of huge criticism, for me.  We are never really given any indication as to why the 3 cannibals are, in fact, cannibals - unless being inbred and deformed automatically drives a person to that lifestyle.
If these bad guys killed as many people as we are lead to think, how is it that the local and state law officials are seemingly blind to it?  As with most entertainment, sometimes it is best to just suspend your disbelief and enjoy.

Extras:
- There are 3 direct-to-video sequel and prequels to this film, with a 4th in production now
- Eliza Dushku did many of her own stunts