Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines

Wrong Turn 5 (2012)

** (out of 4)

A group of college students are on their way to a music festival in West Virginia when they're targeted by Maynard (Doug Bradley) and the three mutant rednecks. Before anyone can be harmed Maynard is thrown in jail where the sheriff (Camilla Arfwedson) plans to turn him over to the U.S. Marshalls in the morning but sure enough the three mutants show up to try and break him out.

WRONG TURN 5 is basically just a remake of RIO BRAVO or ASSAULT ON PRECENT 13, whichever film writer-director Declan O'Brien is a fan of. Either way, this film is certainly a step back from the previous entry but fans of the series should find a few things here to keep them entertained, although there's no question that they scaled by on the gore and violence levels. These two films were filmed pretty close to one another and it's clear that O'Brien wanted to get them as far away of the first two in the series. I really don't blame or fault him for trying to mix things up but this film can't compete with the fourth in the series let alone something like the two films it's borrowing from.

With that said, again, I enjoy the fact that the writer-director tried to do something different with the series but we've seen this type of horror film way too many times and there just aren't enough original moments here to keep it entertaining. Everything in the plot is just something we've seen before and even the death scenes aren't all that memorable especially after what we've already seen. The one saving grace in the movie is the performance of Bradley who is just downright evil. He pretty much has to stay behind the jail cell for the entire film so it's just the lines of dialogue that he has to work with. Bradley does a wonderful job at just being the creepy old man and without him there's no question that the film would drag.

The sheriff character is a well-written one, a strong female role and the actress does a good job with it. The rest of the cast is pretty forgettable and even worse is that the screenplay makes them all some of the dumbest that you're ever going to see in a horror movie. Plus, there are countless logical issues here including the fact that there appears to be no one in this town other than the main characters. Yes, I know there's a music festival going on but surely not everyone is attending it. Even the fact that this small town is having a festival and yet the only motel there still has rooms available to rent to the college students is something of a joke. Yes, that's nit-picking but when a film leaves you bored like WRONG TURN 5 did me, it's easy to see the flaws.

How that franchise has fallen from exciting and riveting to crass and predictable in the span of 4 sequels is saddening.

This 5th installment is basically a redux of the 3rd one, with a similar set-up and a just as forgettable cast of characters. It unevenly tries to maintain a balance between slasher, backwoods & gore but has none of the jump-out-of-your-seat thrills of the former and dispatches the second midway through the movie. So we are left with gore, and plenty of in a mean and disgusting way. The kills are traditionally inventive and bloody in the "Wrong Turn" franchise, but now they're just meant to induce nausea. The creatures slowly feed a bimbo her entrails, slowly smash a hunk's knees to smithereens, slowly burn a drunkard in a can, you got it, it's got to be slow and mean and disgusting. And the creatures laugh maniacally throughout it all, as if the director expected its audience to laugh with them at their victims' misery. I found it mean, gratuitous and insulting and came out of this seating feeling dirty and cheap.

On a positive note, there's some good sex scenes that are a throwback to more "innocent" slashers, and the sheriff had presence and gusto. It also looks slick and professional, which does not excuse its zero values.

"Wrong Turn 5" continues the slasher tradition made by the previous four movies, but this time around the slashing is not just limited to the characters. The budget for this movie was slashed as well. Although the production travelled to Bulgaria to film in order to cut costs, the movie looks real cheap in a number of aspects. The town's street scenes are obviously a studio back lot, the interior rooms are very obviously sets, and the make-up for the hillbilly killers looks especially cheesy.

Further problems can be found in the screenplay. There are a number of plot issues that are murky or are simply not explained at all. The characters also do some really dumb things that I think even real people who are not highly intelligent would do.

As for the ingredients you expect in a movie like this - sex/nudity and gore - well, I admit the movie does score some points in these categories. There's gratuitous sex, and the gory moments get especially squishy at times. That stuff is certainly welcome, but I think even die hard slasher fans will admit that apart from that stuff, the movie doesn't really have that much else to offer that's positive. You'd be better off skipping this entry of the series and putting part 2 back in your DVD player for another run.

When the original Wrong Turn hit theaters, who would have thought it would have spawned 4 sequels? Ask any horror fan and they aren't surprised as this series has everything needed for a franchise. The last entry went back to deliver a prequel story and worked pretty well. The latest entry Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines plays as a sequel to part 4 continuing on the prequel storyline.

Wrong Turn 5 follows a group of college kids visiting a small town for the Mountain Man Festival, but their thoughts of fun are thwarted quickly when a family of inbred cannibals unleash and onslaught of violence to get back one of their own. Much like every film series this one has had its ups and downs, but one thing you can always count on is the excessive gore and nudity. This entry sticks to the formula and has no shortage in the gore department sporting some creative and graphic kills. The story itself is pretty simple and works, but felt a bit forced. Maybe it was due to the last entry working so unexpectedly well, but this one felt a bit lower budget. The acting is pretty bad to average throughout which is really no surprise, with the exception of Hellraiser's own Doug Bradley stepping in to lead the charge. He gives this film the missing punch to help keep it limping along without completely falling apart. The make-up job on the cannibal brothers looked pretty bad this time around and could be the biggest issue taking away the creepy realism that it needed to work on a bigger scale.

Clearly this is far from a perfect film, but in these types of films you expect certain things, killing, gore, and nudity and it delivers. If you enjoyed any of the other films in the series or just the rage of cannibalistic hillbillies then you will surely have a fun time with this movie.

... for becoming an actor myself. I have no skill set whatsoever, have never acted before or starred in anything besides my own life..., i even was unable to play a rock in our pre-school play because i just don't have it in me. But still, i am confident and straight-forward in saying that this movie assures me of my future career as an actor. Please, directors or whoever fills his days with this crap, contact me to perform in the next Wrong Turn and it will be at least more successful then this one...

No... Really... I almost vomited at the acting job... And i'm used to drinking whisky from the bottle...