SPEAKER_05 0:04

I actually followed him on Instagram. Uh, if he's listening to this podcast, hello.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Keep to the marked trail. The land here can be unforgiving. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, total joke, waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Totally kill it. Pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've all gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac. Hola, Muchachos, the Gore Lover Alexis, hey everyone, and the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

Hey sweets.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

A few weeks ago we reviewed a 2003 film starring Eliza Dushku, which earned a universal slash from our skeleton crew. Now, though, it's time to assess the likes of its modern reboot. Before we get lost in the woods, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

We recently reviewed a movie called Happy Death Day. It did fairly well with our team. I think it was only Ryan that wasn't a huge fan. As always, we wanted to hear what our listeners thought. Uh, so we reached out on social media. Unsurprisingly, 82% gave it a slash, while only 18% wanted something more. We have a comment from Jeff on Facebook who said, I hated it on the first viewing because I thought it was groundhog versus horror, but on second viewing I actually liked it. Weird. I just decided to go into it not so judgmental and have fun with it, because it seems the film really doesn't take itself too seriously, so why should I? And I think that is a great second watch approach. We also have a comment from Adam who said, I saw this at the cinema. I had no idea what to expect and completely loved it. Definite slash. And from Jason, we have definite slash. This was a shocker for me. I threw it in and kicked back. Quite fun. I thought maybe I just enjoyed it because I expected nothing. Watched it again, enjoyed it more. Perfect blend of groundhog day and horror. And there's definitely a recurring theme of people going into this with like no expectations and coming out of it having a good time.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Yeah, I completely agree. I didn't have any expectations on that movie and loved it.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

I think that's the right way to enjoy certain things, you know? You have to meet the movie where it is. That is a very apt assessment, Mac.

SPEAKER_05 2:14

We have a couple other comments from our friends on Instagram. Jasmine said it was very corny, but not horrible. Where Mike said, if you can't enjoy the campiness of this movie and have fun, stop watching movies.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

That's a hot take, Mike. That is.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

And then also we have one from Aaron who said, Not as good as freaky, but a fun watch. And a lot of people had that same sentiment comparing this movie to Freaky because it's from the same studio. Uh, and it really just has me more excited to watch that movie eventually. We also have a few new patrons we'd like to acknowledge. Welcome to the family, both Megan and Julianne. Thank you so much for your support. Uh, we hope you stick around. And that is our follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Well, we certainly did feel a lot of buzz surrounding Happy Death Day. And another one we've heard a lot about from our listeners is a new film that had a limited theatrical release and actually just hit streaming services here at the end of February. Now, the original entry to this franchise shows us what happens when five friends and a stranger search for help after a car accident on a back road in West Virginia. Now those folks crossed paths with a group of inbred cannibals, and while some of them didn't make it out alive, that franchise did go on to have a long life with five additional entries within its continuity. Alan B. McElroy, the writer of the original film, has now returned to the franchise to pin a different, more modern interpretation. This new film still follows a group of friends, and they do have a little bit of car trouble, and when they venture too far off the beaten path, they are confronted by a group of people who've known the woods as their home for hundreds of years. Pretty similar. But the difference between the two? Well, we're gonna explore that here shortly because this week we're talking about the newly released rendition of Wrong Turn. Now, when last we visited this, Mac, Paris, and I all gave it a slash. But Alexis, have you seen the 2003 Wrong Turn? And if you have, what's the score? Oh, have I?

SPEAKER_02 3:58

This is a beloved movie of my stepdad's. Uh we would always, I know, I know it's probably really bad, but we make fun of the characters in the first movie, essentially the name, so we'd call each other the names. I don't know, there's something about two early 2000s movies you guys know that I certainly love. This would have definitely gotten a slash from me if I was on with you guys. I just like it. It's a good time, completely different than this new movie, but I I just like it. And you know, it is what it is. It's like other movies you've seen, but it's it's still fun. It's still fun.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Well, so far the universal slash is still intact.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

Yeah, an untouched reputation from that one.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

A surprising strong run run, terrific stuff by Wrong Turn. Now, obviously, on that episode, we discussed what we might like to see from this new movie. What were you folks expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

You know, when I hit play, I honestly was expecting more of a remake than a reboot. And I know I know it was a reboot, but you know, when you watch some of these newer versions of older films, you just expect like a really similar storyline, I don't know, better gore and perhaps some better characters. And I don't know that anyone could have expected what we got. So I know we'll get into that, but that's I was just kind of expecting a glossier, more up-to-date version of the original movie.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Yeah, I was definitely expecting that too, Mac. Um, especially I didn't read the synopsis, so I just kind of pressed play. I know I was super excited, you know, seeing the imagery that they had put out and um some of the stuff Damien was posting on his Instagram got me like super excited. But um, I really had no expectations other than I just thought this was just going to be maybe not scene for scene, like psycho or something, but um definitely um a remake for sure.

SPEAKER_05 5:36

I don't know about everyone else, but I watched the trailer for this uh when it came out, and because of that, I thought this was gonna be a very different approach to the wrong turn premise. The trailer made it seem like they were gonna do like a kind of political thing, like take advantage of like the really volatile political climate we've all been living in and kind of angle that in this interpretation. Uh so I was expecting that. I was expecting honestly to like it. I was like, oh, this is probably gonna be a slash, I hope. And I was expecting it to be offensive, but in a different way from the original, like maybe compensating so far that it goes the opposite direction and offends someone else, an entire other group of people. I also expected a lot of brutality as well as the sort of like pseudo-intellectual vibe, because a lot of remakes these days feel like they have something to prove in a way that isn't necessarily always true.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Oh my gosh, I feel that so hard. When you mentioned the brutality, I was expecting so much gore. I told my fiance because we're watching it together, I was like, all right, now this has to be insanely gory because we, you know, I watched the original, so just be prepared. And um, she was like, it's okay, I've seen so many horror movies with you, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Nice thing you know, she's a keeper. So proud. Yeah, I've actually been really excited about the idea of a reboot for this franchise. And once a filmmaker says, this is a reboot, I get rid of any thought of it being a remake, right? Because a reboot just looks to kind of hit rewind, go back to the starting point and start fresh and capture the spirit without trying to do the same exact thing that it's been doing. So I was really encouraged to know that it wasn't specifically a remake. And I love knowing that we weren't gonna get a shot-for-shot walk down memory lane minus Eliza Doucheco, because that would have been trash, right? It would have been bad. We all know Eliza Doucheco carried that movie. It's no secret. Now, that being said, I actually tried to have very little expectations from this, and I just wanted to keep an open mind. I really did have just like one big hope, and that was I wanted this to be more mature, I wanted to be like a timely take on the concept of danger in the woods without the punches we got towards West Virginians or inbred Appalachian families, like the first movie did. And I gotta say, I wasn't disappointed. I think I was very surprised, but how are you folks feeling?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

This was a very different ride from the from the original wrong turn, and I think they were both a lot of fun to watch, but this one's it is more mature. I think when while watching it, it definitely felt like each scene was more deliberate, the dialogue was more deliberate, the characters felt like somebody put planning into them. So while watching it, it it was a much deeper film to enjoy than the original. Um so that was something I noticed was like yes, different story and stuff, which was a great thing. I mean, I was definitely on the edge of my seat sometimes, but uh I just could really sit there and kind of respect the amount of work that went into each aspect of it. It just seemed really just like well planned.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Yeah, while watching this, I mean it was a deeper take, and I did pay attention to the dialogue more, which I normally don't, but it was so tense for me. Like, and shit gets crazy like 30 minutes in, and then when you're an hour, and if you're like me, you're like, How much longer is this? And then you pause and you find it's like almost another 50 minutes, and you're like, holy shit. I was like, but it wasn't something I was like disappointed in. I was just kind of like, oh my gosh, like, oh, this is interesting. What else can they do in an hour? But um, yeah, it was super tense for me while watching this.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

I uh felt a wide array of things while watching this. At first, I was like, okay, this feels familiar, this feels good, this feels fresh and updated. And then I was like, huh, this is a little different. And then I was like, wait, what? Now what's happening? I just bounced back and forth between all those different things throughout, where I was like, most of all, had no idea what was coming next. So I felt uncertain about the the course that this movie would run.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Yeah, I think when I was when I was experiencing it, I was just taken aback and astonished every step of the way because of how vastly different and how far it's come. I don't know, maybe I was just like struck in awe of how much it's grown. And what I really love is this writer coming back and uh ha keeping the same spirit, right? Because if you break wrong turn down to its bones, it's a similar movie. The spirit is similar, it's just more subtle uh in some ways in the original and more overt in other ways. But I found myself entertained the whole time, squeamish in a couple other places, shocked, a little like eh, about some flat lines of dialogue that were delivered throughout. But overall, I was surprised just how different everything was. It was a s a second stab that felt more mature and progressive. It feels like the kind of lens that you can, you know, see a move a movie through and a property through only with a gift of like time, space, and experience. It still felt tense to me, right? It still has a bit of the action vibe of the original, but ultimately it's using similar parts to make a completely new story. It's a reboot in its best form, I think, like in the best sense of the word. Not saying that this is the best reboot I've ever seen, but truest to the spirit of what a reboot is. And I think that surprise was just what stood out the most to me about this.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

The biggest surprise for me, I think, was finding out that it was the original writer coming back to redo it. Because I honestly I didn't pay attention to that when I went into it. I I looked at it afterwards, and knowing what can be done years later is it's like we talk about all the time. Oh, if I were to make this movie again, here's how I would do it. Um, except they like actually delivered on growth, which was awesome. Um, the difference between the two movies is was really the shocking part for me. And I think I didn't find any like disappointments with that. I think it was only a good thing that it was different in the way that it was. It it kind of breaks your expectations, which is which is awesome. But yeah, I mean huge delta between the two movies in every aspect of the film, which was only beneficial.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Yeah, how progressive this was and just how much growth there was in this movie really surprised me. And I think if you've listened to the podcast and heard me talk, um, you know, I kind of like the movies where you don't need to think. Um you know, I just want I just want the gore. I mean, I like Saws, so I kind of like, you know, the manipulation of all of that, but I definitely love one that I can just put on and enjoy and not have to think too much into.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

I love that you say, I like movies where I don't have to think, and then you have like the most complicated fucking storyline in all of horror, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Like, yeah, but you know they replay it like five times, so you get it. Okay. That's that is a very fair point, classic James Wan. Very true. And I think I was surprised at how much it like kind of touched me where I was like actually paying attention to the dialogue and to what was going on in the movie to pick up on that because normally I wouldn't. And normally I don't come to the podcast with those kind of comments. So I'm interested to see how the second half's gonna go and I can put my little spin on it.

SPEAKER_05 12:26

That's so true, Alexis. I too was like so invested in this movie because of a lot of the choices that it made. Uh, as far as surprises, Mac mentioned earlier that like he didn't think that anybody could really expect what this movie was. Um, so there's definitely an element of this that I'm sure surprised all of us in some way. Um, I was pleasantly surprised to see like an updated modern cast. You know, we have a group of like, you know, hot young adults, which is something we all know, but also like interracial couples, gay couples. And it was like, okay, I I really enjoyed that. Uh, for the most part, uh, at some times, at some points it got a little bit um like too in your face and like a little on the nose, uh, especially with some of the dialogue as they're kind of setting the groundwork for who these characters are and how they interact. I was like, you know, okay, we get it, you're woke, but like let's not let's not push it into cringe territory. Like you can be organic about it. But then I was thinking, like, I'd be mad if it wasn't like this. So can I really be mad if it is like this? Or is there just no pleasing me?

SPEAKER_03 13:28

Yeah. I mean, that's really fair. I think it's a step in the right direction, but it's certainly far from the ideal, right? The ideal for representation would be like this is so everyday that it it's not difficult for people to write. It's not a challenge, it's not, it doesn't feel like it worked real hard to check this damn box.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

That's the dream to be at, but we don't get there without the painfully awkward steps of someone trying to do the right thing and not navigating it perfectly. So I'm excited to see how this continues in the future, but I totally agree with you. There are some points where it's just like, okay, guys, uh, don't really need to hear about uh all your hopes and dreams right now. And it's weird because I know that's a compliment I paid to the original. It was like a group of friends. You know, you hear about like Eliza Douchku's situation in her life and how her friends were all there to support her and take her mind off of things, but it was just a little bit of that and a lot of walking in the woods versus this is like, damn, we're really out here in this bar, we're really out here having a whole confrontation and where we break down everyone's life to each other. And I'm like, all right, it's a good point to stop this.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

Like, did we need to challenge every societal norm in one intro to a movie? Go big or go home, I suppose.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Uh and for as the big swings as they took with the characters in this movie, I think they also took some pretty big swings on the scares. And I don't know that I would ever find this, I would ever describe this as like a particularly frightening movie, but it was stressful to me. It was stressful, it was gross in some places and stressful. But were you folks scared?

SPEAKER_02 14:53

I'm haunted by a scene in this movie, but okay. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Oh, which one? This will be fun.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Yeah, I mean, I had the glow of my Christmas tree that's still up right now. But other than that, I was like, oh, I'm gonna totally watch this like in the dark. Like I forgot, it was like maybe like a yeah, it was like a Tuesday or Wednesday night. I was like, Yeah, it's definitely chill, but I was like, saw this and I turned all the lights on. I was like, oh hell no. It's very creepy. It reminded me of other movies I had seen, but I I do appreciate this scene.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

Is it because it took place in Virginia and you felt like it hit too close to home?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Oh yeah. I mean, also that too.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

And I love to go hiking, and I love like the scenery in this movie, and I was totally like, I don't want to go hiking, but maybe I do, because maybe I just want to live Okay, so compromise instead of a haunted house, let's just all have a spooky camping hiking trip. Oh, I'd totally be down.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I will compromise on that part.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Can I hire actors to scare us?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

No, it's a haunted forest essentially, then. No, we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Okay. I'm gonna join in this scare discussion to play the role that I always play and say that it wasn't scary. Uh I mean, it's cool, it's a very different horror. You know, it's less action-y, less, you know, eaten of the fleshy and more like folk horror. And so for me, it's more interesting because of that. Uh, it's it's more like I don't know, it's it's like a juicier piece of fruit uh to enjoy because of that. But I don't I don't find that it's it's got like that sharp feeling of horror. I don't feel a terror really, which I I enjoy because I think it is a more mature approach. But I think if you're looking for those jump scares, if you're looking for those moments of being like, oh my god, what's about to happen? I can't handle this. For me, it didn't hit that way. I feel that too, Mac.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

I have a feeling I know the scene that Alexis is talking about, and if not, there is definitely a scene in this movie that I will remember for a while because it was very uh scary. But there's a point in this movie where the morality gets very ambiguous, and when that happens, I'm a lot less scared because it's not like because now I don't know like who I'm afraid of. You know what I mean? Yeah. But for me, this was overall not nearly as scary as the original wrong turn, but there were a few moments where I was definitely scared and there was a solid level of tension throughout.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

It's so interesting because I think to look at this movie, I feel way more stressed out than the original, but then I think back to some of the classic, like scare moments that you get in the original, and you're right, I think this movie is totally void of that. It's just so far in the opposite direction from like early 2000s, uh nice, clean, perfectly offensive and inoffensive at the same time, slasher, that this does lack the punch of that. But I find it to be like a really satisfying blend of so many other movies, right? And it's different in its own way. I'm particularly reminded of The Hills Have Eyes, The Purge, Tuckerendale versus Evil, and a little bit of Twilight Breaking Dawn, which I guess means also maybe a little bit of Final Destination, but that's what this felt like to me. Does it feel original? I don't think it has to be. I think it is a grown-up, it's a glow-up for wrong turn, really. Uh, and I'm perfectly satisfied with that.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

That's so interesting because in my notes I said uh yes, but then I said, but no, and uh proceeded to uh put other movie examples that I thought reminded me um a little bit off. I put midsummer.

SPEAKER_05 18:14

Yep, I have that too.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, that um pet cemetery. I don't know why I was getting that vibe, but I definitely had that on there. Because at some points it's just depressing. Well, I think a lot of it, especially when there was a few scenes where there's these masks, and then I'm I'm mostly um talking about the um newer one. Yeah. And then also the village.

SPEAKER_05 18:33

So yes, that's exactly what I have.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yes, yeah. I was like, okay, this is the village, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:38

I feel like within the wrong turn universe, it's very original in that it's almost like the full extension of the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction. But in the overall horror zeitgeist, it felt very familiar and I could see a lot of references throughout.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, I think it's I think it's fair to say that you know it it's built upon what's come in the past, especially since the original movie came out. It's got all the elements of all these other great horror films and you know, less great horror films, but kind of refined down. It really reminds me of another form of art which is gonna be music, and that's when a band who's been around for a while puts out a new album, and half the people complain that it's nothing like their old albums. But then people who can sit down and enjoy it are like, yeah, but it's everything they've learned since their old albums and refined into a into a fresher feeling album. And like just to pick one, it's gonna be the latest Foo Fighters album I've listened to like four times. It's fantastic. Really enjoy it. I know some people really don't enjoy it, but I feel like it's more them. It's it's really their personality. A lot of Dave Grohl coming through and they're having fun with it. Um, and they've learned so much, like technically, um, musically, um, and now they can express that. And so, same thing here. Sure, yes, you can pull elements from all the things and say, okay, I came from this movie, that movie, but it's got a fresher feeling because of it. It's the movie that they wanted to make, but they didn't know that yet because it took 20 years to get there.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

I especially love that because you're when you're talking about music, first off, I'm a big fan of like cover artists and I love hearing different takes on the same music. I'm a sucker for Glee. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Plus, I feel like you like the same song. Like when you're stuck on a song like me and you'll like listen, listen.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Like, oh, if I can find a fresher version. I'll wear that shit out. I'll wear that shit out real fast. Yeah, no tread left on those tires. But this movie and its culmination, right? Like the way it wraps up, it feels really good to me. It it feels different. It's not a place where I would expect a movie to end, and I think for sure it's gonna, it's gonna be too abrupt for a lot of people. But this idea of song when Disney uh made Maleficent, Lana Del Rey did a cover of my favorite Disney song, Once Upon a Dream, and it's like this dark, haunting, melodic, just beautiful tone. And this movie has something that gave me that feeling all over again. And it's also just about like the intensity of what you're seeing on screen in that moment. Like it it felt like a really shocking but good way to end. Shocking in terms of timing, but satisfying in the in the overall result.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah, totally. That song definitely like I was like, wow, I've never yeah, I'm trying to think Insidious, the move the song that they're singing. Tiptoe through the tulips. Yes, exactly. So it's like that one, but then it has this. I mean, that one's still kind of funny, but uh just I don't cringy isn't the right word, but just a weird feeling because I've know this song, I've sang this song. Everyone knows this song probably, and it's just like this weird take on it. But I don't know, I love the ending. I think it was probably more woke than I thought it would be, but uh but was it so woke it fell back to sleep? No, no, no, but not that woke. I guess it's just my interpretation of it all. I'm like, oh wow, interesting. But can't wait to talk about in the second half though.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

This is definitely one of those movies that has several many endings. Uh if we were to get Hypothetical, we'd be talking end end of the end end and the epilogue of the end, and there's a lot. And even during all of that, I was still going through like a roller coaster of feelings. Like some parts I was like, fuck yeah. Other parts I was like, huh, really? Why? So I had a mixed feeling of the ending. Uh overall, I actually wrote bizarre. Okay. Good. So it ended and end ended on a good note for me. It stuck the landing.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

There was definitely some turbulence on the way down, that's for sure. I I didn't hate most of it. I think there was perhaps one piece of a scene that I found completely unnecessary. But overall, I actually liked the way that things wrapped up. When we get to the the last moments of the film, I was very satisfied with the way that the film completely ended. And again, I think it's just like a deeper take on it. I think when you go back to that original film and you have this like explosive ending, and then okay, now we're done, or maybe we're not, I don't know, and okay, I guess we're not. It just seemed so dated watching it now. Like watching it within the last year makes you feel like, oh man, what a time that was in in film, you know. But I feel like this one feels a lot more 2021, not just wokeness, but the way it handles the ending. It feels like, hey, we could have made a 10-part Netflix miniseries of this if we had wanted to, and people would have been glued and watching it, but instead we just made a a movie and we employed the depth that you would get in a miniseries.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

I totally agree with that, Meg, and it's actually a really interesting thing, and this is particularly why I paid attention to the writer, like before I even went into this. So he wrote Halloween 4, and when you look at the construction of Halloween 4 and just the way it kind of carries on the franchise, he wrote a continuation from Halloween 2 that explains how did Michael escape? Why is Loomis still alive? And it's all stuff that got changed. But looking at that, I've always felt like his script had greater potential than the film ever ended up amounting to. So I was really excited to see how that would translate now to a not only a different franchise, but to now this era of modern filmmaking. And I think what's really going to be surprising is seeing how the scores for this movie shake out. Now, before we get to our actual rating, Alexis, what's our body count?

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Compared to last week, plus 17 on this one. So we have a total of 18 bodies this week. But what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_05 24:22

So technically we don't see any animals get killed, but there is no shortage of carcasses being shown. But if you are, you know, somebody who is conservative with resources, uh, I think you'll be proud to know that it seems as if nothing was wasted. Let's say that.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Always seeing a silver lining. I love it. Now let's go ahead and get into our ratings for wrong turn 2021. The time has come to determine whether it was a hack or a slash. And I think I want to change things up just a little bit. And then we usually go last. I think I want to go first this time. I know. Crazy. We're spicing things up. We're trying to get this out of the way in case uh I don't want to be the only one sticking out. So when I considered what it would take for me to slash this movie, I originally thought it had to like totally drop the elitist tone from the original. And I wanted to just enjoy it as a straight up slasher in the woods. Uh sans uppity city folks turning up their nose. But what we got in this was so much better than that. Right? We got all those things, but it was just done better. It was done with a point. And this hit all the notes I hoped it hit, but never expected it actually could hit. It also gave me this like really interesting blend of so many other properties, including a very beloved comedy we've covered here in the past. So this is a slash.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Interesting. So it's crazy because I've had quite a number of conversations around this movie. Um, one from when I posted it last Tuesday when I watched it the night it came out. This person I follow on IG. I don't personally know them, but his name is Joshua. So him and I were going back and forth about a movie, which is great. I'm like, this podcast really like brings people together. Talk to a friend who's super excited. She was super excited, loves the franchise completely. And I was like, you have to watch this. But with that said, I said she had to watch it because I thought it was so good. It was visually stunning. It had these elements that I don't necessarily care for in movies. Um, usually when I'm watching horror movies, it's to escape reality. This brought me a little back to reality, but it also made me like reflect onto myself. Like, okay, man, I was rooting for this person. You switch who you're rooting for. It's just kind of crazy what this movie does. I love the gore, I love the effects. I don't know what I disliked about this movie. Honestly, I just really liked it. So it's definitely getting a slash for me.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

I, when we were talking about expectations, said that I expected to slash this movie. And honestly, after I finished it, I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna slash this or if I'm gonna hack it. On one hand, yes, we get a refreshingly like diverse and realistic cast that seems plausible, but also, you know, as a young socially conscious millennial, I don't need to be hit over the head with other young socially conscious millennials. There's also like a couple story choices that are a little convoluted for me. It wasn't like the worst thing, but I was kind of like, why okay, why are we doing this? And then where is this gonna take us? And do I even want to be there? Uh, there was also like a lot of moments where they abuse like camera perspective to really force you to suspend your disbelief. And there were a lot of times where I was like, no, that's no. But ultimately, it was a group of really hot young adults, like everybody in this cast was mostly gorgeous, uh, even characters that you wouldn't expect to be gorgeous. And it gave me wrong turn vibes. There was amazing gore. Uh Alexis, I can't wait to talk about this later, but I thought the gore was pretty satisfying, and a level of originality or at least original thought going on that left me feeling satisfied. Uh, so this does get a slash. Maybe if I watch it again, I'll like it more or less, but for now it's it's getting a slash.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Doing well so far. Now my turn. I get to go last. It's it's interesting. There's a lot of times when movies are rebooted when they should never have been. I mean, cult classics that were kind of perfect the way they were, like rebooting Halloween. What? Why? It was perfect the way it was. There was no need to change it, just to build upon it. And there's other movies that absolutely deserve to be rebooted because like there was something good about them that deserved to be retold, but just the way that they were originally made was bad. And I feel like wrong turn had a good core to it, and it wasn't necessarily bad. I mean, I I slashed it, but I think the reboot we got was so above and beyond any expectations I had for it. I think they they took the good core and then built way more on top of it than you could have asked for. I mean, I was kind of expecting to get like a 90-minute action-packed cannibal fest and have it better made in some better lines and stuff. And I think what we got was just multiple like battles within it, battles of prejudices, battles of of morality. And I don't know, it's just a really interesting movie to watch. And I think if anyone else out there is a fan of the original wrong turn, that they'll get that same vibe of like being lost in the woods and stuff without being in you know weighed down by the bad stuff that the original one did. They're gonna get like just this fresh lightness to it where you can just sit sit back and enjoy all two hours of it, and it it feels gritty enough without being gross, like many other reboots have been. It feels new enough, even though it gets a little bit too woke sometimes, and you have to kind of sit there and laugh about it. But overall, I think the whole package was the best possible case for a reboot of wrong turn.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Ooh, I love that. And I think what's incredible about this is that not only did Wrong Turn from 2003 get a universal slash, but so did the second coming in 2021. Now, surprise, surprise, we actually have some bonus scores here. Now, it's not gonna count towards the canon of Hackerslash, but uh a couple of folks reached out to us, patrons of ours, and wanted to share their thoughts as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Okay, so I'm obviously Mac, so I'm going to channel my inner Zach and read Zach's score. Okay, I just got out of the theater and watched Wrong Turn, and let me just tell you, I am shocked. It was so great. I enjoyed it and it exceeded my expectations. I really hope you guys review this because this film has broken the curse of bad horror movies being released in January. I social distanced and took extra precaution, of course. I wasn't a fan of wrong turn because I took it as it was, you know, straight to video horror. And this has changed my opinion 100%.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Love that so much, Zach. And we have another one from Rob.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Hey hacker slash crew, this is Rob. You might know me as that annoying guy from social media who's always bothering you. Sorry about that. Anyway, uh, one thing I don't have very many opinions about is this new wrong turn movie. Not quite sure what was going on with this thing. It uh doesn't fit with anything else in the franchise. I'm not sure why they decided to call it wrong turn. I guess I was expecting a remake going into it, and I got something completely different. Having said that, I didn't really hate it. Uh at least not at first. Uh when it refused to end, I mean, this was a movie that had about 12 times where it could have ended and it just refused to die and kept going. It really started to get on my nerves. Uh so I think overall, I'd have to give it a hack. Um just uh not a heartfelt hack, but but uh it's um it's a bit of a hack, I think.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

Rob makes some absolutely valid points about that ending. Um also, Rob, you never have to apologize. We love your opinions on things and we love that you're always willing to share them with us on social media. And it wouldn't be an episode of hack or slash, you know, if we didn't hear from the other side. So it's nice that we got to hear a bunch of slashes and at least one hack.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Yeah, my favorite thing is when we're all diverse.

SPEAKER_05 31:55

Now, if you would like to be like Rob or Zach and send us a voice message to be played during the episode of the movie we're reviewing, consider becoming a patron because just like these two, you'll have access to our recording schedule ahead of time. So you can watch the movies along with us, give us your takes, and we can share them in these episodes. Not unlike Megan and Julianne, who I hope to be hearing from very soon.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Oh, I'm sure they'll be in touch, and I can't wait to hear their thoughts. But for now, wrong turn 2021 is Universal Slash. And Zach and Rob both made some very stellar points here that we're gonna continue to unpack in the next half of our episode. So you can find this movie streaming online. Go ahead and give it a watch, and then join us in the second half. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

This episode of Hacker Slash is brought to you by Do two wrong turns make a right?

SPEAKER_00 32:52

We think so. Here at Wrong Tours, we provide alternative wilderness tours for the real adventurer. Tired of seeing natural bridges and cute rock formations? Take a wrong turn and get lost in the moment. Take a pitch stop at Captain Spauldings for fried chicken. Spend a night at the Overlook Hotel. These backwoods hills are so gorgeous, they truly have eyes. Brought to you by your friends at the Foundation. Come tour our village and enjoy our archery range, three-finger hatchet throwing, cave paintings by the blind, and artisanal jewelry by our resident Etsy maker Edith. You'll never want to leave, nor can you. Explore our mountains and more in your finest backwoods couture with Wrong Tours.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for Wrong Turn again, which, like its predecessor, has earned a universal slash on our podcast. This time, an additional slash. Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings and unpack those comments made by our patrons, we have the matter of gore to get to. Alexis, what's the gore score for wrong turn?

SPEAKER_02 33:59

This uh is pretty high, in my opinion. You know, I'm going uh quality over quantity this time. I know we had a lot of deaths, but those are pretty brutal. Like pretty brutal. Now, with 18 deaths, I'm sure everyone has, we will probably not be repeating any of these. But maybe we will. I don't know. What's your guys' favorite deaths?

SPEAKER_05 34:18

I have a favorite and I also have a least favorite. Starting with my least favorite, it's gotta be Gary. Killing the hottest guy first is the rudest thing you can do. He went from being the hottest to being the least hot in such a brief amount of time. It was upsetting. But my favorite death had to be the member of the foundation who couldn't help himself, so tried to sexually assault our main character because he got stabbed so many times. And I was like, yes, this is exactly what I want to see. Thank you for making this happen.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

That was a good one. She just didn't stop stabbing.

SPEAKER_05 34:52

And nor did she need to.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

And okay, so just to clarify for Gary, you that's your least favorite on the principle of him dying, the f dying first, but not the actual mechanics of the death.

SPEAKER_05 35:02

The death was criminal. That uh actor needs to be on screen more. I actually followed him on Instagram. Uh, if he's listening to this podcast, hello.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

His death was actually my favorite because it was the most shocking. And granted, like when a big ass log falls down like that, you know someone's gotta go. But the just the intensity of his death was like heartbreaking. Uh Luis's reaction to it. The fact that they showed us the face and it looked the way it did, it was just haunting, truly.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Yeah, it definitely was. And I think it's weird. I know, Chris, you always talk about you know, these you know, in threes or like these uh recurring elements or themes that are in horror movies, and this one caught caught me off guard because you knew it happened. And then they go to every I mean you know the log ahead hit him at this point, but they check on everyone but him last. And I was like, maybe he didn't die because they're showing him last. But I'm like, no, he's fucking dead. Real dead, real, real dead, super dead.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

Don't get any deader than that, really.

SPEAKER_05 36:05

It was a really good setup, the slow-mo of everybody just being fucked by that log.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

It was angry. Okay, it angered me so much that nobody ran to the side. Oh, yes, true. It's just like in Prometheus, like if a large item is rolling straight and directly towards you, go to the side, go perpendicular.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

I do want to also point out though, someone as clumsy as I who has fractured my foot just walking before, would for sure have fallen and still continue to trip down the hill with that log in the attempt to go sideways. So I blame none of them. It's a very reasonable thing to keep spiraling down a hill.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

That's very true. But that you're you're so right, that that face was just so mingled. And when they took their time getting to it, I didn't think they were gonna show it. I thought they were just gonna gloss right over it. And then they showed it in full gory detail, and it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Mine was Adam's death. One, because he's such a fucking asshole for like leaving his wife or girlfriend, I'm pretty sure his wife, but in the hole, and just like, uh uh, uh, not sure. And there's many points where he's like, uh-uh, I don't, I don't know. Reminds me of my ex, doesn't know um how to make a decision worth a damn. Pew pew.

SPEAKER_05 37:13

But wait, what could he have done for her? She was so beyond dead at that point.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

But he was like kind of struggling with morality at that point, like, not like, I don't know. I would hope someone try to save me.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

I do agree that there probably wasn't much that he could do, but it also didn't feel like the most appropriate reaction because his nature, like he ditched her at the log situation. True. His nature has been to run versus you know, if if someone else, if that had happened to any of the other couples, they probably would have tried to climb down in the hole and then struggled and then realized there was truly nothing they could do. But he was just more like ooh, sex to suck.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah, so his is my favorite, but like just this buildup that you have of like you see Samuel's head, who he killed, and then it's all the maggots on there and everything like that. And it's just like, you know, this retribution death, because he's also cracking these not jokes, but he was just talking the entire time that they're actually going to have a trial, which to me is pretty humane, instead of trying to just kill you, but no, he got killed anyway because talk too much. Yeah, the striking of his head and then seeing his head. Oh my gosh, it was so crazy. Lots of heads. He had it coming.

SPEAKER_05 38:28

Yeah, we got like three faces fully obliterated by logs.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah, and that was so Adam was my favorite, but I'm gonna go for my second favorite, which was Samuel. Um, because I wasn't expecting that. I I thought there was gonna be some kind of struggle, and then they would run away. I wasn't expecting him to just sit there and beat Samuel down with the log over and over and over until nothing was left but grape juice. And I found it so fitting that they decided to pay him back in the exact same way with with in the trial. Like it was perfect.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

I absolutely love that, and it speaks a lot to you know, Alexis, you were just saying the humanity of everything, right? One thing that I was thinking about as we watched this is like just the duality of human nature, you know, these people think they're above everything, and then you know, there are questions about like who's the more barbaric one of all of us, really. And Mila is down impaled on the spikes, and then one of the foundation members kills her, but he puts her down like an animal, right? No quality of life. You're not you're gonna suffer, so let me just end this now. And then to see the journey that Jen went on to then put down Luis, the deaths in this are very intentional every step of the way. The only one that felt like a freak accident was Gary, uh, which is really the catalyst of everything that like you know shakes them out of their good presence and state of mind. Uh, so they can just continue to make terrible fucking decisions.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Yeah, and definitely going along with that, it's um like Jen is killing uh one of the foundation members and just like stabbing him, and there's the way she's doing it. You're like, oh my gosh, like that's barbaric, or you know, you could see it, so I like the duality of that.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

They did play with that a lot because this group of friends is so new age and so woke and so into social justice, um, and I love it. But then this group of people they find is like you don't understand accountability one bit, and you need to learn that. Um, so it was just it was kind of interesting to see them play with like entitlement and accountability and go back and forth a little bit. Um, because you you can't just be like really cool and really invested in those people around you, but then not care about other people that are out there.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

Oh yeah, they were totally about to leave that body there that they had killed. Like they're just like well, one of them was.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Oh, yeah. It didn't take any time to get to Pretty Little Liar's Secret Murder Pact, right? Like this was already, you know, I know what you did last summer in the Appalachian Trail.

SPEAKER_05 40:50

Like, I this wouldn't we love a murder pact?

SPEAKER_02 40:53

I know we spoke on it before um the spoiler break, and I just wanted to talk about it because I want to know if this is the same scene that Paris is haunted by. But um, when they put the freaking ch uh poker on their eyes and then shove them in whatever they call it, the darkness going through the darkness cave? Yes, that was chilling. I got very um what's the movie when they're all down in the cave, the women are the descent. Yes, it's very dissent y, in my opinion. Sounds like a new uh anti-presh print. Yeah. And I wasn't, I mean, like I knew that was happening, but I wasn't expecting to be so chilled by that. And just seeing that and like the makeup, and it was just like very graphic for me. I was like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 41:39

Alexis, that's totally the thing I was thinking about too. Um, I don't know how you knew that was happening because they just hit the darkness and then blinded him. I didn't realize that there were gonna be a dozen of them like crawling around a cave eating each other. Um, but like before they go into that cave, you see one of the foundation members bring like, I guess one of the people sentenced to darkness, like on a leash or something, like bring her into the scene. And I was like, wait, what the fuck is this bitch's story? What's going on here? Because she looks horrifying. And then, oh wait, there's about a dozen more of them inside this cave. That's the stuff of nightmares.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Apparently, all you have to do is lie. That moment in the film, though, was so great in terms of horror because up to that point we know that the friends can go at any point, and you're expecting that the main character is gonna stick around, but you don't know like who's gonna who's gonna be there until the very end. And so when they get to Luis, you're expecting okay, he could either go and then they're gonna shove him in there, or you know, maybe they're gonna do something that's gonna save him. We don't have to watch that happen. And then when he runs away and then boom, knife in the back. I thought he was dead. But no, there's more. They pull him up and then they actually when they actually show it going into his eyeballs and they throw him in there, and there's no way for the other two to get out. I was like, they're gonna do this. Yeah, are they gonna do this whole rest of this movie blind? Like, how are we gonna make it through at this point? That was like the one point where I was actually worried about the characters because I was like, they are at the point where they are completely helpless, and we already know the threat is real, and they just did it, and they could be seconds away from from going through with this with them. Like such a such a great moment. And I think the fact that they showed it happening is what made it even better.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Yeah, and also how much does it suck to have your eyeballs poked out, branded, and then realize that you just stumbled through the dark and could have gotten out that whole damn time. You just went a little bit further.

SPEAKER_05 43:20

That is upsetting.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

So visually, I thought that was haunting for sure. But I mean, the shadow that they have, you know, when they're coming out of the bar, I just love visually that looks stunning where you have this like creepy outline, you're not sure what it is. And if you've seen the other wrong turns, you're like, this could look pretty crazy. Um, but you just see that and then it's there one minute. I don't just know the light behind it was just so haunting to me. And I just like love that.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Were you waiting for that silhouette to just start giggling and cackling?

SPEAKER_02 43:52

Yeah, and then running.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

That moment reminded me of signs when you see the alien on the roof. Oh my god. Oh, I hate such a great like. Section of science, so good. Because it's so unexpected and so brief. And when we got to that figure in the darkness, it looks kind of distorted almost, so you can't exactly tell what they are. And I will agree, when that happened, I was imagining uh one of our old wrong-turn buddies to show up. I think visually though, what the thing that caught me was the amazing use of the cameras in this film. Like they did some seriously good work with which cameras they used and how they used them. I know you had some complaints, Paris, about you know, perhaps forcing our perspective or faking us out. But I think the types of lenses that they chose, depending on who they're shooting. I think where they positioned their cameras worked really well. And especially because you're filming in the woods, and that's gotta be kind of tough to do and get a consistent shot, unless, of course, you're shooting everything all in one place and all at the same time and the same lighting and everything. So I think the the just the ability to pick the right cameras, use them effectively, get the right shots of everybody in the film was just solid, really solid.

SPEAKER_05 45:01

I think most of this movie was visually appealing, Max, so it's it's not hard to agree with you. Um so I'm actually gonna go the opposite and say my least favorite visuals because they did have to do with like the other side of the camera work that you mentioned. Ultimately, like the scene where they first meet the two members of the foundation and they're in their full costumes, and they're all kind of standing there like talking about what's going on. There's absolutely no way that that other foundation member could have walked off without them seeing exactly where he was going. It was broad daylight, there wasn't that much dense foliage, like it was very much he was out of the frame, so somehow he mysteriously got away. Uh, and then there's another scene later where there's like a spiky log chandelier trap that like falls on a couple guys, and I was like, if you've ever been in the woods before, you would have seen that. It is maybe four feet above eye level. No way they didn't see that coming, but because it was out of frame, it didn't exist until it needed to. Uh so I had a few little like, no, that's not plausible moments with that.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

I agreed about the chandelier thing.

SPEAKER_05 45:59

Yeah, like some of it was a little much. Um, but overall, this was a very beautiful movie to behold. And the cast was mostly gorgeous.

SPEAKER_03 46:07

I can definitely agree with you on the things that were expected to go along with. Mac, what you were saying earlier about just like the choices that they made with their cinematography. I think what what stood out to me was really the framing. It's all the shots they got using the natural formations of the rocks. And especially there's this one moment where you know they're running off and you see an eye open, and this person is dressed like a tree. And then all of a sudden you got this tree man running down at you. The costume work on that, beautiful. But also the way they compose that shot, it's not too revealing, right? It's nice and tight, it's hectic, it's jarring. So I really, really appreciated that. But I think when I consider these scenes, it's that entire moment, right? It's tree dude running down the path. It is the hand grabbing Darius and lifting him up, which seemed a little implausible, I will say. I must have had like Herculean strength to do that. That was the best moment for me in the movie of just pure chaos, right? It was just nobody had any idea what was going on. Adam seemed a little edgy, fidgety, and paranoid. So to see everybody from the foundation step in and just start taking people out, that it was intense.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

They really handled the chaos well. And I think like the night scene, the escape scene was so perfect with that. And when they got to the point where they're hiding in the woods and they start to reveal them themselves, you know, we didn't get that really spoiled. We got to enjoy like each one kind of slowly making their way into the right spot to take out, you know, the uh the locals as they're trying to free their friends at this point. But like that, it did feel more real than you know just seeing like five people stand up with with bows and arrows or something like that. You know, it's like they're in the woods, they're hiding, it's gorilla warfare, you can't really see much, the flashlights are ruining your night vision. So that's such a such a good thing to call out.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Also, shout out to the spooky dude who was outside the tent during the lightning and the thunder in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

Can we also shout out the double scythe at the end who really didn't get enough action? I was like, oh, what's going on there? Let's see something happen with that. It was a missed opportunity. I was like, let me see you swing that at somebody and decapitate two people at once, please.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

I mean, isn't that used for grass or something? So he could have been out there just using that to mow the lawn. Or just posing with it to look menacing. Yeah. His his version of American gothic.

SPEAKER_02 48:32

My favorite scene plays like on a trope, and I thought it just thought it was super funny because you have it evolves a kill. So you have Adam killing one of the foundation members because they think they took Mila. And then all of a sudden, like Mila shows up, and I was like, oh, what a play. Like, this is awesome. They're kind of using some humor, and I wasn't expecting that at all. I was, you know, expecting for the movie to go in like consequential order, like, hey, this happened, therefore this happened, but essentially that first thing didn't happen. So I was like, oh, maybe these people aren't that bad anyway. Like, and that's where I started to frame um a different outlook of the foundation that I had had.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

This is like if Tucker and Dale versus Evil was serious.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Yes, it it very it is very true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Very much just a misinterpreting what these people are up to in the woods. That was honestly my favorite scene was learning who these people were, meeting the foundation during the initial parts of the trial. I thought was super interesting. Like walking through their little town, making their way into this courtroom that's underground, apparently, I think was the was the best part because that's what really destroyed your expectations for this film. Because you're thinking maybe there's still a chance at the end of this, you know, this journey, they're gonna cut them up and eat them in sandwiches. But no, they're like a civilization of their own, and you broke a law, and now we're gonna punish you for that law, which makes it seem even more reasonable. And now you're like, oh crap, like who do I actually root for in this case? Because douche me go over here did kill their friend without checking on what, you know, perhaps what was going on. And so, so interesting, such a crazy twist, and so many village vibes as well, of course.

SPEAKER_05 50:09

Oh yeah, that village was definitely a really interesting scene. Sort of just like finding out that racism was a red herring was really unexpected. For me, I honestly I'm a little bit team foundation. Maybe they're the most woke of all. Uh, but my favorite scene actually had nothing to do with them, really. Uh, it's actually in the ending when we have Jen back at home and we get the first like fake out slash dream sequence slash just like hallucination type moment.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Yeah, breaking dawn.

SPEAKER_05 50:39

Yeah, oh oh that's where you're coming out with breaking dawn. I got you now. But it's the moment where after her stepmom and two brothers are killed, and you see the mom, the stepmom on the floor, and she turns her head and her eyes are like looking really wacky, and she's just like casually says, Jen, what are you doing? I was like, What the fuck? Because this bitch is very much dead on the ground, and you see her like speaking and her face was really contorted, and I was like, that was another thing that like really stuck with me in my mind. So I really did not expect that scene at all, and I definitely didn't expect that moment from that scene.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

I love that because it gave me a nightmare on Elm Street vibes.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Yeah, it was chilling. That's so funny. That's the scene that I found unnecessary about the ending. Really? Well, parts of it it wasn't it wasn't bad. I just felt like if they had chopped it out and just given us the actual ending, like it would have worked just fine. But it was way more shocking than the actual ending. Like instantly her family's just taken out. I was like, oh crap, like this is game over. This is sequel sequel baiting is about to happen, I feel like. Like he's gonna take her, and then you know, who knows what happens.

SPEAKER_02 51:43

But she has a baby.

SPEAKER_00 51:44

With that, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Now it becomes the hill hills have eyes. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

But it it was it was a crazy scene. But I think when we realized that it was like in her head, that's when I felt bad about it. That's when I was like, oh, I don't, you know, we haven't seen any of that, this film though. You know, I think if we had seen it once before, perhaps it would have added up in my brain.

SPEAKER_05 52:03

Yeah, that's true. It was kind of um a storytelling device that they threw in at the last minute, at least sequentially, maybe they'd been planning it all along. But it also kind of gave me like kill bill vibes a little bit in that it was just like senseless brutality in a modern home in broad daylight.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

I love the fact that um Venable showed up wearing like completely normal clothing. Yeah, that was that was scary.

SPEAKER_03 52:23

Your man can't come in with a skull. People won't know the jig is up.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I was like, wait, he's allowed to leave? Shit, this changes everything. But he could have rolled up in like a hemp vest or something. I don't know. You know, to wear like his like Tim the Toolman outfit was very unexpected. He committed to the part.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

Yeah, just some like real neutral earth tones, and instead he got some blue and yellow play. He is nothing if not a lumberjack, clearly. It's great that you point out the importance of getting to know the foundation because I think that's what you know the folks in the original wrong turn deserved, right? To have their humanity scene. You know, they're seen as survivalists, and really they're described as cannibals, but do we ever see them explicitly eat a human? I don't know. Just seems like they have a lot of carcasses around. I think that's what a l a lot of folks disliked about this movie who were super big fans of the original. It's really easy to see the original wrong turn and look at it as nothing more than like, it's a slasher. I want these hillbilly cannibals and I want them chopping off heads in the trees and dancing around. But I think that's the case if you're missing the like underlying tones there. I love that this movie picked up on the little notes about like we're never going in the fucking woods again, or this whole place smells like a bathroom. All these little snide remarks that they made throughout the entire thing. So I don't know. I I feel personally, I know Rob said earlier, ah, this has nothing to do with the whole franchise. Yeah, it on the surface, it doesn't have anything to do with those characters, but that's the good thing because now it's focusing back on the soul of the movie, it's focusing back on that elitism and that class issue.

SPEAKER_05 54:00

It also definitely felt like Adam's character served as the the representation of that mindset.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 54:08

Obviously, I hated that character. Um, but another character I really didn't care for was the dad. Like, it starts off like from his perspective with this like Liam Neeson taken thing, and I was like, what are we doing? What? Huh?

SPEAKER_02 54:21

Also, he's this shitty dad that was mean to eleven. Let's not mention that. Yeah, stranger things couldn't stand him.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

I know we'll get to the worst part of the movie in a minute. He's my worst part, just getting it out there.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

Yeah, his whole storyline was very much something I did not care about him as a character. I did not need really at all. I guess in the end he served a purpose. Um, but I did want to take a moment to acknowledge that Gary and Luis were one of the more realistic and relatable gay couples I've seen on screen in a very long time, especially in horror. I'm still reeling over those two gays from uh one of the Hellhouse movies where everywhere they said made me want to die. And I was like, this is not how any of us talk. We don't act like this. These boys are very aware that they're on camera. But Gary and Luis, they like really sold it to me. It was really sad seeing um Gary die because Luis, uh his reaction to it was like so authentic and he was really acting. I thought he was probably the best actor in the whole bunch. So yeah, it was it was really nice to see a realistic, believable couple, and then it was also really sad to see them get split apart by death.

SPEAKER_03 55:23

First off, they both deserved better, honestly. It is what it is, especially that moment for Gary and Luis where you know he sees a woman at the hotel looking at him and then he drops Gary's hands, and then they have to revisit that. He's like, Oh no, what are you talking about? Because it is that creeping, it's the eyes and the stigma and the judgment. And it also shows that like how far along out is each of them in comparison to the other, right? Like I have dated a woman who is from the Midwest and who came out during her relationship to me and was highly uncomfortable with holding hands in public, and she figured out the vibe that anybody would look at us, immediate drop, right? And then you you know, when you're with someone for for so long, you're kind of like, Oh, what did I do? And then you don't realize, no, it's the eyes watching us, right? And I think that little moment and the way they handled it said so much about each of them individually, and then together as a couple, it was so good.

SPEAKER_05 56:16

For sure. A couple that I didn't really care for was Jen and Darius. I feel like she was too good for him. He was cute, but also even like the actor himself. I was like, You're not really pulling your weight in amongst the rest of your peers in this in this film. Yeah, that was an awkward coupling for me.

SPEAKER_00 56:32

The worst part of that was when they were laying in bed and he like had to tell her his dream.

SPEAKER_03 56:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

You know, and I was like, wait, you haven't had this conversation at this point? Also, like, did you just are you doing this just so that we understand who you are as a person? Because just telling us that you run this nonprofit was probably enough. We didn't need to know my dream is to form a community where everyone is treated equally and shares and all everyone does hard work, but we reap the benefits. And it's like, oh wow, let's see how this relates later to the foundation where this is the same civilization you're describing.

SPEAKER_03 57:07

Let me describe my future uh in the next 20 minutes, here in this moment.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

If only we hadn't taken that wrong turn. There it is. I felt it coming. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

No, I I totally feel you. Jen, I liked she didn't carry this movie the way Eliza Dushku carried the movie, but I think she wore her share of the movie well. I think she wore that well. She does go from like you just, you know, your basic Starbucks rista to you know a little nod of Eliza Dushku having to fix the tire. I didn't like Darius's line of kind of make me look bad. That was unnecessary and weird.

SPEAKER_04 57:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:44

As progressive as this movie is trying to be, then has that subtle misogyny that I'm like, oh nope, there it is. That's that's where it's granded in reality. But then she goes to Katniss Everdeen, and I'm like, all right, cool. I am not mad at that in particular. Really? Yeah, I wasn't mad at it. She looked great.

SPEAKER_05 57:58

I wasn't mad, but like compared to everybody else's costume, it felt kind of like Hobby Lobby. I was like, oh, she's a wilderness girl now because she has a long braid.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

Yeah, well, she's new. What if this is like uh proby? You know what I mean? Like, what if this is like you're on your probationary period in the foundation when you hit your year mark? It's kind of like being a padawan to a Jedi and then you lose the braid. Maybe it's that. Maybe she gets upgraded later.

SPEAKER_05 58:20

You said proby, and I thought you said pro v, like panteen the shampoo, because she did have great hair.

SPEAKER_03 58:25

That was a great logical jump there.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

That's how my mind works. Well, I think one of the characters that isn't played up enough is probably Mila. And it's so interesting to see how she reacts to like Adam and the stupid things he says and stupid things he does. And you could just tell, like, she's tired of his crap, but like she's so used to it, you know, because they're a thing. And the first time he runs away, she scolds him and like you could, you know, should they probably get into some fights at which point he brushes off those fights and she keeps keeps fighting and eventually just succumbs to the fact that he doesn't care. Um, but I think when she's in that pit, you know, with with the spikes, she's really like, Oh man, did I make the biggest mistake of everyone here?

SPEAKER_03 59:02

That is the uh the wrong turn I took in my life was this fucking deadweight relationship.

SPEAKER_00 59:06

It is interesting that the filmmakers wanted everybody to have like a story, they wanted each person to have internal crises, to have things that were driving them. And I think you can feel it pretty well in most of the characters that they have something going on in their lives that makes them them and not just you know, horror movie character B.

SPEAKER_02 59:25

I mean, I get that part, but also it didn't stick out to me enough to be like on the nose about that. But I don't know. I don't know. Bill Sage is kind of cute. I'm sure he didn't get the daddy award, though, for this episode, Parrot.

SPEAKER_00 59:39

I mean, he didn't not get the daddy award. Out of all the characters in this film, he's the one actual hipster. Truly. Look at his haircut. So he's got a well-groomed beard, he's got like the hipster haircut. He decided to go like off the grid.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

I mean, there you go. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

Before it was cool 200 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 59:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 59:57

He does have plaid.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

And he's got the plaid, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:02

Artisanally crafted homewares, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

Oh my gosh. He's in that movie We Are What We Are. I don't know if you guys have seen that. It's been on my list to watch, but I hasn't like I haven't had time for it.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:13

I watched it, I think, when it came out in 2013, but it's actually one of my favorites. It's a slow burn for sure. Um, but he's great in it. And ironically enough, um, he plays a character who you might uh relate to the wrong turn franchise. I'm gonna say that to avoid spoilers. No, I'm intrigued. Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

I also want to give a quick shout-out, though, to our dude Damien, you know, a member of the foundation with his brother Samuel. So this is Morgan and Samuel carrying Adam and the eventual realization of what's really happening here. Um, you know, they caught him in a trap and they were taking him down the mountain. I love the nature with which they just drop him on the ground and they're like, hey, what are you talking about? Get out of here. Like, what do you mean? And like you can just sense their argument back and forth and the irony with which, you know, this group, right, the group of friends is saying, speak English, and they're like, what the fuck? Like, you're you're an R turf. What are you doing? But it did also remind me of when Han Solo was captured in Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks are carrying him as he's you know tied to this pole. And that was like my first little nod of like, okay, they they're carrying him this way, and they casually put him down, and they're not being overtly aggressive to these people. This is definitely a big misunderstanding that's about to spiral out of control.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:33

That's when I expected a fight, but there wasn't the fight that you would you would expect them to perhaps try to capture one of the other ones or run after them, and it just stood there. And it was so great later on when they like turned things around in them and they were like, Okay, so wait a second, you just killed them, but you didn't ask any questions, and then Morgan like gives the explanation of what was going on, and that's when I got you know that that comedy horror moment of like, man, you they were just misunderstood the whole time.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:02

Hmm. That was a good scene.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:03

We've had a doozy of a day.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:06

We also give a shout out to Nate, who has such a drastic change of heart by the end of the movie. He goes from harassing this kid, these kids in the bar to then thanking her for her diagnosis. You're right, was my liver, saved my life. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

He's a kind of a cute character, like in a dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:22

That's like toxic cute. Toxic cute, yeah. We are complimenting him now because he's being kind of nice, but also he has some deeply rooted issues that are the very problem with many people. Yeah. Yes, toxic cute.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:34

And also had a belt buckle that said, Nobody's ever raped a 38.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:38

I didn't I didn't notice that. I did not see that. What?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:41

In the bar scene, yeah. He comes over and you see his belt buckle. I was like, Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:45

Disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:46

Okay, so can we go back to that bar scene for a moment? Because that was probably my least favorite part of the movie when this group of friends who are young and educated and up with the times roll into this middle of nowhere bar that has a Confederate flag on the wall and they don't walk out. And then they start getting harassed by the locals, and they don't think maybe this isn't the bar for us. They're like, whatever, this is our world.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:10

You're like, no, it's okay. Virginia's blue.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:12

We just I mean, I could deal with that crap, but I would still have been like, I'm not drinking in here. There's a Confederate flag on the wall. These people probably don't take kindly to my con around here.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:24

That was definitely a red flag, and the only time I did not relate to these characters in any way.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:29

And that's what I think. I mean, I know it works because it kind of shows their entitlement, which we kind of see play out throughout the film to show that, yes, like they are are up on things and they know how to be, you know, culturally sensitive, but in reality, these are still kids and they still think they can have things their way no matter where they are, which is like the typical young kid tourist, you know, traveling in the country or whatever. Um, so it worked, but at the same time, I just like in my brain, I couldn't see a group of our friends doing anything like that. I think we would have walked in and been like, oh no, no, no, no, no, we're going to the to the hotel.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:04

Oh, yeah, for sure. And speaking of that entitlement, yeah, I I know I was saying earlier that Scott for me is the worst part of the movie, and he absolutely is. It just, you know, I didn't love the dynamic between him and Jen. You know, follow daughter relationship, cool. But there's quite a bit that she goes through in the peril that she's faced, and she's kind of just resigned herself in some ways. But you can also see that the entire time she was there, she was planning on leaving somehow, somehow. But I didn't love his overbearing, like and again, it's it's in a passive way, it's not in this overt controlling, but it's this like, why don't you come work for me? Why don't you just let me take care of you? Right. And I just I hated that. I hated the way that he he set out to find his daughter, which is good, but then doesn't seem to recognize the moment he's in or the place that he's in. Uh, you know, does this whole, oh, I got everything, you know. I got I got my fancy jacket, got my poles, got my backpack, and then this guy has to give him reality reality, like, hey, you look like a fucking bullseye walking around, right? It just it's it reeks of like, I am a man who has made it in my life, I'm older, I have money, and I can just buy whatever I need to fix this problem. And I hated that. And again, he's not a bad guy, but it felt problematic, and I wasn't a fan of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:28

He owned enough Patagonia gear to figure he could just go out there and hike it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

That's kind of how I work sometimes. When I had to think about something I disliked, it definitely has to be I guess comparing the two, I kind of like their brutality um and sort of the cannibalistic nature of the um original wrong turn. So this one I wanted to see a a little bit more depth. I wanted to see like some gross stuff, like we we saw, you know, eyeballs and you know this and that, and just like some grotesque stuff. I just wasn't getting that. And I was and I understand the purpose. But I wish there was a l could you give me maybe some nods that they're eating people, like a little bit more, maybe something in the background. Well, we did in the darkness, you remember? They're just all eating each other. I know, but I I wanted it scattered throughout. Because essentially those are people that got trapped in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:20

Oh yeah. You don't want that that concentrated cannibalism. You wanted, you know, the water down a little bit dispersed. I get it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:26

Yeah, I do. I wanted sprinkled, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:28

Full concentrate, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:29

Full colorful sprinkles throughout. So I guess in the um OG version, you have the antagonist. And I know essentially in the new one, you're not supposed to root for him, but like, I don't know, I wanted them to be more scary, more I mean, and I get it. It's not supposed to be that way. But I wish they were. Like they had these masks, and when I saw that, I was like kind of chilled, but then they started speaking this language, and I was like, what? And it was like they were talking like you and I, just in a different language. I was like, this isn't scary. Like, this isn't like creepy. I mean, it it just I don't know. I just wish they're that same effect from the first one came out in this.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:08

I think it's because uh you're not the target audience here.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:11

Yeah, I'm definitely not. Whole movies to show you that we're all the same deep down. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:16

We should not be afraid of other people and each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:18

I'd really like to see this actually turn that let's see the hills have eyes. Uh, and see how they redo this. The mountains have monocles. Yeah. Yeah, there we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:27

I have a gore question for you though. Did you guys notice did Darius break his hand during the log thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:33

Yeah, yes. Pinky up, literally and figuratively.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:37

Oh gosh, that was bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:39

It looked like just like a quick flash and then it was never really mentioned again, except for when they were setting it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:43

Yeah, yeah. He like it it seemed like the shock of the moment was definitely there, but I was appreciative that they didn't linger on it too much. I love that quick little like it. It's I it's only hitting me now that it was literally his pinky fucking turned up. Jesus, it's movie to getcha every step of the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:59

Did anybody else like pick up on a weird vibe though when Mila was like patching it up and then Jen kind of like gives her a look? I was like, did they fuck? Like what was that? It was a quick little moment.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:09

Jen and Mila?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:10

No, Mila and Darius. There was a weird vibe, and you saw Jen acknowledge it, and I was like, What's that?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:16

Yeah, they have fully lived-in lives, you know. They uh they have their own dynamics, they've been there before. Uh, maybe that's the deal, right? Like, maybe Mila and Darius were a thing. Darius was really good. Mila felt like she wanted more of a bad boy, then she had to settle for Adam and has lived the rest of her life regretting it, and then she dies at the bottom of a fucking pit because of her piece of shit boyfriend.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:38

Yeah, it's crazy how one micro expression can give you a full CW backstory. And that's three seasons right there on the CW. Truly. The characters were rich. Though I totally agree with you, Alexis. My least favorite part of the movie is hard to pinpoint, but definitely the part where our antagonists were kind of deflated in a way where I was like, oh well, now I'm not scared of them because they're clearly just regular, or at least they have something else going on, but they're not these bloodthirsty, mindless, killing machines that I kind of wanted them to be. Um, obviously they couldn't do that and tell this same story, so I I get that. But I think the thing that stood out to me the most as like the most jarring was just like the way they use the passage of time in this movie. It starts out with like the dad kind of like looking for his daughter, and then it cuts six weeks back, shows us what happened to get them to that point, but then she's like in a hole for a while, we don't know how long, and then they have their trial, and then she is integrated into the society for I guess six weeks or or so.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:42

And then after they escape, it cuts back to how their lives afterwards. Then you get a quick flashback to a scene that didn't actually happen, and then a re-rehash. It was just like it was kind of all over the place in a way that wasn't seamlessly integrated into the storytelling.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:54

I would have loved if instead of six weeks it was six months or six years.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:59

Right? Give us like a longer time of the father like never giving up on his daughter. I was gonna say after six years, like, and he's still trying to hike.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:08

After six years, I'm in it. I'm in the foundation.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:10

Right? Because here's the thing she was way too fucking good with that bow, and then she becomes an expert dagger thrower. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:17

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:18

She was too skilled for six weeks, right? Six weeks is like fucking navy boot camp. Fair. Nobody walks out of the navy boot camp knowing what the fuck they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:26

They put her through some kind of advanced like military training day and night, apparently.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:30

No, that's fucking foundation training. That's what America's built on, apparently. If we had just done what they did this whole time, I mean, who knows what would have happened.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:38

Can we agree though that like the concept of the foundation is kind of solid?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:42

It seems like one that probably exists in real life cults. Yeah. And other movements like it. I'm sure they got this idea from somewhere, and I'm sure other people have tried it. There are also those people who like think, you know, it's really cool to live in like 17th century or 18th century style living conditions and not have modern technology. And I'm like, well, that was still technology. It's just of that time. So but I do get it though. Every time you get like burnt out on social media and stuff, and you're like, I wish I just had a dumb phone again. So I get I get it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:14

I think the thing about it, right, is that what's what's the term? The road to hell is paved in good intentions. And on the surface level, any government system, if you explain it the right way, might seem pretty solid. And the foundation, you know, when he breaks it down as simply as our food is always fresh, everyone works, we're all the same here. Yeah, sure. But then, you know, they probably don't have the arts, for example. I don't know why I don't know why that's the one thing I'm fucking going to right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:40

But what's her face had her bracelet making business.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:43

She had her I own Etsy shop. Yeah. Yeah. But you know she's not fucking like fulfilling Etsy orders and then USBS isn't fucking stopping by to take their shit up. That's why she has a little girl to help her. She seemed pretty smart. Yeah, just going into town, drop this off with a postman. But I mean, like, here's the thing, right? We know the sliver of the foundation. I'm sure that there are a lot of other fundamental differences there. Equality is great. Being in a community where everyone is valued is great. And these are things that humans seek, but sometimes it's preyed upon, and sometimes humans get themselves into things that maybe they shouldn't be on be in on because they're looking for these things that regular society isn't giving them.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:25

It's strange that their target was this this commune, this communal society, but it's not built upon empathy in any way. They're still rolling with the eye for an eye kind of situation. And we can see that because how many like zombies were down there in the caves, like eating each other with their eyes poked out. Yeah, that was a lot. And how can you have a society built upon the idea of we all work together, we all like earn our keep, and we all reap the benefits, and we just live simply without being like maybe we should address the fact that we're all human beings and we're imperfect and we should show you know a little bit of empathy towards each other. They're just like stone cold robots when it comes to dealing with anything that's outside of the norms. And that to me, it's it works for who these people are, but it just like how could it last that long? Because every time we've seen it elsewhere, like in The Walking Dead, where you know these little like pockets of people pop up with these kind of rules and and structure, like it always breaks down at some point. And I would love to see a breakdown happen in a sequel.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:27

Yeah, absolutely. It's a nice concept that everyone would be equal, and like even if we could like okay, let's say we take this concept and fill in the blanks with empathy, like Mac is saying, even then you have humans, and whenever you have a bunch of humans, there's always gonna be one human who wants to be the alpha human, and like that's no longer pretty chill, is it? Uh it's gonna get real frustrating real fast.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:49

Now, if you've watched The Stand though, or read the book, you know, you have to have like a group of humans that come together and make decent decisions together.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:57

And that's called the Supreme Court, and then that gets packed and things get messy again, and really humans are complex, and that's what I think wrong turn has told us. And I can tell you that I, for one, will absolutely be watching it again, just so I can go back and appreciate the beauty of the ending with her killing everybody in the RV except for Ruthie and hearing that beautiful this land is our land.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:19

Wait though, don't we think she should have killed Ruthie?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:23

I don't think so. She Ruthie's just a kid.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:25

Okay, but Ruthie's intentions and loyalties are clearly dark sided. Every time she didn't kill Ruthie, I was like, can we tie up these loose ends, please?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:33

Ruthie helped her escape. Yeah. Ruthie is a product of her environment.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:36

So just me then that thought she should have been killed? That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:39

Yeah, I think you're the only uh team kill Ruthie here. And uh, you know what? I don't know that uh maybe we can do a listener poll. I don't know. Uh if you're out there agreeing that she should have killed Ruthie, uh please side with Paris and back him up because I don't think anyone can't I'm at peace with this.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:54

Um I would probably watch this again. I feel like it's gonna be impossible to go into it the same way I did the first time. Um, but it would be interesting to see what I take away knowing what's to come.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:04

Agree, knowing it what it actually is now. Um I feel like I'll pick up on the little tidbits a little bit more, but yeah, I'd love to watch this again, even pretty soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:14

This would be great to watch as part of like a themed horror movie binge fest, or maybe like a month of horror, um, where you could watch other folk horror movies, and even if you know the ending and everything, it's okay. I think it still really works. So you could watch things like Midsommar, you could watch Hereditary, you could watch The Ritual, Um Apostle, which is another favorite of mine, maybe The Witch, um, and then throw this in there. And I think you'd have like such a great playlist.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:36

I was gonna say, are you mixing uh a watch list for us or like what's going on here?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:41

I'm making you a mixtape.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Oh, okay. I like that. That's a way to serenade me.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:44

See, I would have put this in with a nice little grouping of Woods themes movies, so I would have loved it to watch this, like if I'm prepping for a camping trip, for example.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:54

See, that works too. Also, this is an aside. I loved when Jen is in the truck after everything's kind of settled down and she references that somebody rented a movie about inbred cannibals.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:04

As a nice little throwback.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:06

Oh, I absolutely love that as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

I found it to be kind of cheesy. But it wasn't too cheesy. It was like it was like a fun kind of knot.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:13

So was it a pizza with the regular amount of cheese instead of the extra cheese?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:17

Yeah, I mean it wasn't as classy as like a margarita pizza with just the perfect amount of cheese, but it wasn't like the super cheese-filled extra cheese dominoes pizza.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:25

Okay, well, let's see what other fun little analogies you've whipped up for us in your fact or fiction, sir.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:31

I can only speak in analogies. I know I hope you guys know that's a condition where all I can do are make bad analogies and and bad puns as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:37

Yeah, and it's called being an android.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:40

It's incurable. I try to emulate human speech, but you know, I can only do so much. So let's see what we got. I only got a couple for you tonight, because it's still a brand new movie, and we still need all the trivia to finally seep out, but I have a couple good ones for you. So, number one, writer Alan B. McElroy originally intended to bring back cannibal goodness, but was forced to rework the idea to be less, you know, human eating uh to get the script picked up this time.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

False. I think he wrote with intention to have less cannibalism.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:05

Same, I'm gonna vote fiction on this. Well, you guys are too smart because obviously this is fiction. So director Mike P. Nielsen stated, there would be a lot of people asking, where are the cannibals? What's going on? But what was so cool about joining the project was everybody was in the same headspace. We wanted to create something unique. We wanted to do something bold, we wanted to try to make something challenging out of this franchise that frankly had gotten tired. And number two, when the trial came to a head, but Adam received a pretty gruesome ending. We got to enjoy watching this gory moment in all of its glory, thanks to the magic of properly utilized CGI.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:39

Ah? I'm saying fiction, that felt practical. Anytime anything was like being bashed with a log felt like they stuffed like a watermelon with meat or something.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:47

Well, you were right. It this is definitely fiction. A cast was made of Dylan McTee's head, a fake head fashioned using realistic silicone, realistic hair, eyelashes added, filled with blood. Actor Adrian Favela, Luis, said it almost made him gag. Mmm, that's why it was so good. Exactly. Practical effects are the best. Let's continue with the effects. The director is quite proud of completing this film without the use of CGI.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

I'm sure there were some in this movie, so fiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:14

If there's anything I've learned from Final Destination 2, it's that logs don't actually bounce, so I'm saying there was CGI in this.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

Well, you guys are on your game tonight, so this is a fiction. But they rock things the right way. A quote from Mike P. Nelson as well. There were some CGI moments where it's at a big log rolling down a hill, so good catch. And that's fine. That was kind of our turning point moment. It was scripted from when I read the draft. I felt like that was a fascinating moment because I had never seen anything quite like that before. So that was one that we stuck with. However, for the rest of the movie, even with the smashed head scene, those were practical effects. We put some of his actual face in a practical dummy head that we had smashed open. There's a grittiness and grotesqueness to that. You can reach out and touch it. You can almost feel it and smell it. You know what I mean? Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:00

I don't want to know what you mean, but here I am experiencing it. Smelling crushed heads.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:05

And uh that ends our fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:07

Well, thank you for that bit of insight to Mike P. Nelson's mind. And there you have it, folks, Wrong Turn has yet again, many years later, taken several right turns on our podcast as it's made its way to a universal slash. Now, we've had a lot to talk about here. Yeah, there are a lot of different differing opinions about this movie. Some either love how different it is versus some, you know, like our friend Rob, who feels like, hey, why is it even called Wrong Turn when it has nothing to do with the rest of the franchise? So we want to know what you think. Keep in mind there are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:37

Or on our social media accounts, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also reach out to our Hacker Slash Heightline. You can leave us a voicemail at 757-606-0128, or visit hacker slash.com slash contact to send us an audio message.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:53

Or if you're living in some sort of commune where you believe it's still 1859, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:59

And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider becoming one of our patrons like Megan or Julianne. You can visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to earn cool perks for as low as $1 a month, including access to our exclusive recording schedule.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:12

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, stay on the marked trails. Bye.