Why So Blu?

Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (Blu-ray Review)

Don’t look now, but apparently we are on Wrong Turn number 6.  Personally, I haven’t seen any of them past the original.  That one had Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Desmond Harrington and was the only one of these released theatrically (Others played at events like ScreamFest and the like).  When I signed up for Vudu I got Wrong Turn 2 for free but I’ve not watched it.  That one was directed by Joe Lynch and actually was critically acclaimed with a unanimous approval that its better than the first film.  I’ve still not had a chance to check it out, but I want to.  Every one following has been reviled though.  So, of course I’m going into part 6 with the lowest expectations.  And I hope I can keep up having missed the 4 previous installments.

Film 

Mentally troubled and emotionally unstable Danny thinks he may have a chance to turn his life around when he discovers he’s inherited an old hotel in the backwoods town of Hobb Springs.  A weird brother and sister claiming to be relatives greet Danny at the hotel to show him around and get him acclimated to the place and family life.  Danny’s friends and girlfriend accompany him to check this all out, however, one by one they start getting savagely murdered.

Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort has a story and plot and all that jazz.  But, this film exists primarily as some straight to video exploitation horror trash.  This movie is meant for teenage boys to be titillated by some hardcore death scenes, hot young naked girls and some sex scenes that would make Cinemax give a supportive thumbs up.  Hell, in doing my research on this cast, one of the female leads has been in a handful of those late night Cinemax flicks.  As a matter of face this film is a weird fusion of some raunchier softcore sex and bloody gory horror.

There are some pretty cool kills in the film and some that are rather painful.  There’s one kill that is brutal and rather just an uncomfortable watch, not because of the gore or anything, but because of how uncomfortably misogynistic it is.  The effects sort of run the gamut in quality.  Sometimes it works out beautifully and the kill works great.  Some of the prosthetic make up looks rather cheap.  And in some instances there’s a bit much of obvious looking CG in place that makes some violence look a little fake.  I do enjoy that they were marrying practical and CG though and it does work more often than it doesn’t.

I think we know how the performance goes for something like this.  Try as they might, this is a D or C grade horror flick and that’s the type of talent brought on board.  As I mentioned earlier there’s a skinemax actress in here, but she’s actually the top dog of them all giving a nice and enjoyably weird, but sexy performance.  The rest is full of some overacting and dull acting youngsters who are more than serviceable for this kind of exploitative romp.

As I said before, I’ve not seen any of these Wrong Turn sequels until this one.  But what this movie reminds me of is when you’re a young boy at the video store and there’s a horror movie that you just know has more boobs and sex in it than normal and probably isn’t much of a horror movie to begin with that you trick your parents about renting because they think its just a horror movie.  The Witchcraft series (If you’re a Ma and Pa video store rat of the 80s/90s you know exactly what i’m talking about 🙂 ) is what was coming to mind as I was watching this.  Except, with this movie you do actually get some good gore and kills.  I guess if Wrong Turn fans (Apparently you exist, since we’re now on part 6) should enjoy this new adventure.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail:   This is a very high resolution digital picture.  No doubt this ting was shot in HD and it shows.  Its a very detailed image without being extremely vibrant.  Detail his high all around.  Rugs on the floor show all sorts of pattern and texture.  The woods features well defined detail on trees as well as the dirt paths.  Smudges and glossy spots appear on surfaces.  A very strong image with very few weak points.

Depth: Above average.  There are some great moments outdoors, especially in the woods.  Other more intimate moments in the Inn are captured well in this transfer.

Black Levels:  Blacks are deep and accurately depicted.  Some nighttime scenes appear pretty dark and do hide some detail.  For the most part clothing and hair is discernible and detailed.

Color Reproduction:  Colors pop pretty good.  Blues and red jump off the screen.  There’s a nice palette on display in the film and it all seems full of life yet held to a more natural look.

Flesh Tones:  Skin tones look natural and lifelike.  Detail is extremely good as you can make out all sorts of stubble, scuffs, and skim blemishes shine through the makeup.

Noise/Artifacts:  Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics:  Being a modern digital shot horror film, this thing is well defined and the clarity and crispness of the film is evident.  Foley effects are rich and well documented.  There is a nice blend and separation of sound, score and voice on display as well.

Low Frequency Extension: Impalement deaths pack a big thud.  The score hits and attacks in the film include the buffer of the sub.  There’s a scene early on where an old woman is off’d that packs quite the whallop.

Surround Sound Presentation: There is good right/left/center interplay and all sounds and voices have accurate volume and place correspondence to the action on screen.  Rear speakers are primarily purposed for ambiance and scoring.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Loud, centered and clear.

Extras 

Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort comes with an UltraViolet Digital Copy of the film.

Inheritance (HD, 1:36) – The video selling Danny on the hotel he’s inherited.

All The Kills In Them Hills (HD, 6:55) – Every kill in the franchise, from part 1-6 in this montage set to some generic metal music.

Hobb Springs: A Place To Rest…In Peace (HD, 7:57) – The cast discusses the hotel the film is set in, the hospitality and its inhabitants.  And then there’s a little bit of Making Of discussion where someone actually says they were different than the others because they were “focused on suspense” and another mentions how “plot and character oriented” the film was.  Sh’yeah haha

Summary 

Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort is a pretty trashy sex/horror romp that features some impressive kills, gore and some heavy sex throughout, but honestly not much of anything else.  This Blu-ray comes with an impressive transfer with great video and solid audio.  The kill montage is a cool inclusion (may save time from watching parts 3-5 haha), but the other extras are pretty “meh”.  If you really have to see this, I’d recommend when it comes to your streaming service for free.  Purchase-wise, this is definitely recommended for hardcore Wrong Turn fans only.