Wrong Turn mainly tells the story of several tourists who get lost in the forest and try to escape the deformed cannibals hunting them along an abandoned road.
The film opened with the male lead, played by Joaquin Phoenix.
The protagonist, Chris, was a reporter. He received an urgent assignment to conduct an interview and was told to reach Raleigh, North Carolina, within three hours.
"Damn interview assignment!"
Harris was clearly furious at his boss's demand that he complete the assignment within three hours.
But there was nothing he could do.
He had to make a living!
However, what should have been a smooth journey was disrupted by a traffic accident. A truck carrying chemicals overturned, causing a massive traffic jam on the highway.
"Damn interview, damn accident. Today's just been awful."
With no other choice, Chris took a deserted back road.
Meanwhile, five friends—Jesse, Carly, Scott, Evan, and Francine—were driving into the mountains for a camping trip.
Yeah, American youths really knew how to tempt fate!
Who could have guessed that their car would get a flat tire halfway there?
"Did we really get a flat?" Jesse, played by Lima, said.
The other four had no choice but to wait for a tow truck.
But.
Instead of a tow truck, the person who showed up was Chris, caught in an unexpected predicament.
"Damn it!"
Cursing under his breath, Harris spotted Jesse and the others and immediately asked them for help.
"Hey, you want a ride with us?"
Scott pointed to the car with the flat tire and said, "Do you think that thing can still drive?"
With no other choice, they set off together to find help nearby.
But they never expected to walk straight into a series of traps laid by the deformed cannibal.
At the same time, many of the audience members who had seen the opening scene sensed that the story was about to take a turn.
"I bet the weirdo on the poster is about to show up," a young man whispered to his friend.
"Thompson, just watch the movie and stop bothering me, okay?"
"Sorry, sorry."
The film continued...
The cannibal made his dramatic entrance. His grotesque face and chilling laughter left no doubt that he was the main villain.
And that was exactly the case.
The moment the cannibal appeared, he brutally killed one of them.
"No... Francine!"
As one of them met their end, the blood spraying everywhere sent the others into a frenzy.
From that moment on, the film's tone changed completely.
Improvised weapons, brutal killings, cannibalism, then more killings, humans fighting back...
One thrilling chase and fight after another erupted. The action-packed plot, the cannibal's merciless slaughter, and the torrents of blood on screen had horror fans cheering with delight.
"That was awesome!"
"We should go camping in the wilderness more often. It'd be even better if we ran into a psycho cannibal."
"Right! I'd blow that damn cannibal's head off with one shot."
Well, you couldn't blame the film for that. In real life, plenty of young Americans were all too eager to tempt fate.
Of course, some of them might just have been all talk. They could claim to want to see a cannibal, but if they actually ran into one, well... that would be another story.
Strictly speaking, Wrong Turn 1—or rather, the entire Wrong Turn series—didn't have much of a plot. The appeal was simply the cannibals and humans repeatedly killing, chasing, and fighting one another. The steady stream of bloody scenes was its biggest selling point.
And in recent years, American horror films had mostly focused on the supernatural and ghosts, with few straightforward splatter films.
You had to admit, Zucker was pretty shrewd to choose Wrong Turn 1 as the first horror franchise for his company.
The film ended soon enough!
But the discussion about Wrong Turn had only just begun.
A white young man excitedly told the friend beside him, "Nine out of ten! That's the best splatter horror film I've seen in years."
"Absolutely!"
Another person chimed in, "It's better than the Halloween and Scream movies from previous years. I can't wait to see the second one."
Someone else cut in, "Then why don't we watch it again?"
Everyone immediately agreed.
"Do cannibals like that really exist?" a brown-haired girl asked.
Her friend assured her, "Of course! Forget the fact that African cannibals are real. Plenty of people go missing or die mysteriously while camping in the wilderness every year. Now that I think about it, they might've run into cannibals."
At that, the brown-haired girl's face went deathly pale.
Terrified, she couldn't help throwing herself into her friend's arms.
"Heh, I knew it'd work. When the second one comes out, I'll take her to see it too." His little scheme had paid off.
At a movie theater somewhere in America.
"What?"
"You're saying attendance for Wrong Turn has gone up noticeably?"
"You idiot! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"What should we do? Add screenings, of course. We'll take screens from films with fewer viewers, just like always. You can handle something that simple."
"What? The other film companies aren't happy about it?"
"That's their problem. Why do we run a theater? To make money!"
Hollywood's long-standing growth had helped the movie theater business flourish, and all the major theater chains had developed their own set of operating principles.
As for screening contracts between theater chains and film companies?
Heh!
Theater contracts were generally flexible.
In other words, after guaranteeing a film a minimum number of screenings during a certain period, theaters were free to make adjustments based on the contract. The rule for adjusting schedules was even simpler: give more screenings to whichever films made the theaters more money.
Wrong Turn had been far more successful on its release than it had been in 2003 in the original timeline because there had been so few splatter films in 1996!
On top of that, many well-known horror sequels hadn't been released during this period.
Director M. Night Shyamalan was still a newcomer, but he had an extraordinary talent for horror. The film's sharp chase scenes, brutal killings, and other elements were all much better than those in the original timeline's version.
"Heh, of course they aren't the same."
"Rob Schmidt, the director of Wrong Turn in the original timeline, was just a fairly ordinary director."
"But M. Night Shyamalan would go on to direct several hit films, including The Sixth Sense and After Earth."
"The gap between them was considerable, and it made all the difference in the film's final look and quality."
As Zucker reflected on it, he had to admit that Shyamalan really was talented.
Yeah, better than me.
All right, Zucker—who had been dubbed a "ten-million-dollar box-office director" and a "genius director"—only bragged about himself now and then. Deep down, he knew his own directing skills weren't anything special.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
Wrong Turn 1 had finished its opening-weekend run, earning a total of $12.45 million over three days and ranking third at the weekend box office!
Third place at the weekend box office was the best result Wald Pictures had achieved since its founding!
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