Entertainment
Free Streaming Fans Are Making an Iconic “Splatter Horror” Cult Classic Their New Weekend Binge
The 2000s saw a major horror boom with major blockbuster productions and several small-budget movies. Final Destination was released in that decade and has since gained a cult following, with the latest installment, Final Destination: Bloodlines, reviving what was considered a dead franchise. In 2003, another cult favorite horror franchise was born with the release of the first Wrong Turn movie. It was nothing special and was panned by critics for being derivative. However, it achieved moderate success at the box office before being released on DVD for home viewing. The franchise cultivated a fanbase in subsequent releases despite the lack of critical acclaim. 23 years later, Wrong Turn is available to stream for free on Tubi in the U.S., and it’s once again making a mark.
Data from FlixPatrol shows that the film has seen significant success on Tubi in recent days, peaking at number four on the streaming service’s top ten movies. Wrong Turn is wrestling for the top position with movies like Taken 3, Madea Goes to Jail, and The Longest Yard. The slasher film launched the format that others in the franchise would follow: Set in the backwoods of America, a group of people find themselves in the wrong part of the country after taking a wrong turn. They encounter cannibalistic inbred mutants who hunt them individually for sport and food. There are seven movies in the franchise, with the latest one being released in 2021.
Is ‘Wrong Turn’ a Good Movie?
Andre Dellamorte reviewed the Blu-Ray version for Collider in 2009 and noted that the film felt uninspired. However, he lauded it for delivering on all the tropes. “The story follows the ‘Generic horror film blueprint’ to its end — the lower-credited characters die while the remaining cast winds up in a standoff against the mutants. Rob Schmitt — best known for his indie work on pictures like Crime and Punishment in Suburbia — directs the film with a certain speed, which is for the best, as it’s as derivative as it sounds,” Dellamorte wrote. He added:
“Because the film delivers the gore and all the tropes of a mutant hillbilly movie, it’s hard to hate it, though, and the gore is the most fascinating element of the movie—horror films are like musicals in that the plot is generally just there to set up the fancy numbers, and in this case those thrills are delivered as one character gets garroted, and another gets an axe through the mouth – allowing the rest of the body to fall off.”
You can watch Wrong Turn on Pluto in the U.S.
- Release Date
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May 30, 2003
- Runtime
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84 minutes
- Director
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Rob Schmidt
- Writers
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Alan B. McElroy
- Sequel(s)
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Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011), Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (2014)
- Franchise(s)
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wrong turn