Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

 2/4

Starring: Tom Frederic, Janet Montgomery, Tom McKay, Tamer Hassan, Gil Kolirin, Christian Contreras, Jake Curran, Charles Venn, Mac McDonald, Emma Clifford

Not Rated (probable R for Strong Violence/Gore, Pervasive Language and Brief Nudity)

Them murderous hillbillies are at it again!

The original "Wrong Turn" from 2003 wasn't a great horror flick by any means.  But it was efficient and contained enough visceral shocks and thrills to satisfy.  Despite the trailer being too violent for marketing purposes, it was able to generate five additional direct-to-DVD sales.  Not that that means much.  I mean, "Turbulence" generated a few sequels in name only.

It's Nate's (Frederic) last day on the job. He's worked as a prison guard to pay for law school, but now he's about to turn in the shield and hit the books.  But before he can do that, he has to oversee one last prison transfer.  They're the usual motley crew of psychos and lunatics: tough crime lord (Chavez) is planning an escape, the dim Neo-Nazi Floyd (Kolirin) is helping him, Willy (Vontreras) is an undercover federal marshal trying to stop them, Crawford (Curran) is a creepy car thief, and Brandon (McKay) is a former soldier who claims to have been falsely accused.  It seems to be going fine until Nate and his driver Walter (Venn) get run off the road by a broken down pickup.  Making matters worse is that the pickup is driven by a pair of cannibalistic mountain men with the intent on dining on their flesh.

With a movie like this, a lot depends on what you expect going in.  It would be foolish to expect a made for DVD sequel to achieve the level of craft and terror of something like "The Descent" (although the opening is a ripoff of the one Neil Marshall used).  But if you're looking for some cheap thrills and gobs of gore sautéed in stinky cheese, it's not half bad.  I won't says that it's good, because it isn't.  The characters spend far too much time arguing and pointing guns at each other than being chased or being sliced and diced.

The acting varies from adequate to awful.  Most of these people are just on hand to be picked off by the mutant.  Tom Frederic and Tom McKay are pretty good; they got me hoping that they would see the end credits alive (if not in one piece).  Tamer Hassan would be more threatening if his character wasn't such an idiot.  Gil Golirin manages to be both stupid and annoying.  Janet Montgomery, the lone female with more than a few minutes of screen time, is awful.  She can't act to save her life.  No pun intended.

"Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead" is what it is.  It takes no chances and has little interest in tying up every plot hole or making characters act consistently. It relies solely on its brand name and its gore.  Ironic then that it isn't successful on either front.

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