Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on October 3, 2007, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
When I first reviewed Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, I cited director Joe Lynch’s palpable enthusiasm for the horror genre in general and this sequel in particular as a key element in raising it above the direct-to-DVD norm. And I’m far from the only one who noticed: On the Fox Home Entertainment disc’s More Blood, More Guts behind-the-scenes segment, his cast and crew also note how gung-ho Lynch was on the set, and it is observed that he didn’t at all seem like a first-time filmmaker. Lynch himself appears in this featurette with a fake blood splotch on his face, handing out compliments of his own (“He’s not a douche,” is how Lynch praises co-star Henry Rollins) and expressing his desire “to make the definitive Fango fan film.” Thanks for the shout-out, Joe, and we’d say mission accomplished.
Even more entertaining than More Blood is the Making Gore Look Good piece, which takes an up-close peek at how several of the film’s most splatterific moments were achieved. These include the opening murder, which nicely sets the film’s over-the-top tone, the “Snorri death” (shot using a body rig attached to the ill-fated character) and the blowing up of Gramps (Wayne Robson). After the latter blood bang is pulled off, the documentary camera catches Lynch chortling uncontrollably—yep, he loves this stuff, all right. A third featurette, On Location With P-Nut, is a quick montage of set footage spotlighting the filming of the “stump hump,” the crew’s term for the incestuous shagging between the brother and sister mutants.
Lynch gets to express his passion for the project, and how he pulled it off, in a commentary he shares with Rollins and female lead Erica Leerhsen. There’s the expected amount of laughing and joking but also plenty of hard production information, and even time spent discussing the subtexts of the horror genre and how they apply here. Fun trivia is disclosed (the agent on the phone in the opening sequence is voiced by Ratatouille’s Patton Oswalt), at least one on-set gross-out anecdote is related (it involves a maggot…yech) and Rollins admits that he’s never watched a reality TV show of the type his onscreen character hosts. The inevitable trials of low-budget production are addressed as well, as the Wrong Turn 2 team had to deal with frequent rain on location. As a result, there’s an overcast look to the disc’s 1.78:1 transfer that mutes the colors in the exteriors, while the hues become more vividly grotty inside the mutants’ assorted lairs and the blood and guts are good and red throughout. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio captures every scream and squish with crystal clarity.
A second commentary finds Turi Meyer and Al Septien delving into detail on their scripting on Wrong Turn 2, expressing a desire to confound expectations attached to the fright genre. While they acknowledge and appreciate Lynch’s additions to their scenario (and what he and his team pulled off on the limited budget), it’s also clear that the movie’s perversity began with this duo, who relate a very funny story about a Fox executive’s reaction to the “stump hump” bit. Believe it or don’t, they initially included one plot point that was considered too potentially troubling even for this push-the-limits project: Leerhsen’s heroine was supposed to be pregnant.
At the start of their track, Meyer and Septien recall the three separate ideas they first pitched for Wrong Turn 2, including one very similar to The Hills Have Eyes II. That was a sequel that got wrong what Wrong Turn 2 gets right, and the DVD provides a most in-depth exploration of how that was achieved.
