The inbred cannibal mountain man clan from the “Wrong Turn” series is back with a new tale in “Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines”. This time out the story centers around five college students who descend upon the West Virginia town of Fairlake for a music festival. Unfortunately for them, the festival is held in the same vicinity as the murderous cannibal clan. This the group is headed by Maynard (Douglas Bradley), who horror fans will know best from his iconic turns as Pinhead in the “Hellraiser” series.
When an accident incarcerates the students and Maynard in the local Sheriff’s office, the sheriff discovers that Maynard has an outstanding warrant for his past crimes and is instructed to hold him until the federal marshals arrive in the morning.
Maynard insists that doing so would be an automatic death sentence for all, as his boys will stop at nothing to ensure his freedom. Naturally the small-town sheriff despite being low on staff due to the music festival decides to stand her ground. As if on cue the power goes out and Maynard’s boys wreck havoc on those few people left in town as most of the towns folks have taken in the festival off-site.
Wave after wave of deadly traps are set which soon finds the heroes ranks diminished by the bloodthirsty clan who will stop at nothing to ensure the freedom of Maynard.
As with most horror films the movie does require a considerable amount of suspension of reality and common sense in order for it to function. One would have to wonder how, in the event of a power blackout in town the nearby festival has more than enough power to continue functioning without a hitch. One would also have to wonder why deputies assigned to the festival would not be checking in with the Sheriff at regular intervals and when they were unable to do so might raise the alarm or at least return to investigate.
As I said earlier for the film the function one is not supposed ask questions of this nature. Instead the film is one of the better efforts in the series which I am pleased to say rejuvenated itself with the release of last year’s prequel.
The killings were a good mixture of gruesome and creative without being overly gratuitous as some people have complained about previous films in the series.
Outside of Bradley, the cast are largely unknown, save for Roxanne McKee who fans may know from her appearances on Game of Thrones.
Writer-director Declan O’Brien who successfully helm the previous films series clearly has an affinity for the subject matter and does not try to do too much in the way of changing a successful formula aside from putting this film in the town rather than in some rural backwoods.
The picture and sound quality were extremely sharp which added to the enjoyment of the film especially during some of the more intense moments. The film moves along at a solid pace and though there are not a lot of surprises in it it is entertaining despite the constraints of logic which I’ve mentioned previously.
The ending sets up a new installment well and I for one look forward to seeing what the series has in store the next time around.
Fans of the series will want to add this to their collection, and if you’re a casual fan it’s definitely worth a look for those looking for the next horror fix.
