Wrong Turn 2: Dead End Information

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End is a 2007 American horror film directed by Joe Lynch and starring Erica Leerhsen, Henry Rollins and Texas Battle. It is a sequel to the 2003 film Wrong Turn, and was released on DVD on October 9, 2007. The film was commercially successful and received a positive response from critics.

Plot

Reality show contestant Kimberly is driving through the West Virginia back country searching for the location of her next project. While driving, she accidentally hits a teenager. She stops to check on him, but the teenager is revealed to be a cannibal, Brother, and bites her lips off. She attempts to escape, but runs into Three-Finger, who splits her in half with an axe. He and Brother drag her halves away.

Former U.S. Marine Colonel Dale Murphy (Henry Rollins) is hosting a survival reality game show in the West Virginia forest, with contestants including: promiscuous Elena (Crystal Lowe), wisecracking skateboarder Jonesy (Steve Braun), U.S. Marine officer and Iraq veteran Amber (Daniella Alonso), former high school football player Jake (Texas Battle) and a goth Nina (Erica Leerhsen). After Kimberly does not show up, the show's producer Mara (Aleksa Palladino) reluctantly takes her place.

When the game starts, Three-Finger kills Neil, one of the television crew. While Dale prepares the games, Three-Finger and another cannibal, Pa, attack and knock him unconscious. Nina and Mara find a log cabin in the woods. Mara enters the cabin to try to find a telephone as Nina follows her. While they look around the house, they hear the occupants return, so they hide in a bedroom. They witness a female cannibal, Ma, giving birth to a deformed baby. Her daughter, Sister, spots Nina and Mara in the bedroom, forcing the two to escape through the toilet pit. They run into the woods, but Mara is hit in the head by a thrown axe. Nina searches for the others as the cannibals collect Mara's body.

After showrunner M (Matthew Currie Holmes) and Elena have procreation, he returns to the RV as Elena stays by a lake. When Elena hears the cannibals, she starts to get dressed as Sister emerges from the bushes and slashes her to death with a machete. While M is in the RV, Pa and Ma hijack it. Pa attacks M and captured him. Meanwhile, Dale manages to escape, and battles Three-Finger. After a short fight, Dale shoots Three-Finger with a shotgun.

As Jake, Amber and Jonesy are eating some meat they found, Nina returns and tells her story. When Jake realizes it was Kimberly's leg they had been eating, he, Nina, Amber and Jonesy attempt to escape. Dale finds the old man from the first film in his cabin. The old man tells him how the cannibals' mutations were caused by inbreeding and effluent dumped in the river by the abandoned paper mill, and then reveals that he is their father and attacks Dale. After a brief skirmish, Dale kills the old man by blowing him up with a stick of dynamite. After finding the RV gone, the others run towards the woods and encounter Brother and Sister. After fighting the cannibals, Jake searches for Nina while Amber and Jonesy go for help. Jake rescues Nina from a pit, and they jump into the river to escape Sister.

Nina and Jake enter the mill and find a garage full of vehicles stolen from prior victims. They find the RV, and Jake enters it and witnesses M being decapitated on a live feed monitor inside. Jake and Nina attempt to leave but the cannibals, after they had murdered Amber and Jonesy in a trap, captured them. The abandoned mill is revealed to be the mutant's home. Jake is strung up and Nina is strapped to a chair with barbed wire. The mutants eat dinner, and force feed Nina.

Dale sneaks into the compound and distracts the cannibals. As the cannibals are searching for him, Dale manage to kill Brother and Sister with a dynamite attached to an arrow. He frees Nina and Jake, but is killed by Pa and Ma, who were incensed by the deaths of their children. Nina successfully escapes, but Jake wanders into a room fitted with an enormous tree debarker, where he is attacked by Ma and Pa. Nina returns to the mill and kills Pa and Ma by pushing them into the debarker. Jake and Nina find Kimberly's abandoned car and drive away. Meanwhile, by the river, Three-Finger is shown feeding the mutant baby with a finger and a bottle filled with polluted water. His cackle is heard as the credits roll.

Cast

• Erica Leerhsen as Nina Papas
• Henry Rollins as Dale "Bootleg Colonel" Murphy
• Texas Battle as Jake Washington
• Aleksa Palladino as Mara
• Daniella Alonso as Amber
• Steve Braun as Jonesy
• Matthew Currie Holmes as M
• Crystal Lowe as Elena
• Kimberly Caldwell as Kimberly
• Wayne Robson as Old Timer
• Ken Kirzinger as Pa
• Ashlea Earl as Ma
• Clint Carleton as Brother
• Rorelee Tio as Sister
• Jeff Scrutton as Three Finger

Production

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End began filming on May 29, 2006, and finished on June 30, 2006 in Vancouver, Canada. A one-minute teaser trailer was screened at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors in Chicago on February 25, 2007, and released online on March 2. A second teaser trailer, this time edited by director Joe Lynch, was shown at the WizardWorld convention in Los Angeles on March 18, and released on-line on April 2.

The first film stills were released to Fangoria, Dread Central, and Bloody Disgusting, quickly followed by the release of the official cover art, DVD details, and disc specifications. A month later it was announced that the film was accepted at the London FrightFest Film Festival and Austin's Fantastic Fest, and premiered on August 25 in the United Kingdom, and September 21, 2007 in the United States.

Soundtrack

The score soundtrack was composed by Bear McCreary.

Track listing

1. "Main Title" (3:39)
2. "Ultimate Survivalist Theme Song" (3:20) by Captain Ahab
3. "Dale for Dinner" (2:33)
4. "Birth of Baby Splooge" (3:04)
5. "Nina's Theme" (2:43)
6. "Mutant Cannibal Incest" (3:01)
7. "Into the Mill" (2:49)
8. "Arrow through Two Heads" (3:18)
9. "Dale Vigilante" (3:19)
10. "Hunting Dale" (3:40)
11. "Rescuing Nina" (3:04)
12. "Dale to the Rescue" (3:18)
13. "The Meat Grinder" (2:15)
14. "Baby Splooge Lives" (2:36)
15. "End Credits (Theme from Wrong Turn 2)" (3:39)
16. "Under Your Bones" (5:25) by Captain Ahab

Release

Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on October 9, 2007 in an Unrated version with extras that include commentary by director Joe Lynch, and actors Erica Leerhsen and Henry Rollins, a second commentary by writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien, a featurette on the making of the film, and the trailer.

Box office

The film debuted at number 9 on the Billboard Top DVD Sales chart, and has grossed $9 million on DVD sales, covering its budget of $4 million.

Reception

The film has received surprising good reviews for a horror film sequel, receiving acclaim from critics. It currently holds a 78% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.

Uncle Creepy of DreadCentral gave the film 8 out of 10 stars, stating that the film "is a hot ticket for some gore-soaked backwoods mayhem that gets even better with repeated viewings and lots of booze". Bloody-Disgusting stated that "what could have been a cheap and lazy cash-in turned out to be one of the year's better genre offerings".

At the Gérardmer Film Festival it won the "Best Direct-to-Video Film" award.