Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings - DVD

Movie: Nine years have passed since Eliza Dushku took a wrong turn with her friends in the hit horror-slasher Wrong Turn and was chased through the remote Virginia woods by a group of deformed backwoodsmen. Now, three parts later, viewers are taken back to the bloody beginnings of the bloodthirsty family. The three men, completely disfigured by several generations of incest, were once inmates in a remote sanitarium where doctors performed horrible experiments on them. But one day they were able to break out and free the other patients, who then took to the woods to make their escape. Years later, the clinic seems to be completely abandoned. A group of teenagers, who actually want to go on a carefree ski trip, find shelter in the old walls. What at first looks like an exciting adventure that can be lightened up with partying and sex, soon turns into an extremely bloody nightmare for the young people. For not all of the former inmates have actually left the sanatorium.

After the very poor third installment, Wrong Turn 4 is definitely a much better and more entertaining entry to the series again. Admittedly, the class of the first film and also the completely over-the-top humor of the second part is not reached at any moment. Nevertheless, the setting of the abandoned sanatorium alone offers enough atmosphere to keep the inclined genre fan happy. The fact that the characters are merely walking clichés and the story itself has dozens of logic holes isn't really a bad thing in a movie like this. After all, this sequel does have a suspenseful underlying mood, some fairly amusing moments, and a few good showstoppers.

In itself, Wrong Turn 4 from director Declan O'Brien, who has directed such masterpieces as the legendary Sharktopus, would thus be a thoroughly fun horror film, which can console with nasty effects over the sometimes still very poor story. Unfortunately, it was once again decided that adult horror fans from Germany can not tolerate too much blood, which is why the film only got the blessing of the FSK after the removal of almost 5 minutes. And even if the cuts were made very carefully especially at the beginning and are only disturbing to a limited extent, the whole thing takes on very annoying forms towards the end. Especially the finale was cut in such a way that the viewer is suggested a happy ending that actually doesn't exist. Because where the movie ends in Germany, it actually continues with a rather amusing-bad twist. The absurdity of this cut is that there was a very similar ending already in another genre film from the recent past, which got the 18 blessing of the FSK in uncut version.

While Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings still has quite decent entertainment value even in the cut version. But for most Wrong Turn fans, the missing moments are likely to be such a horror that purchasing this DVD won't even be considered. But if you're not too annoyed by some carefully made and some unfortunately drastic cuts, you can at least safely pick up the rental version. For the film is well worth seeing in some of the moments untouched by the cuts!

Picture + Sound: The atmospheric setting of the haunted sanatorium and the snowy landscape surrounding it comes across well on the DVD. Sharpness levels and contrasts are at a good level. The color scheme also does a good job of emphasizing the gritty, bloody atmosphere of the film. The same goes for the sound as well, though the German dts track does a better job of showcasing the coherent ambient sounds and various sound effects. Good.

Extras: The DVD has some nice extras to offer. Starting off is just under 17 minutes of cut scenes. Most of these extra moments are limited to the protagonists wandering the corridors of the sanitarium. Really, the only interesting part is the extended opening sequence, which gives a little more insight into the history of the killers.

Continues with a standard making of (approx. 12 min.) and a slightly more interesting short documentary about the shooting in a real former sanatorium (approx. 5 min.). Some short video diaries of the director shot for the internet (altogether approx. 7 min.) offer additional insights into the shooting. A rather inconsequential music video (approx. 3 min.) as well as further program tips from the provider round off the decent bonus package.

Conclusion: Wrong Turn 4 Bloody Beginnings is definitely a significant increase in quality compared to part 3. The severe cuts in the German version, however, cloud the bloody pleasure just towards the end noticeably. Since the cuts were made very carefully especially at the beginning, the film is still just worth watching for fans of the series. The decent technical realization and the clear, but entertaining extras confirm this impression still.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp