Wrong Turn Reboot Gets R Rating

The new reboot of the backwoods slasher Wrong Turn aims to honor the brutality of its source material and has officially earned an R rating from the MPAA. The film, which a previous poster hinted would be titled "Wrong Turn: The Foundation," earns its R rating due to "strong bloody violence, grisly images, and pervasive language." Despite reboots often being frowned upon by horror fans, the new installment in the franchise was written by series creator Alan B. McElroy, while Mike P. Nelson (The Domestics) has been tapped to direct. There are currently no confirmed release plans, but the film earning a rating bodes well for its release.

When the film was confirmed to be moving forward back in 2018, it was described as a "timely and topical meditation on society and its issues. A cross-country hiking expedition puts a group of friends in the land of an inclusive society, where they soon discover they are under a different rule of law, and may not be the victims they thought they were."

According to Bloody Disgusting, the film stars Matthew Modine (Stranger Things, 47 Meters Down), Damian Maffei (The Strangers: Prey at Night, Haunt), Bill Sage (Hap and Leonard), Emma Dumont (The Gifted), Valerie Jane Parker (Greenleaf), Chaney Morrow (Haunt), and David Hutchinson (American Horror Story).

The film will also star Dylan McTee, Adrian Favela, Adain Bradley, Jeremy Ambler, Cory Scott Allen, Gary Ray Stearns, Rhyan Elizabeth Hanavan, Vardaan Arora, Mark Mench, Joshua Stephen Campbell, Jennie Malone, Brian James Fitzpatrick, and Mark Angel.

In the original 2003 Wrong Turn, a group of friends go on a road trip through West Virginia and are diverted from their course due to a chemical spill. The friends then fall victim to a clan of mutated, cannibalistic killers, who pick them off one by one. The original film would go on to earn five subsequent installments, which included two sequels, two prequels, and one standalone film. The most recent entry, Wrong Turn 6: Bloodlines, debuted in 2014.

The horror genre has often explored stories of characters who embark on road trips which go horribly wrong, from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Hills Have Eyes to House of 1000 Corpses. Given the inherent trepidation people have of road trips and the locales they might find themselves stuck in, the Wrong Turn franchise has long heightened that fear to an intense degree, with this new take on the matter possibly bringing with it more themes of the fear of an "other" in unfamiliar territory.

Stay tuned for details on Wrong Turn: The Foundation.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!