Just in time for the release of a second direct-to-video sequel, Fox Home Entertainment has released Wrong Turn on Blu-ray for the first time. But is the jump to high-definition worth it?

Like nearly every single horror film made before or after it, we are given the requisite group of beautiful young people, and then proceed to watch them get killed over 80-minutes. But while some horror films make a genuine attempt at making at least some of their characters likeable, the characters here are really not given much to go on outside of very one-dimensional traits. And sadly, it does not appear that any of the actors really give anything to the proceedings either. They just go through the motions of any typical horror film you can pick from a hat: they are either holding their breath to avoid being noticed, screaming, looking terrified, or running. And while the film is a brisk 84-minutes, it feels much longer because of how routine and by-the-numbers this movie feels.

But while the lack of acting and character dimensionality can be fun for someone walking into a film featuring Jason, Freddy or Jigsaw (or any number of his “apprentices” since the filmmakers refuse to bring him back to life) and waiting for their greatest hits number of grisly murders, the “mountain men” killers here have no personality. They have no finesse, and are barely even scary. They just lumber around, occasionally killing people with the likes of arrows and axes, and chase after the young people stupid enough to have gotten caught in their woods. They have zero development, and serve no real purpose outside of taking out the group of characters in the film one by one. I wanted to root for these villains like I would Jason or Freddy, but they never do anything worth cheering about. I could care less about them even more than the hastily written group of travelers.

What the “mountain men” do succeed at is having some really incredible makeup. The film was produced by the legendary Stan Winston, and it is clear right from the start that the audience is in for a treat with the special effects used to make these characters look the way they do. While they are frequently hard to see in some cases, the glances we do get at them provide for some of the sickest visuals I have seen in awhile. These three villains are simply disgusting by all counts. They did not necessarily make me want to throw up, but they were clearly created to be rather nightmarish. It is easy to tell exactly where all the emphasis and money went into when the film was created back in the early 2000’s.

Audio is fairly strong throughout, but not as punchy or as great as the video transfer. It too stays consistent throughout. Audio options are available in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound, and Spanish Dolby Surround Sound. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

• Commentary by Rob Schmidt, Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku – a fairly boring commentary with the director of the film and the two lead actors. They discuss the hardships in making the film, and offer a few trivia tidbits. Except no one really seems too involved in the discussion, other than Dushku, who sounds lively but still not too into it. Surprisingly, they keep talking almost right through the credits.
• Deleted Scenes (7:00) – one lengthy deleted scene that should have been incorporated more into the film (but was wisely cut), and two dealing with the same early death. Nothing incredible.
• Fresh Meat: The Wounds of Wrong Turn (9:25) – the strongest and longest of the features included on the disc. This featurette discusses how most of the creature and death effects were created, with interviews mainly comprised around Schmidt and effects master Stan Winston. Fascinating stuff, but a bit too short.
• Making of Wrong Turn (4:03) – standard making-of featurette, with footage from the film, and interviews with all the main cast and crew members.
• Eliza Dushku: Babe in the Woods (3:40) – short featurette discussing the prominence and importance of Dushku in the film. Features some behind-the-scenes footage, but mainly praises what a great actress she was on set.
• Stan Winston (4:40) – a reverent featurette on the effects master that may have just been a fun profile piece on his involvement in the film back in 2003, but feels a lot more important now after his death in 2008.
• Trailer (2:14) – standard trailer for the movie. Has a cool opening, and spends a lot of time ruining all the kills in the film, but is nothing too special.