Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is more loved by the UTG staff than Halloween. With the arrival of the year’s best month, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a plethora of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day, including the one you’re about to read.

Now in its third year, 31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring feature that will run throughout the month of October. The hope and goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween-themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home.

[Warning: the material within is likely NSFW]

Day 21: Wrong Turn (2003)

Just like cross-country roadtrips, the summer slasher is a timeless cornerstone of American culture, and that’s what makes Wrong Turn so great. While this isn’t the first horror film revolving around backwoods killers preying on lost and misled out-of-towners, it is definitely one of the most memorable among the bunch. The five sequels that have spawned from this 2003 production only prove that a roadtrip gone wrong remains to be one of our biggest fears.

The film starts off with a medical student named Chris making his way through the Virginia state highways en route to Raleigh, North Carolina when he decides to save time by taking a dirt path. Thanks to one of the many traps that had scattered the road, he almost immediately loses control of his car and crashes straight into an SUV, driven by a group of college kids who are on a hiking trip – because what other plot-point would logically fit into this plot in such a convenient way? Things escalate once they check out a nearby cabin in search of a phone to use, but are shortly discovered by some gruesome-looking cannibals. Considering the fact that the film has an 87-minute runtime, it’s crazy to think about how far things run from then and on.

For those who have become a little weary of slashers throughout the years, the cliches loaded throughout the movie should be enough entertainment in and of itself. You better believe the group splits up, you better believe a kill comes directly after a couple gets it on, and yes, you most definitely better believe there’s a surprise ending following the credits that alludes to an even bigger story. But that’s what makes Wrong Turn such a great pick; there’s something for everyone. Sure the genuine terror and gore-levels aren’t as heavy as some of the bigger franchises in the genre, but that’s what makes this all the more accessible for queasier crowds during any get-togethers.

Editorial written by: Adrian Garza
Last year’s Day 21 film: The Fly

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Adrian Garza

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