Directing a prequel to Fox’s bloody series
In less than a decade, Three Finger, Saw-Tooth and One-Eye have had a good, gory run in the Wrong Turn franchise, picking off people who have strayed off the beaten path, snacking on reality show contestants and preying on hardened criminals. In Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, hitting DVD and Blu-ray this week, the series sheds some light on this trio’s origins…while giving you the bloodbath you’ve come to expect.
Declan O’Brien, of Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, returns to the director’s chair for this installment and we caught up to him recently in L.A.
Shock Till You Drop: After the release of the last entry, was there a push right away for another film? And were other ideas explored, other than a prequel?
Declan O’Brien: After Wrong Turn 3, I went off to make the cult classic Sharktopus, when I got back from that, I got a call from Fox saying, Hey, we want to do a horror film for next Halloween, Wrong Turn 4. I came up with an idea to realistically bring Three Finger, Saw-Tooth and One-Eye back, which was to do a prequel. So I pitched that and the story would begin in 1974 with the three mutants as kids and tell an origin story, then we’d pick up in 2003 and Fox liked that idea. It’s never been addressed in the other movies. It was addressed slightly in Wrong Turn, the title sequence is a bunch of paper clippings. I thought it was an interesting take to set it in the winter in a creepy sanitarium.
Shock: Was it refreshing to change up the environment and get out of the woods?
O’Brien: Shooting in the wild, it was minus 45 degrees with wind chill. [laughs] I was always looking to get back inside, because it was cold. But, when you’re in an enclosed environment, it gives you more opportunity for suspense. That’s what the movie benefits from. Plus, we lucked out and found a real sanitarium built in 1910 and filled with all of the equipment.
Shock: It was refreshing to see it was not shot at the Linda Vista hospital in downtown L.A. â a popular spot for âscary asylumâ movies.
O’Brien: [laughs] Yeah. We were up in Canada. Our hospital had a beautiful façade and looked like the Overlook Hotel in the middle of the winter.
Shock: Did the actors you find to play the younger mutants relish the brief time they had in the make-up?
O’Brien: One of the guys who plays young Three Finger is a 12-year-old kid. He did an amazing job and they had a blast. The older guys were all Winnipeg actors. The guy who plays older Saw-Tooth is also the guy who plays the orderly who gets killed at the beginning of the film. Another mutant actor did a dual role, too. I did that because it was really cost effective.
Oh yeah. Perfect example. The fondue scene. And that’s all practical. That’s an old magician’s trick where you have a table with a hole in it. The guy’s head is poking out and the body is fake. For Wrong Turn 3, I had a whole dummy made up for a guy who gets split in three. On this one, all of the CG is snow enhancement and light removal. The actors had fun getting their hands real dirty with this one.
Shock: That said, is there any blood left in the franchise to explore?
O’Brien: Definitely. You can pick up right where this one leaves off.
For trailers and images from the film, follow this link to our film database.
Source: Ryan Turek, Managing Editor
