The Wrong Turn

The Wrong Turn is an American horror film that was released in 2003 and directed by Rob Schmit.


By watching the opening scene of this film I was able to detect the visual and audio effects which are used to enable the feeling of tension ans suspence for the audience.


The scene started with an establishing shot, showing an isolated location of a huge forest. The camera then switched to a tracking shot filming a movement of the whole forest. This shot lead into a birds eye view, getting faster as the camera reaches the characters. The Camera stops with a birds eye view of two young adults climbing a rock face. This angle highlights the danger of the location, the fact that they are halfway up a rock face with no body else around.

The director adds a false scare to the scene by making the girl slip from the rock face, she manages to regain her place and trys to continue climbing. This is added to the scene so that the audience feel slightly relieved because they think the panic is over however, this isnt always the case... The girl also screams in this part, and the boy replys, "who are you screaming for, there's nobody around for 50 miles." again reinforcing the fact that they are in a vunerable and isolated location.
Stereotypically, the boy reaches the top first as males are though to be 'better' at everything. As the boy reached his destination he wanders of and the girl shouts for his help and tells him to stop being a "dick" as he is ignoring her and is no where to be seen. This futher emphasises that the film is intended for teenage viewers as that kind of language is used and associated with teenagers.


Anticipation is created for the audience in this seen as the boy is still no where to be seen or heard. The camera uses low and high angles to really demonstrate that she is a a vunerable girl stranded alone. Suddenly there is a large thud as the boys body falls on the groud, blood drips from the body and lands on the girls face, typically conveying a commen convention for horror films, blood! The audience dont know who or how the boy has been killed which adds tension and makes the audience feel nervous.


Close ups of the knife cutting the rope, the boys bloody face and the girls foot slipping are all all used to portray imprtant parts of the scene. By adding these it makes the scene more dramatic as the audience focus on the shot.


The camera is hand held when the girl is running away (a typical chase scene). This jolts the camera and creates the feeling of danger, the unknown and panic. This is a common effect used in the filming of horror movies.


In the opening of 'The Wrong Turn' it uses a variety of audio effects 'Orchestral' music is played, which are lingering string instrument sounds which create quite a sinister atmosphere. The music tempo picks up as the girl is being chased. At dramatic parts of the opening, loud drums are played to represent key sections; for example, the view of the blood on the boys face.  


There are many enhanced sound effects throughout the opening. For example, the sound of the blood dripping, the knife cutting the rope, the girls heavy breathing when she runs and the harness being pulled upwards. Each of these effects create the feeling of panic and desperation.


Overall I believe 'The Wrong Turn' is a very effective opening to a horror film, It contains a great deal of audio and visual effects which are used to create suspense and tension!