Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead  ★★★

THE Wrong Turn horror franchise is surprisingly consistent.

The first 15 minutes of Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead are pretty poor and it looked like being the worst entry.

But it slowly gathers momentum, building to a final act that is surprisingly effective.

I say surprisingly because the start is also marred by some atrocious special effects and makeup that don’t auger well.

Initially things also aren’t promising with the usual set-up of people wandering into deformed, cannibal hillbilly country in remote West Virginia (as you do).

Parts 1 and 2 aren’t particularly exploitative, but here in part 3 it takes roughly five minutes for one of the women to strip naked before ending up with an arrow through the eye.

But then the story switches to a prison and transfer of dangerous inmates by bus which is targeted by the flesh-eating family.

We end up with a bunch of prisoners who hate each other, a couple of guards and a random survivor from a previous attack forced to fight their way out of the backwoods.

It quickly becomes a fair bit of grisly fun and the acting is a notch above the norm. There is some humorous banter, inventive kills and gore for the fans.

Director and co-writer Declan O’Brien did enough things right to be handed the reins for parts 4 and 5.

Part 4 is also decent, but I’m yet to stumble into parts 5 or 6. Will keep you posted.