Given how outrageous and over-the-top the horror franchise is, it is surprising that Wrong Turn is based on a true story to some extent. With seven films to date, the Wrong Turn franchise has been something of a sleeper hit with horror fans. The first movie in 2003 follows a group of travelers who end up meeting in the West Virginia backcountry after a cannibal family sabotages their cars and leaves them vulnerable to being hunted. The original movie was the only installment to get a theatrical release; the rest were launched in a direct-to-video format.
Wrong Turn — Saw Tooth, One Eye, and Three Finger — got more of a backstory in future installments, with Wrong Turn 4 serving as a prequel to the series. The movie embraced the extreme gore and violence, with few characters surviving. Even with the outlandish ways the franchise evolved, the Wrong Turn series did originate at least a little bit in reality with the story of the Scottish murderer Sawney Bean.
Sawney Bean Legend Explained
The Scottish Legend Remains Unconfirmed
Sawney Bean was born Alexander Bean in 16th-century Scotland. Bean met a woman named "Black" Agnes who was already ostracized by society due to accusations of witchcraft. Together, the two were rumored to have created a large family — furthered through inbreeding — of 8 sons, 6 daughters, 18 grandsons, and 14 granddaughters.
Grave robbing, theft, murder, and cannibalism rumors followed Sawney and Agnes around, as they and their family were said to operate out of a cave and set traps to ambush travelers while they ed through the area. Finally, the Bean family was discovered, and an order was made by the King to arrest them and search their dwelling area; the search uncovered many stolen items alongside mass graves and human remains littering the cave's interior and surrounding area. The Wrong Turn villain inspirations were then captured and publicly executed.
While there have been some records of Sawney Bean, historians have found them to be largely inconsistent, and they cannot be proven factual.
Some sources state that these stories could all just be folklore and legend. While there have been some records of Sawney Bean, historians have found them to be largely inconsistent, and they cannot be proven factual. Wrong Turn, while not directly stated to be inspired by the tale of Sawney Bean and his family, takes a great deal from a very gruesome story that has aided in the franchise being a success with audiences for almost 20 years.
Wrong Turn Is One Of Many Movies Sawney Bean Inspired
Cannibal-Themed Horror Movies Have Drawn On The Legend
Throughout pop culture, there have been a significant number of works either directly or indirectly inspired by the Sawney Bean legend. Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre have a correlation to the rural incestuous family concept. Even in Attack on Titan, Hange makes a very direct reference by naming two of her Titan test subjects Sawney and Bean.
Novels, comics, and movies over time have also alluded to Bean by name, such as Hack/Slash, The Ballad of Sawney Bean, and Sawney: Flesh of Man. Even more broadly, most stories that feature a whole tribe of cannibals living in rural seclusion can be said to be Sawney Bean-inspired, since his legend is one of the best-known cannibal stories in Western folklore. This makes the Wrong Turn franchise just one more way that the story's disturbing legacy continues.
Wrong Turn Is Far From The Only Horror Movie Inspired By Real Events
Slasher, Serial Killer, And Even Supernatural Horror Movies Have Drawn From Real Life
The Wrong Turn's true story elements add another layer of horror to the movie regardless of how little they resemble what actually happened. This is a tactic used by a lot of horror movies as the claim or suggestion that they are inspired by real events adds more grounded terror to the story. In many cases, this resembles the case of Wrong Turn with small details being used to inspire a much different and largely fictional story.
Notable Movies Based On True Stories
Movies |
True Story Inspiration |
|---|---|
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) |
Serial killer Ed Gein |
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) |
Ted Bundy and Ed Gein |
The Exorcist (1973) |
Roland Doe |
The Amityville Horror (1979) |
The experiences of the Lutz family |
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) |
1970s deaths of people having nightmares |
Zodiac (2007) |
The Zodiac Killer |
While it might have been partially inspired by Sawney Bean, drew from real serial killers, like Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley, for the creation of the horror icon Leatherface. Though it is a much more grounded film, the Oscar-winning horror movie The Silence of the Lambs also drew from several real-life inspirations from various FBI serial killer investigations.
There are even supernatural movies that claim to be based on true stories. The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, and even Nightmare on Elm Street have all claimed to draw some inspiration from real life. There are even rare movies that stick very close to reality, such as David Fincher's Zodiac which is a heavily researched exploration of the investigation by police and journalists into the Zodiac Killer, the uncaught serial killer that terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s.
How Wrong Turn Differs From The True Story
The Modern Setting Gives Wrong Turn An Added Chilling Quality
As with a lot of those horror movies based on true stories, Wrong Turn seems unconcerned with sticking close to the truth and just delivering the most effective horror story that it can. This can immediately be seen through the fact that the movie is set in modern times rather than in 16th-century Scotland when Sawney Bean’s crimes took place. While the first movie might have taken inspiration from the legend of these centuries-long crimes, Wrong Turn makes it all the more terrifying through these changes.
The brutality of Bean’s murders and mutilations seem like something that could come out of a more barbaric time, but for Wrong Turn to show such grisly methods in the 21st century adds an eerie quality. It is as if the cannibals in the Wrong Turn movies have never evolved beyond the brutal ways of the past and they are a terrifying relic of time hiding out in the woods just outside of modern society.
The Wrong Turn movies also understand that a truly great horror movie killer needs a terrifying look. While Bean was always described as a fairly typical-looking man, the cannibals in the Wrong Turn movies are hideous mutants. It is an over-the-top design that adds an animalistic nature to the villains, making them appear inhuman and thus even more terrifying.
Wrong Turn
- Release Date
- May 30, 2003
- Runtime
- 84 minutes
- Director
- Rob Schmidt
Cast
Emmanuelle Chriqui
Jeremy Sisto
WHERE TO WATCH
Chris Flynn is en route to an interview when a car accident strands him in the West Virginia woods with a group of friends on a camping trip. Their plan to find help leads them deeper into the forest, where they discover a cabin inhabited by a grotesque family of cannibals. As night falls, Chris and his companions must use their wits and survival skills to evade the bloodthirsty residents.
- Sequel(s)
- Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort (2014)
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