Wrong Turn; 28 Days Later

Director Rob Schmidt calls Wrong Turn ”a ’70s-style horror film like The Hills Have Eyes or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” He wishes. Sure, Schmidt follows the form, stranding six interchangeable twentysomethings in the woods, then bringing in some deformed cannibals to carve them up. But there’s not a surprising — or scary — moment in his rote film. By contrast, 28 Days Later an end-of-civilization thriller about a handful of ”uninfected” people staving off the murderous victims of a man-made ”rage” virus, features tough, vulnerable characters to root for and echoes old faves like The Day of the Triffids and The Omega Man. Where Wrong Turn lamely goes through the motions of the horror genre, 28 Days Later provocatively transcends it. EXTRAS A making-of doc and ”Fresh Meat: The Wounds of Wrong Turn,” featuring outtakes of a barbed-wire garroting; 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle’s much-discussed alternate ending — plus two more! Wrong Turn: D+ 28 Days Later: A-