Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings opens in 1974 at a sanatorium in West Virginia, where three inbred mutants are being held by Dr. Ryan (Arne MacPherson), who is fascinated by their natural ability to not feel pain. These three patients escape from their confines, creating bloody mayhem in the hospital. The story then leaps ahead to 2003 where a group of college friends -- Daniel (Dean Armstrong), Sara (Tenika Davis), Claire (Samantha Kendrick), Kenia (Jenny Pudavick), Vincent (Sean Skene), Lauren (Ali Tataryn), Bobby (Glen Thompson), Bridget (Kaitlyn Wong), and Jenna (Terra Vnesa) -- go for a winter’s excursion in the snowy West Virginia wilderness for a weekend of fun at a secluded cabin. On the way there, they make a wrong turn (aha!) and are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned hospital. They search the building and then make themselves at home, planning to leave the next morning once the storm has passed. But, little do they know that the three mutants still live in the facility and they are always looking for fresh meat.

I’ve stated before that it’s my personal policy to try and say at least one nice thing about every movie that I review. In the case of Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, it is an improvement over Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. That low-budget affair only one had mutant stalking the victims, while we get three this time.

Now, having said that, I didn’t expect much from a movie called Wrong Turn 4: Blood Beginnings, but I was shocked by just how bad this movie is. Let’s start with the title. Being a prequel, the title implies that this movie will go back to the beginning, before Wrong Turn, and tell us where these mutants came from. Well, it doesn’t. We get a brief opening sequence in which we see the three young mutants in a cell and we hear Dr. Ryan explaining that they were found and brought there. He also mentions that they have “congenital analgesia”, and the because of their mutations, they don’t feel pain. This idea, which sounds like a seed being planted, never comes up again in the movie. We don’t see their parents, family, or anything. They simply run amok in the hospital and then the scene shifts to 2003, which is obviously meant to imply that the action is taking place just before the events of Wrong Turn. But, the thread between the two films is tenuous at best, and the whole “prequel” angle is merely a cash-in tactic.

The “script” by O’Brien makes lazy an art form. The poorly-drawn characters jump on snowmobiles for a vague weekend in the country and in no time end up at the sanatorium. The movie makes no attempt to explore this any further. Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings presents us with yet another hospital which is simply abandoned with all of the furniture, instruments, and patient files left behind. Trust me when I say, this doesn’t happen in real life. Once the kids enter the place, we get one scene after another of the characters wandering up and down poorly-lit hallways waiting to get slaughtered. The movie loses any credibility which he may have had in the opening scene when we are forced to ask, “Why is barbed wire just laying around in a hospital?” The movie tries to cover up these issues with really pushing its “Unrated” label by ramping up the gore and nudity. However, this grows very tedious very quickly and the fast-forward button really gets a workout.

The notion of exploring the hillbilly origins of the characters seen in Wrong Turn was an interesting one. Unfortunately for us, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings dispenses with this idea and brings us a movie which is derivative and uninspired. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but this movie is pointless and a complete waste of time. My only positive comment came during the opening scene, where I stated, “Well, at least she didn’t get raped.”

Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings shows that vehicular sabotage isn’t just for the well-educated on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 28 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing on overt grain and no defects from the source materials. Some scenes take place against a snow-white background and those show no obvious defects, while producing nice depth. The image is never overly bright, but there were a few scenes which were a touch too dark. The level of detail is acceptable. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are well-done, as they show nice detail and separation. The subwoofer effects stand out during the action scenes, but they don’t drown out the dialogue. However, the surround sound is lacking, which is sad, as the enclosed spaces of the hospital should have produced good rear speaker action.

The Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings has a surprising number of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Writer/Director Declan O'Brien. "Director's Die-ary's (sic)" (8 minutes) is on-set video footage shot by O'Brien, which shows the cast and crew at work. "Making Another Wrong Turn" (13 minutes) somewhat brief featurette which contains comments from the filmmakers and actors and a variety of on-set footage. We learn that the movie was shot in 19 days and the challenges of making a low-budget movie. The piece looks at the cold shooting conditions, the monster masks, the gore, and the stunts. We learn about the creepy history of the shooting location in "Lifestyles of the Sick and Infamous" (5 minutes). The Disc contains thirteen DELTED SCENES which run about 18 minutes. Finally, we get a MUSIC VIDEO from Blackout City Kids.