joe lynch Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Obviously I'm one of those people who does NOT believe that violent films cause violent behavior, but I just caught wind of a strange little story from Australia that adds an interesting new angle to the discussion. You can read the full story right here, but the basic gist of it is this: Six underage inmates at an Australian juvenile detention center (two of which were there for sex-related offenses) were treated to a screening of the slasher sequel Wrong Turn 2: Dead End -- a flick that, yes, contains all sorts of nasty violence, casual nudity, and graphic sequences of cannibal-mutants in the act of (ahem) coitus.

Now, as much as I love the horror flicks, I doubt I'd play Wrong Turn 2 for any 14-year-old-types, let alone some kids who've been incarcerated for seriously anti-social behavior. But apparently one of the facility's recreation officers thought it was perfectly acceptable to show the nasty horror flick to a bunch of (at least somewhat) unbalanced youths. Needless to say, several Aussies are calling for the officer's dismissal. They also seem to be annoyed that the DVD was rented with taxpayers' money, but that seems a rather minor infraction, all things considered. (DVDs are pretty inexpensive and all.)

Wrong Turn 2 director Joe Lynch was a little snarky when he told Dread Central: "Although it seems that the unfortunate individuals involved have an impeccable taste in horror films, this was never intended to be shown in ANY correctional facility to emotionally fragile minds. Please be warned, Wrong Turn 2 could influence one to engage in uncontrollable fits of cannibalism or mutant diddling and is not meant for the easily impressionable ... or served with vegemite." But when I told the guy I wanted a slightly more serious response to the story, he told me this: "Films like Wrong Turn 2, as fun as they are intended to be, are extreme in their entertainment and honestly, shouldn't be shown to overly impressionable minds, especially in a government-run location like a correctional facility or a school. That seems pretty obvious to me."

For your mid-week movie nourishment:

• Earlier this month, Christopher Campbell posted that Latinos were protesting Ken Burns' latest documentary. Burns, who is the PBS powerhouse that brought us Jazz and Civil War has been working on The War, a documentary that details the WWII as told the residents of 4 towns. Yesterday, the filmmaker agreed to re-cut the documentary to include the war contributions of Latino and American Indian service members. At first, PBS declared that they would make an add-on for the film about the efforts of these groups. Now, it will be fully incorporated with the help of Hector Galan, who has produced PBS docs including Chicano! History of the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement. The pair have to to hurry -- the DVD deadline for the film is this June, so they've got to conduct interviews, write, shoot and re-edit the documentary.
• Korean actress Moon So-Ri is the latest woman to sign on to The Best Moment of Our Life, the upcoming film by Yim Soon-rye. The feature, which has already signed on Kim Jeong-eun, Kim Ji-young and Jo Eun-ji, is about the Korean women's handball team while they were at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Moon will play the headstrong lead player of the team and Jeon-eun will be the team's leader. The team made it to the finals, defeating Brazil and France, before losing the gold to Denmark with a score of 38-36. The actresses have their work cut out for them -- before shooting, they will have 3 months of handball training, and the film is still planned to be released later this year.
• Years ago, my dad and I were sitting around at a wedding, musing over what my one-day wedding would entail. King Crimson was going to be the band, and Henry Rollins was going to officiate, of course. Unfortunately, I didn't think to write a sequel to a horror movie and schmooze the singer-writer-performer-actor in time, and Joe Lynch has stolen the idea. It seems that Rollins had a great experience with Lynch during the filming of Wrong Turn 2, and when the director asked, he couldn't say no. Fie! Rollins, if you're reading, what could I do to schmooze you? I'll accept you heading the nuptials, or being the man to slip the ring onto my finger.
  

The 2003 horror flick Wrong Turn pretty much came and went without much in the way of praise, hatred or attention in general. But Rob Schmidt's "woodbound mutants" chiller really does get better with repeat viewings, which is the only reason I'm even half-interested in Fox's upcoming Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. Intended for a direct-to-video release some time later this year, the sequel promises something I've wanted to see for years: Raving monster-men devouring the contestants of a reality TV show! (Check out the new (and NSFW) trailer over at Bloody-Disgusting.)

The director (Joe Lynch) might be a first-timer, but he's got help from screenwriters Turi Meyer and Al Septien, the duo who gave you Leprechaun 2 and Candyman 3 -- horror sequel masters if ever there was a pair. The cast is also well-steeped in the realm of horror: Leading lady Erica Leerhsen caught a brutal demise in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Henry Rollins recently slogged through Feast, Texas Battle got sliced up in Final Destination 3, Daniella Alonso will soon be seen in The Hills Have Eyes 2, and Ken Kirzinger ... well heck, he played Jason Voorhees!