James Downing is an actor known for his role in Wrong Turn (2003), where he navigates the treacherous terrain of a backwoods nightmare. Though his filmography is sparse, Downing's performance in this cult horror film captures the raw tension and desperation that defines the genre. Set against the backdrop of the Appalachian wilderness, Wrong Turn immerses viewers in a world where survival instincts are pitted against primal terror, a theme that resonates throughout the exploitation cinema landscape.
Wrong Turn
College students Rich Stoker and Halley Smith are rock climbing in a remote forest of West Virginia. When Rich reaches the top, he is suddenly murdered before he can help Halley up. Someone begins to yank Halley up the cliff, forcing her to cut the rope and fall to the ground. She attempts to escape but is caught in a line of barbed wire and pulled back into the woods, screaming. Three days later, medical student Chris Flynn drives through the mountains of Greenbrier County on his way to an interview. When a traffic jam is caused by a chemical spill, he stops at a gas station to ask for directions from an elderly man and decides to go down a different route which he finds on the gas station's map. He collides with a flat tired SUV. The vehicle belongs to a group of youths on a camping trip: Jessie, Carly, Scott, Evan and Francine. The group soon realize that their tire puncture was not an accident as Jessie finds a strip of barbed wire tied to a tree. Evan and Francine stay to watch the cars while the others go to find help, but both of them are murdered by a figure in the woods. The remaining group find an isolated cabin and go inside to use the phone, horrified to find human body parts in the house. They are forced to hide inside when the occupants return home. Three cannibalistic inbred mountain men Three Finger, Saw Tooth and One Eye enter the cabin with Francine's corpse and the hiding group watch as her body is dismembered and eaten. After the cannibals fall asleep, the group attempts to escape but their captors awaken and chase them in the forest. The group find cars left from previous victims and try to make up an escape plan. Chris gets shot in the leg while trying to distract the cannibals, Scott attempts another diversion for the other three to escape but gets killed with arrows. Jessie, Carly, and Chris stumble upon an old watchtower with an old radio and try to call for help. The cannibals arrive and are alerted when the radio starts responding to the group's call. Unable to get inside, the attackers set the tower on fire. The protagonists escape by jumping out and into the trees, triggering a chase in which Carly is decapitated by Three Finger. Chris pulls a branch while Jessie lures the attacker for the former to release it, knocking him down. Jessie and Chris flee and hide in a cave until morning. The cannibals find them, pushing Chris down the hill and taking Jessie back to their cabin. Chris survives the fall and meets a police officer, but the officer is killed by Saw Tooth, who shoots him in the eye with an arrow. Chris hitches a ride underneath the truck as it is driven back to the cabin by Saw Tooth. Chris then drives the vehicle into the building and proceeds to fight the cannibals after freeing Jessie. They escape as Chris kills the cannibals by blowing up the cabin. The pair then drives out of the forest in the cannibals' pickup truck and stumbles upon the gas station nearby; Chris takes the map to prevent others from the same wrong turn before he and Jessie leave. In the credits scene, a deputy sheriff who had received the radio call earlier investigates the remains of the destroyed cabin. Laughing insanely, Three Finger, who survived the explosion, rises and kills the deputy.
