Zane Blackwood, who thought of himself as a pretty low-key and careful guy, had already seen two street shootouts in just two months.
The first time, he and his lawyer, Martha, were driving back from buying his bank. Three police cars were chasing a van full of bad guys, and a full-on gunfight started on the freeway. It was less than 150 meters away from Zane's car! He'd never seen anything like it. All he could do was mutter, "What the hell..."
The second time was even crazier: a school shooting.
"Darn it," Zane had grumbled. "I just went to play some basketball with James, and I stumble into this mess?"
He later learned it was because a poor high school kid had been bullied so badly that he finally snapped, bought a shotgun for less than $300, and... well, it was a total tragedy.
The old internet memes were true.
Seeing two gunfights in such a short time made Zane realize something very important: Money is great, but life is priceless.
He decided, reluctantly, to hire bodyguards. He ended up hiring two men:
Marcus "Ace" Johnson, 35.
Frank "Deuce" Miller, 30.
Both men were former U.S. Army Rangers and were total pros. They were the best of the best. Zane knew he could have hired other people, but he just felt safer having these two seasoned veterans around.
Of course, they were very expensive. But for the sake of his own life, Zane was more than happy to pay the bill.
Lately, Zane had been incredibly busy. The release of his new movie, Wrong Turn, was almost here!
"Boss, we're two days away from the release," his CEO, Victor, reported. "Our ad budget is only $1 million, so we're focusing all our ads in these last few days. The results are looking really good so far."
Zane nodded, pleased. "Good. It's a low-budget movie. We don't need to spend a ton of money on ads. That's not a smart way to grow our company."
Wald Pictures had really grown up. It was now a solid, mid-level Hollywood studio. Its "distribution network" (its ability to get its movies into theaters) now covered six whole states. This made it stronger than many of its competitors.
"Getting 820 screens for our opening day is an amazing achievement, Victor," Zane said, giving him a big thumbs-up.
He had every reason to be confident. With a good, scary movie and that many screens, he knew Wrong Turn was going to do great during the Halloween season.
...
In a dorm room, a college freshman named Scott was browsing the internet when he saw a poster for Wrong Turn.
"Hmm, Wrong Turn?" he wondered. "Judging by this poster, is this a real, hardcore slasher movie?"
He looked closer at the poster: the creepy old cars, the bloody barbed wire, the scary cabin, the axe...
A thrill ran through him. Scott loved scary slasher movies. This one looked perfect.
"This looks pretty good," he decided. "I'll have to check it out on opening day."
...
On a Horror Movie Fan website
"Hey, has anyone heard of Wrong Turn?" "Wald Pictures... I feel like I've heard that name before?" "Haha! George, of course you have! Remember that crazy movie Hard Candy we saw a couple of months ago? That was from Wald Pictures." "Darn it, John, do you have to bring that up?!" "Of course I do! I still remember when that girl in the movie did... that... you jumped right out of your seat! I thought you were gonna pee your pants!" "Alright, alright! If you drop it, I'll buy your ticket for Wrong Turn, deal?" "Deal! We can call Sally and Jenny and all go together."
It was true. Hard Candy hadn't been a giant blockbuster, but its weird, shocking story had made it a "cult hit." All those fans were now super excited to see the next movie from Wald Pictures.
...
The movie was set to premiere on October 11th, and Zane was feeling great.
"For this whole Halloween season," he thought, "the only real competition is one movie, The Nightmarcher. Besides that, who else is there to be afraid of?"
He was right. All the other big, famous horror movies (like Halloween or Scream) weren't coming out this year. Zane couldn't be happier.
...
Soon, the two days flew by.
On the premiere day for Wrong Turn, Zane's company didn't throw a big, fancy, red-carpet party. Instead, they just rented out one theater in Los Angeles and invited the actors and the crew to watch it together and celebrate.
Joaquin Phoenix, the movie's star , was there. Adriana Lima, who played the female lead , was also there. And the movie's director, M. Night Shyamalan, got an especially warm welcome from Zane himself.
"Of course I'm being nice to him," Zane thought, smiling at his new director. "I'm counting on him to direct The Sixth Sense for me next. That's going to be one of the biggest movies of 1999! If he doesn't make it, I don't know if I can pull it off by myself."
With all his big, exciting plans brewing, Zane sat back and watched as the first movie in his new Wrong Turn series finally began.
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