"U-Turn" is literally what we wanted to do while watching the film because it was simply a waste of time and brain cells. Outside its slick production, surprisingly clean visual effects, and an effort-filled performance from Kim Chiu, there is nothing to rave about the film.
Donna (Kim Chiu) is a desperate reporter who hasn't had her big break ever since she started working at the Daily Journal. The Daily Journal itself has been struggling and is targeting sensationalized stories to ramp up its viewership. When Donna is accidentally assigned to cover a freak motorcycle accident at a secluded u-turn slot, she immediately grabs the opportunity. Her story goes viral and soon she concentrates on spreading lies and rumors about the recent suicides happening in the metro just to get another viral scoop. But Donna's luck runs out and gets a taste of her own medicine as her brother apparently committed suicide which she vehemently denies and doesn't believe in. Soon she notices a pattern on the suicides with all of the deaths originating to the u-turn slot she covered weeks ago. The deeper she goes into the rabbit hole, the more she uncovers the supernatural truth to the mystery.
What a complete disaster. "U-Turn" was the kind of the film that has no redemptive qualities at all. The story itself was a literal mess. Not even getting into the predictable nature of its narrative, the writing was just laughably bad with the characterization as our biggest issue. With the main character of Donna making silly and bad choices constantly. For example, she grabs a necklace from a crime scene and wears it without rhyme or reason and the film never explains why. She also constantly tampers with evidence like she has no conscience at all. We get that the story was pushing her to be desperate for success but its crazy how she repeatedly lacked any remorse towards the living and the dead long after her redemptive arc was already happening. Another issue we had was the logical loopholes in the film. For example, Donna's work at the Daily Journal just disappeared from thin air midway through the film - with that setup being a huge part of the film's first half and her life - it was obviously written out of the story out of convenience. Another red flag for the film was the lack of any horror. Let's just say "U-Turn" employs very typical methods that most viewers would have grown accustomed to already. Some may say that this was adapted from another film of the same name and shouldn't be faulted for its bad quality. But who are we really fooling by believing this statement? Why adapt a bad film in the first place? Why can't you can change the story to be better? If we're really pushing for positives, Kim Chiu was surprisingly good in the film. She gave effort and that counts. But that effort also meant that there were scenes that came out hilarious like the time she was having a shouting match with a u-turn slot. The visuals and overall production came off as great. Minus the disappointing make-up of the antagonist, we couldn't really see any problems with its effects. Sadly, the film lacked any consistency from its story, to its characters and to its frights. With "U-Turn" bringing more hilarity than terror and feeling more like a story designed television, this is one horror film you should avoid as much as possible.
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