Le piège

After many of my friends recommended this to me, I figured I had to check it out, so I bought the (relatively) new Blu-Ray release, settled in for the night, and checked it out. To my surprise, Tourist Trap lives up to its hype and then some. One can see why it never became a huge mainstream success like, say, Jaws or Halloween, but it has all the makings of a cult classic.

The set up is nothing spectacular. In fact, it owes a lot of its plot to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and House of Wax (even more surprising, the 2005 remake of that film is more of a remake of Tourist Trap than the '53 film). What makes this one stand out from the then growing slasher genre is a sense of the surreal, the dreamlike, and the nightmarish. Attractive teens aren't just killed one by one by some creep in a mask. There's a lot more at play here than your average stalk 'n slash flick. By the last 20 minutes of the film, everything seems like a bizarre fever dream and hope is a thing of the past.

A lot should be said for Jocelyn Jones' wonderful performance - going from kind wallflower to woman in the process of a nervous breakdown. Chuck Connors is also terrific as Mr. Slausen, the owner of the titular Tourist Trap whose motives seem to always be up in the air. And yes, that's future Charlie's Angel, Tanya Roberts, as one of the other victims.

For those looking for something creepy and different, Tourist Trap delivers in spades. Perfect for a Halloween party or even for a kid's first horror film (it is rated PG after all).

"Tourist Trap", is a very unique and forgotten movie. Its definitely a weird one, its not for everybody. However, its pretty creepy and disturbing. Though some of the acting is poor, and its just flat out strange, it's original and creepy enough to keep you entertained.

During the late seventies and early eighties, Paramount Pictures began a streak of quality horror films paralleled only by the Universal Films of the thirties and forties. Exemplified by the Friday the 13th series, My Bloody Valentine, Silver Bullet, April Fools Day, Tourist Trap, and many others, these films, though headed by diverse directors, presented a singular atmospheric moodiness, attained through a mandated set of production techniques. As a result Paramount was able to consistently release films that seemed vaguely familiar in a comforting way, yet dealt with a wide variety of unique subject matters within the expansive slasher genre.

Tourist Trap evokes the carnival imagery of Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse, yet brings it within the guidelines of the Paramount Films from this era. The dark settings and unsettling mannequins and masks lend a scary non-human atmosphere to the film that belies it PG rating. The acting is consistently solid as can expected from Paramount films from this era. The characters are even likable, making their deaths all the more tragic and shocking when they inevitably occur, a rarity in the films of competing studios such as New World or Vestron during the same era, where deaths are treated as a comic or joyful event. Under-appreciated in its day, and nearly forgotten now, this film has truly withstood the test of time and has become a classic in the eyes of those who are lucky enough to revisit it. Do yourself a favor and pay a visit to this incredible "Tourist Trap".

I'm a bit late to the Tourist Trap party and I don't know what to wear. For years, I'd heard stories from my friends about how they'd seen this film when they were children on TV or at the video store (somehow, this nightmarish flick was rated PG!) and how much it had traumatized them. I'm in my 40's now, but I found myself equally as traumatized during portions of this movie.

The plot is simple enough. Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre mixed with House of Wax with a dollop of Carrie thrown in and you'll get the idea. This is a movie that builds and builds until you realize you're standing in the middle of someone else's nightmare. The atmosphere is filled with doom and gloom and escape seems impossible.

The score by Pino Donaggio is equally as odd as the narrative itself. His opening theme is, perhaps, a bit too playful and doesn't do much to conjure an oppressive mood, but once the film starts kicking it into high gear, the imagery and performances do that by themselves as Donaggio's score becomes more and more lyrical and rather beautiful. It's like trying to imagine Ennio Morriconne scoring Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It doesn't always fit, but it sure is beautiful and makes the film even more bizarre than it already was.

Acting wise, no one is any worse than your typical slasher film, but Jocelyn Jones does stick out as being a bit more interesting than the others. There's a slightly haunted quality about her that I really loved and you get the sense that, in some ways, she might be as lost and stuck in the past as the Chuck Connors character. Just look at the way she's dressed as compared to her friends. She looks like she's ready for Sunday school.

The ending itself is incredibly haunting and I don't think I'll be forgetting about that one for quite awhile.

Tourist Trap more than deserves your time.

There was a time, back before USA became the home of Emmy-award winning programming, when you could turn on the TV on a Saturday night and be treated to such highbrow programming as "Slugs," "Shock Waves," and the pervasively atmospheric creepfest, "Tourist Trap." Out of all the horror films I remember from my childhood, TT arguably left the most visible mark. As my family would gather around the TV and behold the spooky wonder of a house full of mannequins (my father was a fan of Chuck Connors as "The Rifleman"), I would go to my room and cower under the bed when things got too scary. For as much as this film (and others) frightened me, I was simultaneously drawn to the discomfort they produced. Scenes of a woman's face being turned into a plaster mask, a man impaled by a flying pipe, and a knife to the back of the skull left haunting marks on my neuroses that periodically popped up in the years that followed (during which, unfortunately, TT was near impossible to find on VHS).

Having 'grown up' considerably since that time, and recently revisiting the 'ol "Trap" on DVD, I must say it has lost only a smidgen of its ability to shock. As a child, I didn't pay as much attention to pacing (especially with commercial breaks inserted every 10 minutes) or acting quality, because the horrific events were amplified ten-fold in my eyes and mind.

Now, a lot of the acting seems over-the-top and amateurish (Connors, however, maintains a professional veneer throughout), and some scenes drag to the point where the subtitle "Just killing time" should be superimposed at the bottom of the screen. Granted, these are just minor quibbles from a fan/critic who has seen much worse instances of both these traits.

Though TT still maintains a sense of terror that builds as the film progresses, my downgraded impression of it has come from being exposed to "Carrie," "Halloween," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Psycho" and others that TT writer/director David Schmoeller liberally borrows from. However, he incorporates the killer-with-psychic-powers angle with great skill, careful not to overextend his homage to the point of parody, creating something genuinely offbeat as a result. As is properly cited on the DVD, the film branches off into different levels of insanity, to the point where kindly Mr. Slausen's (Connors) mannequins begin to resemble real live people...

Not a masterpiece but far from a waste of time, "Tourist Trap" is a montage of elaborate face-masks, creepy vocal distortion, atmospheric nights, and desperate, panicked emotion. One of the more notable sleepers in the annals of horror, for those with adventurous tastes.