Tourist Trap (1979)

According to It Came from the 80s!: Interviews with 124 Cult Filmmakers, Tourist Trap was originally going to be directed by John Carpenter. However, co-writer J. Larry Carroll was unhappy with how much he wanted, so he nominated his writing partner David Schmoeller (Puppetmaster and the movie that led to Please Kill Mr. Kinski, Crawlspace) to direct. Along the way, they brought in Charles Band to produce and he demanded that there be telekinesis in the movie. Why? Who knows!Eileen (Robin Sherwood, Death Wish II), Woody, Becky (Tanya Roberts, The Beastmaster), Jerry and Molly are traveling crosscountry when Woody's car breaks down. He enters a deserted gas station but is soon killed by a metal pipe thrown by a mannequin that comes to life. This scene is frightening in its shuddery intensity and it's not the half of the wildness that this film is ready to attack you with.As the rest of the gang arrive, they decide to go skinny dipping - as you do. That's when they meet Mr. Salusen (Chuck Connors, TV's The Rifleman and one of only 12 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played both Major League Baseball and in the National Basketball Association), who matter of factly chats them up while they're all nude.Soon, the tourist trap lives up to its name, with mannequins coming to life, a man with a mask chasing everyone and someone yelling, "We're having a party! Your world is dark." Yes, Tourist Trap is a veritably insane film, one that departs nearly instantly from anything approaching reality. There's talk of twin brothers, the modern world destroying old fashioned businesses and oh yeah - people being turned into wax figures.The strangest part is that Slausen is able to make the dead alive and the alive dead, sometimes within the same scene. And somehow, this film was given a PG rating. Seriously - this is one of the darkest, most depraved PG films I've seen since, well, The Baby. There's never been a movie like this one, before or since, and that's a shame. But it's also a big reason for you to watch this.

This 1979 horror film tells about a group of friends that have car trouble and stay the night at a deserted, roadside museum where a psychotic, doll-maker stalks them. This is an odd horror flick that sort of shares similarities with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "House of Wax." Chuck Connors (The Rifleman) is featured and is great in this. I'd probably watch this at least once if you're into masked-killer type horror flicks.

I heard some praise for this "horror" movie for its visuals, setting, and mystery. Wanting a good scare I decided to watch it. The presentation does fulfill the expectations I had. This movie has the motifs of claustrophobic uneasiness in a sparse population, unnerving helplessness, and ambiguities regarding the tourist site host. It is not original but that is not a bad thing. The procedure of murder is similar to "House of Wax," the setting is in secluded place like many dark house horror movies, and it has the gritty aura of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Many wonder why this movie is so underrated and in my opinion it is underrated because despite all of its horror movie elements it was really boring. I did not get scared and it ended up being a search game for the qualities I expected from a horror movie. It fulfilled the expectations of why it should be scary but was ironically not scary. I am not trying to prove that I am super brave and hard to phase. This was my honest reaction from what many consider a "underrated horror movie." I guess it is easy for me to pinpoint many key details and elements that comprise good horror movies. Strangely it is not those qualities that make anyone scared. It depends on how much anyone is willing to believe anything is scary that makes true horror. I can say for myself I watched the movie with the wrong attitude from the start and it will now never be scary for me.

Where to begin telling you what a wonderful thriller/ horror movie I think this is. Somewhere behind "Phantasm," but definitely in my top ten favorite films of all time. It was '79 fore Crimany's sake, the perfect time for horror movies. The planets were aligned oh-so rare, especially for this film.Director David Schmoeller didn't fare so well after his first effort. I will give nods to "Puppet Master," and "Crawlspace" under the watchful eye of Charles Band. But "Crawlspace" is so overacted and underdone it barely registers on my cheese-meter. "Puppet Master" does. Anywho... I just think everything went well while making "Tourist Trap."It's ever so 70's, cheesy, atmospheric, and above all creepy in the right amounts. Chuck Connors should have won some kind of acting award for his performance. It is dead-on perfect for the part. I'm sure that if I ever ran into this character in real-life on a foggy night I would just mess my pants and run. There is no reasoning with this psycho. Speaking of... "Psycho," and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" were unquestionably influences on this film. Right down to Davey's preferences of dressing feminine, yet talking deeply masculine. Being that there were, at least, the three main personalities bouncing around in his brain... Mr. Slausen, his Wife, and Brother Davey. Connors handles the physicality, speech patterns, and mind-set of each personality deftly. Everyone else, ...meh. Sure Tanya Roberts' Becky is sexy, and looks great tied up. Poor Woody was in a great opening scene, but there was no acting required. The same goes for the rest of the cast except for possibly Molly. Blonde, naive, just put her in an Old West bonnet, Molly. Why, oh why is she hanging out with the rest of these over-sexed, pot-smoking, heavily drinking people? In real-life THEY would never be friends with the likes of Molly; and vice versa. This actress' overacting is forgivable for a couple of reasons: It just plain works in this atmosphere and for the character. And some of the last five minutes of the movie are frame-for-frame the last girl in peril from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." I'm serious. Watch the end of "T. T." and tell me the shots of Molly don't mirror those of the girl from "T. C. M." when she's at the "dinner" table and after she escapes.I have to give big kudos to all of the excellent mannequin work done herein. It's a tad odd that Davey excelled at making WAX figures, yet outside of the "museum"/ gas station- the rest were all mannequins. It works creepily well, mind you; but I'm sure this was due to budget reasons. If you ever want to scare the hell out of me just put a mannequin in my front yard that has a jaw dropping mouth and sings, "AHHH," in a breathy voice. "Every year young people disappear." This movie's concept has been around for decades, but not so well done as in "Tourist Trap." Sure, the story is trite, and the dialog is just above par. But the camera angles, editing, sets, delivery, music, and (yet again) atmosphere came together in such a way to make a perfect thing. That thing being a cheese-ball 70's horror film that looks, sounds, and feels great.And one last thing... Have we noticed how many time the same cut of this film has gone from a PG rating to an R? Schmoeller admits to MAKING an R-rated movie, and wanted it that way; but it ultimately ended up with a PG. The R rating would have been based solely on the terror factor, being that nothing else in this film could be considered offensive. Even the Director wouldn't let his children see this film. I wouldn't show it to yours either, unless you want to give them nightmares for a very long time!