David Marcos 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).

Claudio Carvalho When his car has a flat tire, Woody (Keith McDermott) seeks a gas station in an empty road. He finds a deserted place and is attacked by mannequins in a room and dies. Meanwhile his girlfriend Eileen (Robin Sherwood) waits for him in the car. However their friends Jerry (Jon Van Ness), Molly (Jocelyn Jones) and Becky (Tanya Roberts) arrive and they decide to look for him. They find a paradisiacal waterfall but their car breaks down. While Jerry tries to fix the car, the girls bath in a lake. Out of the blue, an old man arrives and he introduces himself as Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors), who owns the place. He brings Molly, Becky and Eileen to his house and tells that he would help Jerry. They find a waxwork museum with armed cowboys. Eileen decides to leave the house to find a telephone, but she is attacked and strangled by a masked stranger. Who might be the killer and how will he girls flee from the spot?"Tourist Trap" is an unoriginal slasher with a mad serial-killer that seems to be a magician. The plot is totally predictable and how the insane killer controls the mannequins is not explained. In addition, the boring music score by the Italian musician Pino Donaggio is annoying. My vote is six.Title (Beail): "Armadilha para Turistas" ("Tourist Trap")

TheBlueHairedLawyer Tourist Trap is a lot like American Gothic (1988) and The Funhouse (1981). It's one of those horror movies you come across when browsing youtube and I really liked it; it's one of those cheesy 80's horror films with some good acting, funny props, a weird storyline and a creepy killer in a secluded place. Tourist Trap adds in elements of sci-fi as well though... the killer has telekinetic powers and his only friends appear to be his countless dolls and mannequins.Tourist Trap is a great movie to check out if you're a horror fan. The soundtrack is kinda funny, kinda creepy, all at once. The acting was decent despite its low budget and the effects were cheesy and outdated but not too bad.

lathe-of-heaven BRIEF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Unfortunately, this Blu-ray was a little washed out looking. I personally re-encoded it with Avisynth filters to better saturate the colours and boost the contrast just a tad, for my taste...Okay, I'm probably being just a BIT generous here, giving this a '7'...BUT... and it's a BIG BUT like Mariah Carey's... The film honestly IS a lot of fun if you like this kind of thing. Also, I have a bias toward just about any Horror film that incorporates mannequins, dummies, dolls, etc. I just frigg'n LOVE the li'l B@stards! : )Also too, the film does generate a good atmosphere and mood that sets the stage for what happens. The initial 'Fun House' type scene was genuinely quite creepy; it might have gone on just a TAD too long, but still, they wrung just about every drop of weirdness out of it and created an effective scene.To me personally, when it comes to films, I think the strongest factor that weighs most heavily to me is the atmosphere. Actually, I feel that way about ANY form of art, whether it is music, poetry, paintings, lighting, whatever. So, if a film does pretty well in that area, I probably tend to be a little more forgiving for some of it's other shortcomings. One thing I will mention, without entering into spoiler territory, is that in my lowly and wretched opinion, I feel that the scenes with the guy in the mask would have been more chilling and effective if he hadn't talked so much (kind of like the one Killer Scarecrow film that I can't think of the name of right now...) In some of those scenes, if he'd just been silent, sort of like Michael Meyers in 'HALLOWEEN', it would have been stronger. If you watch the film, I'm sure you will see what I mean. They started off PERFECTLY with him mumbling very disturbingly, which was quite effective; if they had carried that more through the film, I think that would have created far more tension. I'm THINKING of re-editing my copy and taking the sound out of some of those scenes to see how it works... Maybe re-inserting some of the creepy mumbling from the other scenes...Anyway, overall an above average, Moody low-budget Horror film (does FULL MOON make ANY other kind...???) that you should enjoy if you like these kind of Retro, Creepy Doll oriented Horror movies.