Le motel de la terreur

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.

I have no idea where Tourist Trap even came from or how someone even dreamnt this strange movie up. On paper, it sounds like your average Texas Chainsaw Massacre rip off following a handful of young adults who break down during a road trip and find themselves stuck at a creepy, nearly abandoned wax museum and tormented by a deranged psychopath.

Tourist Trap takes this already well-worn formula and injects it with a pleasant amount of surrealism and nightmarish imagery. Chuck Connors stars as Mr. Slausen, the proprietor of said wax museum who seems concerned that his brother, Davy (who lives in the house down the hill from the museum), won't take too kindly to intruders. It's an unexpected and fun performance from him and he really gets into it.

Future Charlie's Angel Tanya Roberts offers up some eye candy in a halter top as one of the victims, but it's Jocelyn Jones as the prudish Molly who steals the show and creates a very genuine nervous breakdown as the horror builds.

There are elements of House of Wax, Carrie, and a few others thrown in, but Tourist Trap really isn't like anything else from that time (or any time). It's a unique and creepy entry in the 70's horror cannon.

Although widely under appreciated, "Tourist Trap" is still a notable and worthwhile entry into the horror genre. The first film directed by David Schmoeller (of Puppet Master fame). Pino Donaggio's score is nothing short of amazing; elevating the film to a whole other level in terms of both tension and atmosphere. Connors delivers a deliciously over the top performance as Mr. Slausen; the other actors are all competent considering that this is a low budget flick. For being close to 26 years old, the film has stood up extremely well - a creepy back woods setting, decent effects, and few hidden surprises in the script; it's worthwhile viewing for any horror enthusiast. A definite cult classic! My grade 8/10.

In the excellent making of extra included on the "uncut" (har har, due to a mistake on Full Moon's part) Blu-ray (really just an interview with the director), Schmoeller states he felt the movie deserved an R-rating on the disturbing factor alone. The MPAA gave it a PG (because there is no reading those clowns). YET he's got a skinny dipping scene with three fetching young ladies (Tanya Roberts is uber foxy in this), a 6'6" hillbilly with a shotgun shows up and kicks them out, and... there is ZERO skin! Get on the ball, David. There's your R-rating.

I have to point this out with every Full Moon Blu-ray I see. Always a big stink about being "remastered in hi-def from the original 35mm negative," and consistently THE worst Blu-ray video quality I see. I'm sure there's worse out there, but you've got to put in the effort to back up claims like these.

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.