Rooms for Tourists

I recently watched this film at the 30'Th Gothenburg Film Festival, and to be honest it was on of the worst films I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Don't get me wrong, there are the funny and entertaining bad films (e.g "Manos – Hands of fate") and then there are the awful bad films. (This one falls into the latter category). The cinematography was unbelievable, and not in a good way. It felt like the cameraman deliberately kept everything out of focus (with the exception of a gratuitous nipple shot), the lighting was something between "one guy running around with a light bulb" and "non existing". The actors were as bad as soap actors but not as bad as porn actors, and gave the impression that every line came as a total surprise to them. The only redeeming feature was the look of the masked killer, a classic look a la Jason Vorhees from "Friday the 13'Th". The Plot was extremely poor, and the ending even worse. I would only recommend this movie to anyone needing an example of how a horror film is not supposed be look like, or maybe an insomniac needing sleep.

Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano does terrific work here on a shoestring budget. Finely crafted screenplay. I liked the editing, score, performances; just a nice job all around.

Bogliano is probably better than most filmmakers working in the genre today.

The only minus, and I hate to even bring this up, because it's obvious they had next to no money, it seems it was shot on Hi-8 (or something). It's also B&W. Now, mind you, I don't mind Black & White at all, but the picture is not as sharp as it ought to be, etc. Like I said, though, this is a very minor complaint.

RE: Extras. Don't expect much. No commentary, no behind the scenes--and it's too bad. Would have been interesting to hear what the filmmakers had to say.

Bottom line: one of the better scare flicks in some time.

Just wanted to give you a quick heads up on a movie I saw a while back. This film is "Rooms for Tourists" (A.K.A. "Habitaciones para turistas"). It's from Argentina and was made in 2004. It's just now finding its way to DVD and, boy, is this film a real treat.

The movie is about these five teenage girls stranded in a small village who decide to take spend the night at the local bed and breakfast. As night falls, things turn horrific when the girls discover that they are trapped inside the structure and there is this maniac (or maniacs…) stalking the girls.

This movie is pretty gruesome. Even more so taking into account that the movie is in black and white. The bloodletting looks more horrific! They don't make movies like this anymore. This movie delivers the thrills and chills, while keeping you glued to the seat, anxious to find out what the hell is going on. The truth is ghastly and surprising, even taught we've seen the twist in other movies. Regardless, in "Rooms for Tourists", the ending seems very fresh. One of the reasons for this is that the film is very well directed. In fact, the directing is very aggressive and violent, often shaking the viewer. Some of the camera shots and movements even imply and / or transmit information about what the characters are feeling.

The lighting and use of shadows is superb in some scenes. In others, it's just too dark, but it helps to create tension, especially when you see the girls being stalked.

Adrián García Bogliano, the director, is one to watch, especially in the horror movie scene. Currently, he has another horror movie out called "Grite una noche" (A.K.A. "I Screamed One Night"). Now that's a title to scream about! Hahaha For more information on this really cool movie, you can check out the films web site here.

The movie is currently out on DVD, even taught I can't seen to find it on Amazon.com. I watched this movie on Netflix. Not sure where else you can find it, but it's worth seeking out.

It's interesting to see what the director tried to do with this film. But the problem is that it's not very good. There was nothing really original in the film and while the plot was well presented, the main characters were all a bit to shallow and you didn't bother for any of them.

Rather bland (and sometimes downright bad) photo leaves a bit to be desired but I guess you can't expect to much from people who are just doing a low budget film for the heck of it. It's unfair to review the film and compare it to other high-budget films. But alas, that is what one must do. On its own, it's not very good. And compared to others, it's still not very good. But it is not without its good points! I liked the plot. It was built up rather nicely and tied together well at the end. Sometimes in the really dark scenes, it managed to build up a creepy feeling as well.

However in the end the film fails to impress. The characters are pretty much non-existent and we don't care for any of them. Any of them might die, but it's possible to pinpoint the final "survivor" from very early on.

This is not just the classic slasher film. It's something more. A lot more. Usually, you don't have the chance to watch an horror movie where the victims and the murderer(s) have real motivation to do what they do. This is not the case. In "Rooms for tourists" there's a twist, one of those twists that leaves you thinking: "Awesome". This is the reversal of the typical film from Argentina. It shows an Argentina where not too many tourists would like to go.

I had the chance to get this at one screening in Madrid and i was wondering how doesn't anybody comment this film before. Of course, it's low budget and even Black and white but i'm sure it'll blow your mind.