Rooms for Tourists

I got the chance to met Adrián García Bogliano while he was presenting Habitaciones Para Turistas at the 2005 Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin, TX. I had heard a lot of buzz about the film and I didn't know what to expect. I even told Adrián before the screening that I hated slasher films.

Then I saw Habitaciones Para Turistas at a late night screening. I was glued to my seat! Everyone I spoke to after the film was shocked and surprised at how much they enjoyed the film. During the Q & A Adrián charmed the audience as well. Habitaciones Para Turistas was one of the most talked about films at the festival. No one is surprised that this film is getting distributed.

I thought he did a great job! The film is certainly not perfect. You can definitely see the Argento influence, but the story was certainly new and different. I tell all my friends to see this film. Adrián García Bogliano is the future of the horror genre. I can't wait to see more of Adrián's work in the future.

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.

Being as this argentinean slasher was just released on DVD, I maybe should have posted in the DVD forum. However i wanted a slightly bigger forum to praise this hidden gem.

I'm not sure how many of you have heard of "rooms for tourists" but it's basically a very low budget argentiean version of "hostel" with 5 girls trapped in a hostel while waiting for a bus. I don't want to give anything away but Naturally there are some psychos around to do some bloody work here.

This is surprisingly well done for the obviously small budget the picture was alloted. With very good gore effects that won't let any gore hound down.Filmed in black and white helps hide the low budget feel. But I have to say, director Adrian Bogliano could teach Eli Roth a few things about suspense and style. This is everything "hostel" should have been. While not completely original and hit and miss on scares, you can't help but appreciate a slasher that has style and actually contains characters you like and care about what happens to them.

I hope Bogliano stays with the genre and can get some better funds for his next movie. This is definitely a movie any slasher fans should check out especially those who felt burned or even slightly disappointed with "hostel".

This foreign movie is a great example of a good horror movie without the millions of dollars that Hollywood use in their horrible flicks. First a Warning, this movie is in Spanish with English subs, and its in Black and white (looks like DV, not film but i don't know that for sure). If you cant stand subtitles or B&W, stay away from this. If you want to see a very good horror movie, get this from netflix now! A group of young girls are in a town in the middle of nowhere were all the inhabitants are religion-freaks. The massacre begins quickly. There are some Dario Argento inspired moments, like the nightmare sequences, that are really good and creepy. Also, there is a cool amount of blood and gore. 8/10

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.