Synopsis
Every year young people disappear.
After their car breaks down, a group of young travelers find themselves stranded at a roadside museum run by the mysterious Mr. Slausen and populated by his collection of supernatural mannequins.
1979 Directed by David Schmoeller
After their car breaks down, a group of young travelers find themselves stranded at a roadside museum run by the mysterious Mr. Slausen and populated by his collection of supernatural mannequins.
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Horror, the undead and monster classics Intense violence and sexual transgression horror, gory, scary, killing or gruesome horror, creepy, eerie, blood or gothic scary, horror, creepy, supernatural or frighten zombies, undead, horror, gory or flesh horror, creepy, frighten, eerie or chilling Show All…
Flexes that late 70’s slasher formula that in a few short years would be perfected for mass consumption via numerous genre icons and directors, Tourist Trap is a strange little picture filled with tons of idiosyncrasies that make it such a special gem in my eyes, plus it also serves as time stamp of grim fandango 70’s horror movies that shaped the genre for every decade since.
First off, the Texas Chain Saw Massacre rip-off is one of my favorite subgebres and while there’s a bit of that here (some might say every movie rips off TCM and my love for that monolith would find it hard for me to disagree with that statement) there’s even more in the production…
The first movie of The Last Drive-In was the last one I watched because Shudder was having a moment when the stream first started and I couldn’t get it to load. Thankfully, they have added all of the movies with the JBB commentary to the service so we can all enjoy them at any time and that is why they are my favorite streaming service. Also they are a horror service so that’s got a lot to do with me thing they’re the best and I’m sure nobody is surprised there.
This movie is so damn weird and surreal so of course I love it. After watching a million times, the overall impact lessens a bit, but damn there are…
🔪 Broken down car full of 20-something kids
🔪 Gorgeous locales, ripe for skinny-dipping
🔪 Supernatural mannequins
🔪 Maniacal laughing
🔪 Spine tingling soundtrack full of tense strings
Tourist Trap is a great example of an innocent late 70s slasher that's not pretending to be something it's not. While not technically perfect, it is terrific fun with some freakishly fatal moments.
"You're so pretty. It's a shame you have to die."
Weird, surreal, slightly bonkers and heaps of fun, the film is brought alive by Chuck Connors who puts in a fantastic performance as local fearmonger Mr. Slausen.
I’m going on record saying this is the creepiest movie ever made that was rated ‘PG.’
Essentially a mashup of ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ music video.
If you’re a horror fan and you’ve never seen ‘Tourist Trap,’ you need to rectify that shit immediately!
Always a good call to put your killer in jeans. It’s night for the heroes but for the killer it’s 2pm on a Sunday and he’s running to Home Depot to pick up some mulch for the yard.
To be honest, I confess that even though I consider myself a big fan of the Slasher genre and watch a lot of these movies since I was a kid I had never seen Tourist Trap in my life (does this make me not deserve to be a fan of this archetype?), yes, I already knew about it before, I have read reviews about it for a long time in other sites and I have even spoiled myself in something of what happens in it. Now that I've seen it I think it needed a review from me written here in Letterboxd to redeem myself.
The plot is about a group of young tourists who arrive at a house in…
20something teenagers do battle with a telekinetic hick in the Hollywood Hills, having ill-advisedly rocked up at a forgotten tourist spot, Slausen's Lost Oasis. This was a lot weirder than I was expecting. It feels like it should be campier but there's a actually a real mean streak running through it. Mannequins are creepy af at the best of times, let alone when they're shrouded in deep shadow and have a tendency to become animated when you least expect it.
Obvious reference points are Carrie - with the stalker's psychic powers - and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both for the backwoods setting and the masked antagonist's hulking appearance. The root of all evil though, is Hitchcock, and Psycho in particular. The…
Not too bad. Beginning was good but got slow toward the end.
Reminded me of "House of Wax" but with mannequins.
👀
A wonderfully creepy and quirky slasher oddity that ranks near the top of the "disturbing mannequins" sub genre of horror. I hadn't seen this in 5+ years so it was due for a rewatch.
This film has one of my favorite opening scenes. A man stops at a gas station where he discovers a desolate run down shop filled with mannequins. Before we know it shit hits the fan and the mannequins spring to life and start bouncing around while creepily laughing. Random items begin to fly around and it turns into an outrageous and wacky scene. This is a perfect way to set the pace for all the chaotic hijinks to follow.
A group of travellers run into car…
The dizzy near-fall light headed feeling when you stand up too fast after smoking a cig in a crouched position, only its some mild hallucinogenic laced with food colouring instead of a cig.
The sweaty post-Texas Chain Saw dungaree-clad southern hospitality and run down mannequin/insect call creep factor should feel like a bad trip, but Tourist Trap is too whimsical and playful in its horror to be that. It's like free-falling into Tanya Robert's pupil; it's a drop into pitch black depth leading to an optical nerve, but its still Tanya Robert's eye you're in.
Shuddering shoulders and maniacal giggles are not the typical actions of killer telekinetic mannequins, should that ever be typical at all. Sure, these dummies are…