Navigation

Tourist Trap (1979)

Dir: David Schmoeller.

This stylish little horror film bombed upon its initial release due to a PG rating, after all, who wants to see a PG horror film? But over the years has somehow garnered a minor cult following and admirers such as horror novelist Stephen King.

We start with the normal teens in a sticky situation that would come into its own during the approaching 80's slasher craze, which in this case finds 5 tourists (3 girls and 2 lads) suffering a punctured tire. Woody goes off to find a garage to inflate the spare tire (that unfortunately also happens to be flat, oh those foolish teens). Upon finding a garage, he searches for someone to help with the tire, but all he finds are some bizarre wax mannequins, which pop out of cupboards smashing through windows laughing maniacally. A terrified Woody is then attacked by flying bottles and various implements until a metal pipe flies into his back. As his blood drains away from the end of the pipe, it's no surprise that "this Woody" is now rather limp.

The remaining teens head off for a swim in a nearby pool (a skinny dipping sequence that sadly lacks any real skin) where they bump into Mr. Slausen (Chuck Conners), who invites them back to his strange isolated wax museum to rest. He seems to take special interest in one of the girls, Molly (Jocelyn Jones). He tells the teens that his brother had made the strange lifelike figures, but has since left. We also learn that Slausen's beloved wife died of cancer, thus leaving him alone to look after the museum.

But there is no rest for the teens here and soon they are at the peril of a mysterious figure wearing a wax mask who has telekinetic powers enabling him to move objects and even animate the wax figures. When two of the group, Jerry (Jon Van Ness) and Becky (tanya Roberts), are captured by the psycho, he tells them he is actually Slausen's brother, and strings them up in a cellar where they find another unfortunate tourist named Tina (Dawn Jeffory) tied to a table. She tells them they are all going to die! Meanwhile, Molly is hiding from the deranged masked man and it seems that Slausen is their only hope. Or is he?

Director Schmoeller has crafted a highly unusual film that cleverly turns the 'backwoods psycho' plot on its head by introducing the unexpected telekinesis ingredient. When Woody goes snooping we know he's going to get it. We just don't expect him to get it while being laughed at by grotesque dummies! It's a great opening with a skillful use of manic sound effects and eerie silence.

The manikins (by Ken Horn, Ve Neil and Karen Stern), are suitably creepy and they are used to wonderful effect. Especially when their mouths turn into gaping maws during the many manic laughter scenes. The sequence where they crowd around a floored, would-be victim, blankly gazing down at them is genuinely unnerving. Especially when combining Pino Donaggio's music that's made up of haunting female sighing and moans. Donnaggio, who was Brian De Palma's regular composer on his earlier films, creates a soundtrack that is in fact as off the wall as the movie itself. Made up of screeching strings that build to ear piercing crescendos, the almost comic theme and the aforementioned female vocal effects treat us to a perfectly judged score.

The murders are pretty bloodless but are still fairly violent. Schmoeller was surprised at the PG rating and you can see his point upon viewing this. The pipe death is quite strong and other deaths include an effective knife to the head, and a strangulation. But it's the death of a woman by having plaster slowly smeared over her face that's real nasty. The psycho describes to his helpless victim (as the plaster is applied) how she will die and how she will feel as her face is slowly encased in the stinging, suffocating concoction. Psychologically it's a really sadistic sequence.

Performances are no more than average for the most part, although Jones has some strong scenes near the end. Roberts (who was one of "Charlie's Angels" in its last season) looks stunning but is for the most part is wooden and irritating. But she does seem to improve as her character is thrown into more danger. The late Chuck Conners (a prolific B actor whose movies include everything from "Soylent Green" to "Flipper") is in great form. At first seeming rather bland, which is basically the point of his character during his opening scenes, he later does a great job that is melodramatic, but never goes over the top. He's obviously having a lot of fun but is also giving a totally professional performance.

Schmoeller keeps the story moving along and never lets the viewer dwell on a single sequence for too long. This creates a rapid pace and continued interest as he pulls off some effective scares, a great atmosphere, and a couple of excellent twists. He would later go on to Direct the original "Puppet Master" (where he seemed to forget all about the pacing he pulls off here) and the Klaus Kinski dud "Crawlspace", but has so far failed to live up to the promise shown here in "Tourist Trap".

Strangely, it's his crew that goes on bigger and better things. Mask/Dummy maker Ve Neil has worked on 'Mars Attacks", "Ed Wood", and '"AI". Special effects creator Richard Helmer has worked on "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbour'" , and 2nd Unit/Assistant Director Ron Underwood who went on to direct the wonderful "Tremors".

So we have a fine crew working together to create a flawed, low key and yet hugely satisfying, unusual, atmospheric, and most importantly, entertaining horror film that deserves a much bigger audience.