Tourist Trap

Director - David Schmoeller (Puppet Master, Netherworld)

Starring - Chuck Connors (Soylent Green, Werewolf), Jocelyn Jones (The Stranger Who Looks Like Me, Cannon), and Jon Van Ness (Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, The Hitcher)

Release Date - 1979

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Every year young people disappear"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

I'm love seeing all these movies I used to rent back in my childhood are finding a second life on blu.  When I was in elementary school I would often rent movies based off the VHS art.  I was a basic kid and if something caught my eye I would rent it.  This is how I discovered Full Moon and Empire.  I had watched a good portion of Full Moon's releases over the years including their 1979 film Tourist Trap.  I rented it once in my youth but I remember not really caring for it.  I know some of my horror friends love the film so I was excited to check it out when I heard Full Moon was re-releasing the movie uncut on blu.   I reached out to them and they were kind enough to send a review copy of the amazing big box VHS style release.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows a group of twenty-somethings who have car trouble.  They are miles from town and seek the help of an older gentleman who owns a now closed museum.  He is strange and does his best to separate them all from one another and soon they start disappearing until the ones still alive uncover the hideous truth.

     I wasn't too impressed with the film when I was a kid but I do have to admit that it was pretty fun watching it as an adult.  It's cheesy and campy but I find myself enjoying these kind of movies more now as an adult than when I was a kid.  The movie is far from perfect but it was fun for what it is.  The acting in this one is entertaining but boy is it cheesy.  The cast really hams up their roles but it adds to the atmosphere of the film.  The film is an early slasher so the cast is painfully stereotypical of slashers from that time.  They are one dimensional but the cast has fun with it.  The story for this one is a very different take on a sub-genre that was really finding it's own in 1979.  Slashers, at heart, had been popular for a couple of years but not quite like it will be in a few years after this point.  The story uses several slasher elements but not many of the slasher trophes that horror fans love.  The masked mannequin killer is fun but extremely campy.  This release from Full Moon is the uncut version, which, I can't recall what was added between this release and the tape I watched as a child.  However, the movie does flow very well but there is several dry scenes that will try your patience.  Finally, the film has several slasher inspired kills.  The is a little blood here and there but not much in the way of practical effects.  Overall, Tourist Trap is not for the serious slasher fan out there.  However, if you are in the mood for something on the campy side I would highly recommend checking out this release.  The transfer is solid but not the best I've seen.  It is a step up from DVD but does not reach the full capability of what the blu can achieve.