Turistas (2006)

"...the kind of movie that would have been proudly displayed on the marquee of a '70s-era grindhouse.  Ethan Alter, Premiere
"...a veritable riptide of churning, vicious exploitation cinema, and the result is surprisingly effective.  Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
"...a better and scarier film than Hostel.  Michael Gingold, Fangoria

Editor's Note A group of international tourists seeking fun and adventure in Brazil get a lot more than they bargained for in the suspenseful horror film TURISTAS. Written by first-time screenwriter Michael Arlen Ross and directed by John Stockwell (BLUE CRUSH), TURISTAS, the first American film to be shot completely in the South American nation, is set in the Brazilian mountains, where Alex (Josh Duhamel); his sister, Bea (Olivia Wilde); and her best friend, Amy (Beau Garrett), are preparing for an eco-tour. But when their bus crashes, they are stranded with a group of locals as well as a handful of other tourists, including Finn (Desmond Askew) and Liam (Max Brown), two Brits looking for fast times and hot women, and Pru (Melissa George), a beautiful Australian traveling on her own who takes an immediate liking to Alex. In the middle of nowhere, they find a little oasis in a surprise sandy bar, where they get to know each other, drinking and dancing until they wake up the next morning, having been drugged and robbed of just about everything, with all remnants of the bar gone. They walk into an unfriendly town, but the only person offering any help at all is Kiko (Agles Steib), who might not exactly be leading them to safety. TURISTAS is a well-paced thriller that features brutal torture, violence, and a terrific, breathless underwater chase through some very cool caves. The film also succeeds as an examination of the fear--warranted or not--that some Americans feel in the international community post-9/11.

	Desmond Askew
	Josh Duhamel
	Melissa George
	Olivia Wilde
	Enrique Chediak - Cinematographer
	Jeff McEvoy - Editor
	John Stockwell - Director
	Marc Butan - Producer
	Mark Cuban - Executive Producer
	Marlise Storchi - Production Designer
	Michael Ross - Writer
	Paul Haslinger - Original Music By

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is an effective squirm-inducing thriller....The underwater sequence that precedes the finale is brilliantly realized." 05/01/2007 p.105

Variety 7 of 10
The "Hostel" similarities may strike some as too close for comfort, not only in plot outline but also in general mix of xenophobia, sexploitation, sadism and gore. Like Eli Roth's soon-to-be-sequelized hit, this knockoff is more icky than scary, with a rather obnoxious Ugly American as lead protagonist. Pic's simple advice to viewers who might want to wander in the non-Michelin-Guided world: For god's sake don't do it! They hate us!...Still, if it lacks "Hostel's" distinctive sleaziness, "Turistas" does have one idea as offensive as anything in that gagfest: Zamora explains he yanks organs from (still-conscious) "gringo American tourists" and donates them to a Rio People's Hospital in order to "even the scales" against First World imperialism...Locations and widescreen lensing are attractive, tech aspects overall a cut above B-grade horror average. Cast is well-toned. - Dennis Harvey

ReelViews 6 of 10
Turistas starts out as an effective little horror movie before devolving into an incoherent mess during its final 30 minutes. The problem isn't the body count, it's the inability to figure out what the number is due to the way in which director John Stockwell has chosen to film his payoff scenes. There's room here for suspense, but it's hard to generate tension when the viewer can't figure out what's going on. Darkness and rain are great when it comes to establishing atmosphere, but they're not so great when filming action sequences. It doesn't take long before it becomes impossible to figure out who's chasing whom and who's about to face the wrong end of a sharp object. In the end, everything becomes clear, but the path to that conclusion is long, dark, dripping, and frustrating to navigate. - James Berardinelli