Thursday, October 29, 2015

2015 October Horror Challenge #88 "Tourist Trap"



I've wanted to see this movie FOREVER.  It came out two years before I was born, so it's been on my radar as long as I can remember as a cool looking scary movie that my mom would never let me watch.  I figured this year that I'd better get off my ass and watch it before the second coming of Jesus, so I bought the DVD and looked forward to checking it out.

The movie has a fairly simple plot: every year, young people go missing on road trips after visiting this particular roadside attraction, "Slausen's Museum." Those roadside attractions aren't as prevalent now, but back when I was young they were advertised everywhere. Museums, curio shops, souvenir shops, etc. all usually out in the boonies and isolated, but cool little places to stop and waste time while on vacation.  As one character says near the beginning of the movie, "people are in too damn much of a hurry these days" to enjoy attractions like this.

The museum in this movie is creepy as hell.  The wax figures freak me out, and the thought of being trapped with a bunch of them moving around  (as happens to one unlucky character) gives me the heebie-jeebies.  The actors who play the youngsters aren't great, but they don't really need to be to portray these rather disposable characters. The guy who plays Mr. Slausen is good, so that's the important part.

The sounds in this movie really got to me, too.  That's something I don't usually notice in movies, but they're well-placed in this movie in order to freak you out.  Music, singing children, whispering voices (and I won't tell you why, but I wish my name wasn't "Eileen") all work together to keep viewers on edge.  The movie drags a bit near the end,  but there's enough creepiness and some great scenes that make up for it.  I really ended up liking this one.

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