Tourist Trap (1979)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

David Schmoeller

Writers:

David Schmoeller (written by) and
J. Larry Carroll (written by)

Release Date:

16 March 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Every year young people disappear

Plot:

A group of young friends stranded at a secluded roadside museum are stalked by the owner of the place, who has the power to control his collection of mannequins.

Plot Keywords:

Mannequin | Mask | Friend | Museum | Possession

Cast

Chuck Connors	...	Mr. Slausen
Jocelyn Jones	...	Molly
Jon Van Ness	...	Jerry
Robin Sherwood	...	Eileen
Tanya Roberts	...	Becky
Dawn Jeffory	...	Tina
Keith McDermott	...	Woody
Shailar Coby	...	Davey
Arlecchino	...	Mannequin
Victoria Richart	...	Mannequin
Millie Dill	...	Mannequin

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | West Germany:18 | Australia:M | France:-12 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Company:

Compass International Pictures

Trivia:

Tanya Roberts insisted on running through the woods barefoot in one scene. She thought it would help her better project a sense of pain and fear. The result was also that her feet were bloodied.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Mr. Slausen leaves Molly with the rifle in the truck, you can see a short male mannequin standing behind her in a sort of saloon setting. Thereafter any time you see her from the same shot, he's no longer there.

Quotes:

Davey: See my *friend*!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fade to Black (1980)

see this as a child, and be scarred (and scared) for life...

There was a time, back before USA became the home of Emmy-award winning programming, when you could turn on the TV on a Saturday night and be treated to such highbrow programming as "Slugs," "Shock Waves," and the pervasively atmospheric creepfest, "Tourist Trap." Out of all the horror films I remember from my childhood, TT arguably left the most visible mark. As my family would gather around the TV and behold the spooky wonder of a house full of mannequins (my father was a fan of Chuck Connors as "The Rifleman"), I would go to my room and cower under the bed when things got too scary. For as much as this film (and others) frightened me, I was simultaneously drawn to the discomfort they produced. Scenes of a woman's face being turned into a plaster mask, a man impaled by a flying pipe, and a knife to the back of the skull left haunting marks on my neuroses that periodically popped up in the years that followed (during which, unfortunately, TT was near impossible to find on VHS).

Having 'grown up' considerably since that time, and recently revisiting the 'ol "Trap" on DVD, I must say it has lost only a smidgen of its ability to shock. As a child, I didn't pay as much attention to pacing (especially with commercial breaks inserted every 10 minutes) or acting quality, because the horrific events were amplified ten-fold in my eyes and mind.

Now, a lot of the acting seems over-the-top and amateurish (Connors, however, maintains a professional veneer throughout), and some scenes drag to the point where the subtitle "Just killing time" should be superimposed at the bottom of the screen. Granted, these are just minor quibbles from a fan/critic who has seen much worse instances of both these traits.

Though TT still maintains a sense of terror that builds as the film progresses, my downgraded impression of it has come from being exposed to "Carrie," "Halloween," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Psycho" and others that TT writer/director David Schmoeller liberally borrows from. However, he incorporates the killer-with-psychic-powers angle with great skill, careful not to overextend his homage to the point of parody, creating something genuinely offbeat as a result. As is properly cited on the DVD, the film branches off into different levels of insanity, to the point where kindly Mr. Slausen's (Connors) mannequins begin to resemble real live people...

Not a masterpiece but far from a waste of time, "Tourist Trap" is a montage of elaborate face-masks, creepy vocal distortion, atmospheric nights, and desperate, panicked emotion. One of the more notable sleepers in the annals of horror, for those with adventurous tastes.