Turistas

Turistas is a nice little horror film about some American tourists vacationing in Brazil who get caught up in a doctor's sinister plan. I got this movie with mildly low expectations, not foreseeing a masterpiece or even an enjoyable film. But I was quite surprised by this movie. It is a fun horror movie, made decently with good actors and a fine plot. This is what Hollywood horror should be about. This movie does not take itself too seriously throughout, taking the viewer for a gory frolic through the backwoods of Brazil.

Nothing about this film is entirely original. Tourists party on a beach in Brazil and wake up to find their stuff has been stolen. They trek to town to try to find their stuff and find a whole new horror instead. The first part of the film introduces us to the characters and gives us some back story. The character played by Melissa George is the most likable of all the characters and she really helps the movie be the good movie it is. The middle part of the movie ramps up the tension and gives us the gore we were waiting for. And finally, the last part of the movie leads us in a high-paced chase through some under water caves.

This movie has been compared to Hostel, which I will say is a fair comparison albeit not entirely accurate. Hostel has more gore and a better plot. Turistas definitely has gore, but not much of it. Enough to make my boyfriend squirm, but not enough for a true gorehound like me to laud it highly. And the last half of the movie drags on a bit. If they ended it about 10 minutes sooner, then it would have been fine by me.

Supposedly, when this movie came out in 2005, the people of Brazil were offended by its depiction of the country. I am not surprised by this. Slovakia got angry when Hostel came out. The main actor is Turistas, Josh Duhamel, apologised for showing Brazil in such unflattering light, but I don't find this necessary. It's just a movie. No one stopped going to Eastern Europe after Hostel came out. And no one is stopping going to Brazil because of this horror flick. C'mon people! It's just a movie.

See this movie? Sure, it's not bad at all. It's a fun little horror movie and you could spend your time watching worse. Overall, I give it a 3 out of 5.