230: Tourist Trap (1979)

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Alexis is over here like choke me daddy. Do you wear a lot of scarves during sex? Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. And you thought this was a cheap tourist trap. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Look at the size of that hole.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

The Gore Lover Alexis. Must be made of some special rubber or something. And the cowardly creeper Ryan. Everyone's in such a damn hurry these days. This week we're checking out a late 70s slasher that Stephen King has heralded as one of the scariest films he's ever seen. Before we get down to the main attraction though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Let's follow up on a movie. We recently reviewed the movie JOS 3D, and we wanted to know what you thought. So we held a poll. You told us 45% of you said a hack. 55% gave it a slash.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Hey, I just want to point out that for as underrated as this movie is, at least the majority of our listeners agree with me.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

I was not surprised by this either, because I think we all had a lot of fun, you know, watching this as well. And over in social media, Rob agrees. He said this movie is too much fun to be a hack.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Damn right, Rob. Dennis Quacher had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Who doesn't like CGI jaws coming at your screen and then floating things? Babe, that wasn't CGI.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

That was cut and paste, literally.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

It's me. I I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Well, some people just don't like fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Or bad quality things. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Now, in case you missed it, as this episode publishes, we're in the middle of our spooky preseason community challenge. We believe horror is for everyone, and our challenge to you is to help us pregame for the spooky season by welcoming even more people to our Discord family. If you want to be the winner of some premium podcast merch, all you have to do is share the show, hang out with us in the server, and participate in our events or discussions throughout the month. You can learn more by following the link in our show notes or by going directly to go.hackerslash. And finally, we want to thank one of our new patrons, David B. Welcome to the family, David.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Good luck winning.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Well, while cocaine use was famously Dennis Quaid's favorite pastime during the making of JAWS 3, this week's film brings us more of the same. In 1979, audiences were introduced to one of the few PG-rated slasher films in horror history. Armed with a budget of $800,000, director David Schmoller set out to convert his film school senior project to a feature-length motion picture. The film, like many we've covered on our show, explores what happens when a group of friends cross paths with a dangerous stranger when their car breaks down during a road trip. This week, we're talking about Tourist Trap. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_01 3:07

You know, I was thinking about it. I I hadn't seen House of Wax. Oh, sorry. Sorry. We're talking about Tourist Trap. I haven't seen Taurus Trap. Hadn't heard of this movie. Of course, this was my first intro. You know, it's it's 19, almost 1980s. It's right in that spot of movies that I never know anything about. Thanks for the laugh. That was my joke.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Well, I Matt, you almost got Mackinac for a second. I looked straight at you. I was like, she saw this out of everything. So somehow I've never heard of this, but it kept coming up on the list on movies for us to review. And I don't know how because it was just on my mind, and I've seen it in a lot of places within the past few months. So don't know why that is, but somehow it looked interesting. This is one of those movies where I go, where did Alexis and Chris find this? Chris has the answer.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

So it might be because over in our Discord, our patron Amber actually suggested this movie. And this is, I think, one of her comfort horror movies. And correct me if I'm wrong, Amber, I think it might be her mom's favorite horror movie. So it had been mentioned recently, and I actually watched this movie for the very first time a few weeks ago. So I hadn't seen it prior to that, but I was pleased to see that the same producer from Halloween 1978 was involved with this film.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

I actually didn't realize that until you just said it, but I also didn't know anything about this movie until we basically until I started hitting play. You know, I had not heard of it until we saw it on the list. Maybe that's my bad. But I also, like going into this, didn't watch any trailers. I didn't read a synopsis. I didn't want to know anything about it before I started watching it. Um, the only thing I saw was like a screen capture, probably from when I was about to hit the play button. And honestly, I kind of expected it just to be like a low-budget, bad acted film from the 70s.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

I think that's a fair expectation, Mac. This is something that hearing how nostalgic some folks are for it, I expected it to be of a particular level of quality, but I also knew that there would be a lot of obvious parallels between House of Wax and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So I went in with an open mind, expecting something that I've already experienced before, but I was hoping, not necessarily expecting, I was hoping there'd be an added dose of originality.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So I kind of went from like a Mac perspective where I didn't see anything beforehand, I didn't, you know, even read the synopsis. All I saw was that really creepy mask when you when you look for the movie. So that's pretty much all I had to go on. And again, 1979, my hopes were low.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Yeah, I had low expectations for this. I don't know why, but I just thought this would be a earlier version, but a more real version of like wrong turn mixed with House of a Thousand Corpses. And when I mean real, I mean like, you know, more down-to-earth, less extremes of gore and all that sort of stuff. But it was interesting while I was watching this movie, I didn't know what was going on half the time because some characters' demises, I had a rewind. And when I was counting the body, I was just like very concerned on how like things were jumping around in this movie, but it did hold my attention, surprisingly.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Yeah, holding attention is one way to put this film. And I think the other way is similar to another movie we've seen recently, my attention was held up until the third act, and I was like, all right, I'm not having a bad time, but I feel like you've overstayed your welcome just a little bit. And one of the things that I I noticed myself feeling was those notes of familiarity that I expected, but also tension, also questions being asked, not necessarily why would you do this, but rather, hmm, there are options for how this movie can play out. And I was expecting minimal options. So I found myself actually entertained during the majority of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

I feel like my biggest thing is I kind of like Alexis, there were some parts of it that I kind of didn't necessarily know what was going on. I don't think a lot of it was like deep, uh convoluted twist or anything, but there were just some things where it was like, what are you guys trying to do? Like, what am I supposed to be feeling? I guess one of my big feelings was confusion. And then once we kind of got to the point of like understanding what was going on a little bit more, I felt like I didn't care that I knew. Like I didn't care that I finally understood. But at least I will say there is some entertaining things happening that that kept me in the loop of this movie a little.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

I don't know that I feel the same. When watching this, it was kind of a struggle for me to make it through the 90 minutes. I wasn't like bored or anything like that. It was just kind of tough because there's so many choices that the filmmakers made where I was just like, but why did why was that the decision you went with? I feel like this could have gone one of five ways, and you picked like a sixth wrong choice. And so like a lot of it I spent kind of laughing at the movie versus like really being able to get into it.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Sorry, I need to add another important feeling that I felt through this, which was creeped out. This movie has creepy energy and not scary, creepy, just creepy.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

Oh, okay. Well, I am same, same but different because I found this movie to be creepy in the way that there are moments that are actually chilling. Some of the words that are used and some of the voices that we hear, pretty eerie. And I wasn't expecting that. I think one of the other big surprises, Mac, is I I was laughing too in this movie, but in moments where I wouldn't say that it was unintentional comedy, but I think it aged into not camp, but I think it did age into comedy. Like there's a moment where someone's like, You can't get away, mister, and then someone's crawling out of the window and back. And it's cinematically beautiful, but there's just little moments that just made me chuckle. And I found that really surprising for a film of this like level of seriousness.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Yeah, and speaking of aging, I was surprised at how well this movie aged. I mean, we're talking about 1978, and yeah, I get it. The graphics, maybe not the top quality for back then, but honestly, nothing like held me back from watching this movie, which I was so surprised because watching a lot of movies from 1978 in that era, like late 70s, early 80s, if it's not well made or well thought out, I feel like usually I am lost in that sort of disconnect.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

The thing I found mostly surprising, there was a kind of a supernatural slash sci-fi aspect to this film that I had no idea was going to be part of it. And that kind of spiced things up and made it a little bit more fun, and um was really kind of an unexpected twist for me. And I mean, you can do it and make it disappointing, but I think they they did it in a way that like brought some, I don't know, it brought some interest to a character where there might have otherwise been none.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Oh, for sure. That element of the movie was one that I thought had already been mechanically explained without having to lean into like a supernatural or supernatural adjacent kind of direction. And I found that as we realized the direction that those kind of interactions took, I found myself being less frightened or less tense or less creeped out. Not that there's a lot in this movie that'll really scare you by any means. I wasn't scared, but I definitely found myself disturbed in some moments, and that just dissipated the more we got of this supernatural element.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

You see, I saw it as more of like a psychological thing rather than kind of sci-fi type of direction. And for me, I think it contributed to the creepiness, but again, like I said, I didn't find it to be scary creepy. I just felt like I was watching a creep. And I don't know, I don't know why it's different. Maybe it's because it's so old it didn't feel like it had an immediate like threat to me or something, but I didn't find this to be particularly scary.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

I think a lot of those moments that were supposed to be really creepy and supposed to kind of freak you out a bit mostly came off as silly to me. And I think there's some scenes where you mentioned Chris that something's almost turned like to comedy, but like not on purpose, but not really camp. And that was a lot of the moments that were, I think, supposed to come across as being scary.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Y'all, this movie had me jump in so much at the jump scares, I was freaking ridiculous. And it might be because I had my beats on and I was watching this on my phone, so I had it pretty close and I had the volume up pretty loud, but I literally dropped my phone a few times because of the loudness from those jump scares.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Okay, headphones will increase the fright value of a scary movie all the time, and if you have that weird uh mannequin animatronic thing, the it's not gonna go well for you during this movie.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

No, I mean, and you guys hit it on the head, like it's more a creepy vibe than it is actually scary. But let me tell you, puppets, mannequins, anything like that. I don't care what level, whether they're not doing anything or they're doing all this stuff, they're creepy either way.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I think Piege would would definitely agree with you.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

I know he would. The automatonophobia himself. And I do think some of that fear that you could feel in this movie based on those kind of triggers does lend itself to notes and memories of other movies we've talked about, right? So looking down the list, and I'll get to that list in a little bit so that we don't spoil the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet. There are so many episodes of this podcast that you could run through to pre-game for Tourist Trap. This would be like if an AI made a 70s horror film based off movies we've already reviewed. It does enough that's different to stand out in my mind. So it's obviously similar to a lot of things, but this is somehow still an entertaining watch that stands on its own two legs.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

I think if you're a fan of 70s horror and it's kind of its own genre in a way within within horror, but um, I think you're gonna see a lot of checkboxes like checked, and that's why it seems so similar to so uh many other movies. I mean, there's just like a lot of you could I guess you could say like cliches that come up, you know, road trip, car breaking down, random person. We'll get into more spoilery details later about why this feels like so many other movies, but um, I think the thing that surprised me about how original this feels is I'm thinking of movies this reminds me of that came afterwards, specifically one that the director worked on, um, Puppet Master. And like I'm watching this thinking, like looking at these mannequins, this reminds me of Puppet Master. Like, that's ridiculous. But Puppet Master is like 10 years later and made by the same director, so it makes sense why there's like that that hint of it.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

I bet it specifically reminded you of the leech doll from Puppet Master.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Oh, 100%. That is a great call out.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I'm the total opposite. Every movie that I thought I referenced, all the movies came before it. So it made me feel a little bit better. You know, obviously Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, and stuff like that, but you're right, Chris. It just has this edge that's it's different. It sets it apart. It's not like I felt like they were just using another movie. They were just taking elements from Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Carrie or House of Wax, but they did it with a twist, which I do appreciate and I do give it credit for originality.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, I'm gonna have to defer from this one. Uh this gets no credit for originality for me. It feels like all those other things, and that that's pretty much the end of that thought for me. Like I don't really have anything else. There's no, it doesn't have an edge or something that makes it feel different to me. It just the entire time I watch this movie, it just feels like through the entire watch, it's something I've already seen, and it has like a level of predictability that confirms the things that I've already seen. And yeah, no originality for me.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

I do wonder though, if you would have felt any different had you seen this movie earlier in life, and then all these movies just reminded you of it because I found myself angry as hell at myself for not watching this before ever seeing the modern remake of House of Wax. And yeah, there's so much that contributes into like the predictability of where this movie goes, but there's also enough that's different that makes me think, okay, there are three different paths that this scene can take in terms of its direction, which one is it gonna pick? And there was a prediction that I made earlier in the film that ends up being true as we get into the third act, but it was only one of like three different possibilities that I considered for, you know, what was ultimately gonna be the motivation or the antagonist in this movie. But I will say that the more it cements itself into that reality, this movie fell apart in the third act, and the ending was far and away of a different caliber and different quality than the rest of the movie, and I do not mean that in a positive way at all.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Oh, the ending was so bad. I literally had to laugh out loud at it. The final shot in particular, it was just like a deliberate joke. It was so bad.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

I guess I didn't take it that seriously. I was just like, oh, how funny. I don't understand why this would be the final shot. I didn't hate the ending. I mean, I thought it did take a step off, you know, a different path than it was taking before, whether that was intentional or not. But I guess I just didn't have so much invested that I was like, this is an interesting ending. I don't know. I appreciated it. Chris, you said it could have gone multiple ways. I thought you were talking about the ending, which to me it could have gone one of three ways. The way it went, I don't, I'm not hating. Not hating.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

I am. It didn't really seem to go away to me. I mean, like, yeah, sure, there's like something that happens, but like generally I didn't really understand like what we were trying to do, like what was trying to be achieved. And then the the very, very last shot is like, okay, so everyone's just mad, basically, uh, is in crazy, not angry. I yeah, it it just didn't do it for me.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Well, let's see how those feelings on the ending shake out into our ratings. But before we get there, Alexis, what's the gore score for Tourist Trap?

SPEAKER_02 17:27

So I love gore, obviously, but this one is safe for people who do not love gore. It's a low gore score.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yes, we are all good on the animal report once again. Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Tourist Trap from 1979. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

It's not the best movie. I think it lacks the personality of the director's later success, Puppet Master. Um, I just feel like it's too many ideas squeezed into a short time without really executing enough on one for it to truly stand out. I think far too often it crossed the whole like accidentally a joke line. And that for me was cemented by the ending. The ending made this a total joke in my mind, and thus it is a hack.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

I will counterbalance you. I'm giving this a slash. This isn't the best movie I've seen. Was I paying attention to other things I was watching this? Yes, but I appreciate what this movie did. And I don't know if it's Chris giving me these opportunities on the podcast to watch movies from the late 70s, early 80s, but I just have a new appreciation for this, and I love the fact that movies I've seen that I like today came from this movie, and this movie paid tribute, it seems, to previous movies that I enjoy. The antagonist gave me all the creeps, and while the movie, like I mentioned, wasn't that gory, these weren't typical slasher kills which I can appreciate. So, although it may have not been the best movie, it definitely wasn't a waste of time, and I thought it was a good ride.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

So I am going to defend something that happens on the podcast here. Every once in a while, we'll say, you know, maybe I was distracted while I was watching this movie. And, you know, sometimes it's our own fault because we're humans and we have a lot going on. So sometimes you are distracted doing things. This movie wants you to be distracted because it doesn't do anything to make you pay attention to it. I mean, every part of this is just like not appealing. As I was watching it, I was like, there's too much time for my brain. Like, there's too many other things that could happen that I don't know. I I guess I felt like not a lot was going on in this movie. And I did not care about the backstory of the bad people in this movie at all because it kind of took me on a journey that that I wasn't enjoying, I think. So then when we get there, I felt like it was a long journey and the destination was a tourist trap. I felt like I was in a Taurus trap, which maybe, you know, maybe that's a meta thing that they were doing, but I don't think so. And I am going to 100% admit that I am tainted watching this movie because of how many times I've seen the remake of House of Wax. 100%. No, no doubt about that. But I can't do anything about that. I'm a human. I watched this in 2022. So this movie doesn't age well for me. And unfortunately, it does feel like too many things that I've seen. And, you know, maybe that's my fault because it comes too late in my movie career. But it is what it is. This movie's a hack for me. It's not a bad time, but it's not a good movie.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

So this movie has a lot that's happening within it. I said earlier that it felt like an AI took a spreadsheet of all the movies we've ever reviewed and then made them into a 70s slasher. If you were to build this movie as if it were a cake, you do it with equal parts, House of Wax with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You'd add a dash of Phantom of the Opera, a hint of Halloween, and a heaping spoonful of Carrie. And that takes a lot of good things from a lot of good movies. And in this moment, sometimes the product is great, and other times it leaves much to be desired. It's kind of like accidentally adding a little bit of salt to a cookie, and you think, ooh, I'm gonna really do something special. And then sometimes it just tastes bad. But thankfully, the majority of this movie was a fun time. For me to be able to watch a late 70s, early 80s slasher and have a question or identify possibilities that the plot can go without being a hundred percent certain about the direction that it's going. I think that's an achievement in some ways. Because this movie dares to do a lot and it does some shit that's completely wild that I'm not into, but it does a lot that just makes for a good time. So it's a slash. And with that, we are split down the middle on Tourist Trap 1979 with two hats. And two slashes. Now, you can find this movie so many places online. Shudder, Peacock, Tubi, YouTube. Go check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can break down the scores together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

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SPEAKER_03 23:31

There are some death in this movie, so Alexis, take us through the kills.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Some death, which some is more than a few, less than a couple, something like that. We have six in this movie. Which is not surprising. I mean, your cast is pretty small in this movie. But not a lot of gore either. I don't know. You'd think I'd be unimpressed by this movie because of that, but I thought, you know, one kill in particular, Eileen's, was, you know, being strangled by a scarf honestly could go to one of two do. Could be a sex act gone wrong. Could I mean I don't know. Something was about to happen with that scarf the way it was portrayed throughout the beginning of the movie. Alexis is over here like, choke me, daddy. Do you wear a lot of scarves during sex? I don't even wear a scarf, but it seems cool to just be naked and wear a scarf. Does it? I don't know. Seems like a vibe.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

That kill in particular was interesting to me because it really showed off the whole telekinetic thing. But the effect of the actual scarf like strangling her, it I couldn't tell. Were they pulling it with like wires or was there just like some kind of like metal rod that made it look like it was kept taut?

SPEAKER_02 24:36

It was definitely telekinesis, duh.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Well, I know that, but like in real life though, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Um, I have no clue. No clue. But I did think it was interesting, Becky's death. So the way they achieved that was they had a block of wood that was like taped behind her hair, and then a knife was attached to wire that was thrown at the back. So essentially, once it was thrown, the knife got stuck into the block that was behind her. So to me, that seems like not that I'm a practical effects guru, but to me that just seems obvious. Like put something squishy in the back.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

I actually didn't even imagine how they achieved it. You just thought it went through her body. No, I just thought, like, okay, that's a cool effect. That was my favorite kill though, because I think that was one of the most like satisfying like kachunks. You know, when we get the pipe in the beginning, it's a silent scream at the same time, and it it was kind of just as hollow feeling as the pipe. But I feel like with Becky's, at least you get a nice thud. Because there's also like the cat and mouse that leads up to it, and then you get that solid kerchunk letting you know like it's it's game over and she's and she's going down. Uh, but it was it was a really good effect. I feel like it landed.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

So I'm assuming the practical effect would be the same. They probably tied wires or something to the scarf per se. But did y'all have a favorite death in particular?

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Ooh, mine is definitely Tina's death. Now I know that we're not super emotionally invested in her since she's not a part of the core group, but truly the narration of her death was absolutely chilling. Him telling her what she was going to feel, what the impact of the plaster was gonna be, to narrate it and really just give her a play-by-play to tell her about the heat, to tell her about how she's not gonna suffocate, even though it's gonna be difficult to breathe because her heart's gonna stop before that happens. His voice and just seeing her body reacting to it was so chilling. And it's actually one of the most disturbing deaths I've seen in an older horror film.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah, my question is he says you're not gonna suffocate, but you won't be able to breathe. And is the lack of breathing not the definition of suffocation? Is that not exactly what that is?

SPEAKER_00 26:44

So he's basically telling her, right, that before you ever die of suffocation, the fright is actually going to kill you via cardiac arrest. Like your heart is going to stop because you're so afraid of what's happening. And I think he even mentions that like the fright is what's gonna kill you. So before, you know, your lungs give out and you can't get oxygen to your heart, your just heart's gonna explode because you're so scared.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Well, needless to say, that was a bit heavy-handed for me. I felt like he just went, he just was was doing a lot with narrating that kill. My favorite kill was uh, you know, a bit ironic, the impaling of a man named Woody. Because that's funny. And the specific reason that I love that kill is because it went silent. There was a lot of noise happening right before that, and then we get the sound of drop, drop, and you're like, what is that? And then you realize it's literally his blood pouring out of this pipe. So basically, he's been tapped like a friggin' maple tree, and he's his sap is coming out, but it's uh, you know, it's blood, it's gross, and it was great.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

I loved it. I also love that one too, and it was a build-up for me, and you're seeing all these like mannequins, and especially that first one just pops right up. And let me tell you, that was the first jump scare for me. I was like, holy crap! And then I'm like, what the hell is going on in this? It was it was very puppet mastery. I'm like, are they alive? Is someone behind them? Like, what the hell is going on? And then his arm stuck, I'm like, who the hell is grabbing his arm? Like, there was just a lot going on in that scene, and it gave me really high hopes that I get some gore because there was some blood trickling out of there. I was like, All right, first kill, I'm ready for this, ready for the blood. Didn't happen. It was still okay though. But what got me was the repercussions of this. So then later on the movie, one of my favorite visuals of this is all of the wardrobe andor masks that our antagonist is using, specifically Woody's. Woody's looks terrifying the first time you see it. There's a tongue. Is it his tongue, or is it, you know, the killer's tongue? Not sure. The whole tongue thing was getting me. But I also freaking loved the wardrobe in this movie. I'm a fan of bodysuits and high-waisted jeans. I feel like they should stay in fashion. These women were on point in this movie. I loved all of it. Even Molly's, you know, very white, prairie looking dress. It was a hit too. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

You know, that really leads me into my favorite visual element in this movie, and it's Becky. That chick is hot. She was great to look at the whole time. She had a nice little outfit on, and I and I was thinking her outfit really transcends time, right? Like she's doing this in 1979, and sometimes we have old wardrobes, and you're like, what the heck is this? But I'm like, I there's a chick somewhere today wearing this outfit. But truly, Becky's hot. Alexis earlier said the dirtier she got, the hotter she got. Very true, which is weird, but still true.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I love that you both focused on the characters for your favorite visuals because that's really not what did it for me.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

It was it did it for us, though.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

It did, it did. I was not a huge fan of the antagonist and the look. I think things should have been really kind of pared down. I think the mask is very effective, and I think one, two, maybe three masks, kind of like we've seen in like Blackphone. I'm I'm down for that, but the constant changing, who's a mannequin, who's not, who's the bad guy, who's not, it was it was a lot. I like simple stuff, and the things that did it for me visually, the Jeep, number one.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Ooh, good call.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Classic Jeep, love that, and then number two, like the whole like lagoon waterfall thing, that was super cool. That's a great location, especially for scary times, because anytime there's like a really beautiful spot, horrible things need to happen there, and that makes things really interesting, like the beach with Leo DiCaprio.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

You know what I was thinking about that Jeep? Man, driving that would have sucked. That thing probably is so hard to turn, so hard to stop, but god, it looked good.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

No, no power steering on that thing, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Right. You just like if you start going down a hill, you just hope you can get to where you're going at the end.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Oh, yeah. But I mean, to go back to like that whole like lagoon little area, when we finally make it through at night and we get to see this the shape of a snake through the water, that's what I'm here for, is that kind of like, I love that juxtaposition. Give me something beautiful and make it horrifying. Love that.

SPEAKER_03 31:06

Speaking of things that are beautiful but make it horrifying. We talked about Ryan loving Becky so much, but she's actually involved in what was my favorite visual, which is the use of depth of field when really getting into a lot of these close-up moments in the house. Specifically, it's when she's in the house and the figure is behind her. We realize it's it's Davy, but he's whispering, Becky. But he's out of focus in the background. So all you see is this plaster mask. It was so fucking chilling and effective. I loved that moment so much. And you know, I think about like the cinematography really lending itself into some quality scenes, but that one shot, the framing, the balance, the composition, so good.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Not for nothing. That's pretty similar to one of my favorite scenes, which is again a depth of field thing, but I think it's Molly crawling on the floor, and you see our killer just sitting in the back, but it he's like huge, you know, he seems huge, and he's just creepily sitting back there. He's not stressed. I think um it was maybe when she thought he was asleep or something like that, and he she's she's like doing anything she can to get away, and he's just like chilling there, you know, not worried about anything, knows he's got it under control.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Yeah, he had a lot of things under control. And let me tell you how, in the opening scene that we get, it wasn't my favorite death, but the entire scene where Woody is exploring this gas station and you get all this shit that's being thrown at him. What a crazy confusing time. And to think that he was doing that all is you realize with like telekinesis, I thought originally when, especially when we get the the uh acknowledgement of like, oh, he was really good with mechanics and animatronics. I thought that this was like an elaborate prank house. I thought the tourist trap was gonna be like an old haunt or something. Yeah, that giggling doll, the locking door, the opening and shutting window, uh, the doll heads just like cackling and laughing sinisterly. It was just so creepy. And I know Ryan, you talked about him being like tapped like a maple tree, which is hilarious. But one of the most hilarious things about that moment was where one door closes, a window of opportunity opens, and it just got fucking goofier and goofier from there. That is, I think, a moment from this movie that really stands out as like highlighting the entire experience of this film. It's great, it's creepy, it's kind of fucking funny at some points.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

It had a major Sam Raimi vibe to it, very evil dead too, and it really threw me off. And then, like, that's the thing where I got some feelings of like puppet master from the way that the the dolls and the mannequins like really showed up in that scene. But just like the focus on the different, the different dolls' faces and heads and like as they're coming out, I was like, oh man, this is like did Sam Raimi watch this and then get ideas for Evil Dead 2? Because that's legit what it felt like.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Might have been. I don't know what my uh thing is with flashlights lately, but after seeing bodies, bodies, bodies, and then seeing this, I really love the scene with Becky using the flashlight and seeing all the mannequins in the room while she's looking for Eileen. And it's crazy because I was like, one of them is gonna pop out. Also reminds me of very House of Wax when they're like what is real and what is not. And these mannequins, some of them look like obviously like something you'd find at Target or something, but some of them actually look so real. So I think I just had a super tense time watching that. It was just one of them's gonna pop out, what's what's not, and I just love the thrill of what is that gonna be. Also, why I don't like haunted houses, because that shit also scares me in real life.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yes, I mean haunted houses aren't scary, but we've talked about those. Mannequins are. I do want to shout out like one more scene from this movie that I enjoyed a lot, which was the dancing with a wife, and you see Molly watching it and they keep turning from to from people to mannequins and kind of back and forth. And that's where I really got like the kind of psychological element of it, where it's like, is it in her head that these seem like real people? Because it's right after she thinks that the woman's like wiping her face and she's in bed, right? So I really enjoyed that that bit of like what is really going on, rather than just the sounds and and everything coming from the mannequins when they just seemed like mannequins.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

My favorite scene is really one of simplification. And like I mentioned earlier, I think this movie tried to do a little bit too much and didn't go too strong on one or two things. But anytime we can consolidate, that's great. And I think when we find out that the thing we all knew along, which is the two people are really one, right? That this seemingly nice guy is not so nice and he can never be seen in the same room, you know, as his as his brother. When we get that reveal and we've got the gun and we're firing it, and nothing happens because it's blanks, uh that was great. I think it was great on the part of the antagonist, of course, to really like set her up for failure and to diminish any morale that she had left. But I think as a viewer, that was nice because it's like if you think that this was what's happening, or maybe you didn't even realize the whole time, we're streamlining. And I love a good streamlined killer because now the killer just gets to be himself for the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

Mac, I think the realization that Mistress Lawson and Davey are the same person was one that again I had I had a prediction about earlier in the film, but I also thought it could be a couple different ways. That it could be A, the brother who didn't actually live in the city. So maybe there's that. But then B, I thought, wouldn't it be cool if this figure, until we realize the killer is very much a man, what if it was his wife that didn't actually die from cancer? Because he talks about how she's still beautiful, and I was like, hmm, okay, you got a little fucking weird shit going on here. And I think the potential for this killer lended itself to a really interesting watch. The more we heard him talk as we get to Tina's death, and I was like, you know, one of my favorite kills, but the more we hear his voice and then we hear Mr. Slauson talk more, I'm like, okay, obviously the same fucking person. But the mystery that the movie plays with a little bit in terms of its characters was super satisfying.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Yeah, I definitely was like, it could either be two different characters. That was just at first, but as the movie progressed, I definitely thought, okay, obviously it's one, but maybe he has split personalities, maybe there's this duality going on, and then seeing why he has his motivations that he does, like clearly he's off the beaten path a little bit. But it was interesting because it even played towards the end where it's almost like you think something is real, which would be Jerry, and then all of a sudden he's uh mannequin, and I was like super confused on that. But what really got me about these characters, and it was so confusing in this movie, is like they're all over the place in this movie that I'm not sure who dies when they die, and if they die, I was so confused. I was like, wait, oh Jerry died. Nope, he just disappeared. Oh, Becky's in the basement. What is she dead? Like, there were just like so many things going on in these movies with these characters. But our antagonist, going back, is is really creepy. His smile when he's talking to the girls and just sitting there and they're naked. Granted, they decided to do that, but like he's still standing there, he just has this aura about him. Like, you can tell that he's tall just by sitting down, like you can tell his stature, which I think is like eerie to me, you know, and then they're giving him their real names. I'm like, what is going on here? This interaction is crazy. No one's doing the right thing right now.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

I had troubles, I think, potentially with his casting, but also with his portrayal. And I think when you're such a tall, older, kind of foreboding figure like that, I expect and appreciate more of like the Michael Myers kind of a figure, right? And I expect a little bit of slowness, I expect you to take your time. I don't expect like zaniness, like that to me seems silly. It kind of seems like if instead of Vince Vaughn and the cycle remake, if we had like Sam Elliott and like it just like that just doesn't work for me. Um, I just can't imagine Sam Elliott peering through a hole and and making the fat fat, but um, that's kind of what this felt like with this guy playing this character.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Okay, but can we talk about the fact that like Michael Myers has his stab and lift? This guy had the grab and lift with Jerry. I was so excited to see that.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Ah, the new grab and lift.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Look, man, it's a signature move. Back off.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Yeah, I guess I mean, I think that works. It just like I don't know that like his version of this character really did him justice, I think, as as an actor.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Yeah, I think my biggest issue with this movie is that I didn't buy into the killer at all. I didn't buy into his motivations. It's not fair to really compare this to the new House of Wax at all, but that I felt the motivations, and at least like the people that were being killed were being put into the museum, and I don't know. It seemed like there was something there. This I think took me down like too many roads. And then once we was obviously, you know, I kind of knew what was going on already. That was uh, you know, there's a predictability issue. And then when we it's revealed that it's the same, it's just this one guy, and he kills Tina and like makes a, you know, mm kind of a mold of her face, basically. It just all like, I don't know, the the ends didn't tie together for me, I guess. And I didn't understand why he could control things with his mind. I didn't understand there was a meal with a mannequin at one point and they were talking back. I don't know, maybe maybe it's not meant to be understood, but i I wasn't bought in at all because of these things.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

I think that's why I felt like there was too much going on because perhaps it wasn't cohesive enough. Like maybe the elements all work together. We just need to see it, like another 20 minutes of screen time to really see how it ties together, to see that his psychosis has led to him like voicing all of these characters in his lives to like give him this community around him to make him not feel so alone. Uh perhaps we don't know why he's so alone because he seems to like it.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Yeah, he may like it, but something I didn't like was his telekinesis. I you know, I I watched this movie thinking motherfucker's just using the force. It was weird. I really wished the more it was cemented that it actually was telekinesis, I wished it was really just an insanely good mechanic who was somehow able to actually pull all this shit off because they said it right up front. My brother was really good with all this stuff, and I thought, man, what a wonder, what a marvel he must be, a regular prodigy. And then when it was just Carrie, but an old man, eh, I could have done without it.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Exactly. That's exactly my point. It just was like all of this, just to get to just is what it is.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

He just does that. For as much as I dislike the telekinesis, that wasn't the worst part of the movie for me. It was a brief moment, and it was when we crash into a mannequin and all of a sudden the mannequin has glowing green eyes. What? You got me with mannequins looking like people and the hallucination of that, right? But the glowing green eyes, what's the logic behind it? You doesn't, it doesn't take much to convince me. I'm here for the ride. I'm in it, I'm in the tourist trap. I've paid the price of admission. But yet, the eyes reminded me of the character Reptile from Mortal Kombat. It was the quickest flash, and it brought me right out of the movie.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

You know what brought me out of the movie though were the damn synthesizers. I think because one, I already don't like them, but movies like Halloween, Phantasm, Suspiria, they they make it well done. So these are just badly done, and it was just took me out of the movie so bad. Also, the cheesy ass 70s songs, but that's what really got me.

SPEAKER_03 43:07

Ooh, plot twist. I definitely plan on buying this vinyl. Very interesting. I enjoyed it. It's going on my updated spooky season playlist this year.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

My best part of this film is really it's really gonna be really tiny. And it's it's also kind of a worse part, but it's Jerry. And at the very end, when we get that moment where Jerry like breaks in for the rescue, and then it's like, oh, he can't rescue because he's not real. And then we get the arm ripoff, revealing that this live human is actually a mannequin, and then suddenly we realize it's a mannequin. That was honestly pure camp. And that last that whole ending there was like they leaned heavily that they got a new director, they got a new writer. They're like, All right, we're just gonna camp up the last few minutes of this movie. And and I liked it because it made me laugh, and I needed at least some kind of emotion at this point. I had been laughing at the movie like Here and there, but that really just that last few minutes just cracked me up. And that was like the icing on the cake. Was that moment was absolutely pure comedy.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

The effects to pull that off were fantastic. There were a few moments where the effects were quite good and we had transitions between human and and mannequin. And I thought that part was hilarious. And you know, I think maybe sometimes I seem like I don't want to have fun when I watch movies, but that was a moment where I was like, oh my god, it's so funny. He just rips his arm off. Like, if it was a mannequin, that's what you do to prove that he's a mannequin. I enjoyed that, although I again we were already to the point where nothing in this movie mattered to me, but I thought that was funny. I'm gonna first say a worse part because that's the game I like to play here. The worst part of this for me is that I feel like the whole time I was just watching Mr. Slaussen be a creep and not be like a killer. Like I don't know. I just felt like I was like peeking in on like his personal affairs at home being a creepy man. And I don't know why. I don't know why that's this more than anything else. We have a billion movies we've watched that are creepy old men that only want to talk to the women and only want to kidnap the women and whatever. I don't know why, but it was creepy. I think partially because it started with them naked in the little lagoon thing. I didn't enjoy that. I'm gonna give an ironic best part here because I really can't think of anything else besides Becky. And the best part for me is gonna be that ridiculous scene at the end of the movie with the Jeep and all the mannequins in it. It's like she decided that if she took her friends as mannequins to the hospital, someone there could turn them back. And you know, with this movie, there's a chance that that logic of taking your mannequin friends to the hospital to get them switched back, it might work because the rest of it was illogical. That might as well have been, you know, is there a sequel that I don't know about where that happens? Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

Okay, maybe this movie is actually the prequel to that movie mannequin, where a guy falls in love with a mannequin. Maybe this takes place in the same universe. Maybe that's the reality of the situation.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I mean, they are just ripping off other movies the whole time, and Halloween 2 is in a hospital, right? So there you go. That gives them reason to do it. So there we are. Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 46:09

We can make this movie. I will say though that the end shot and the quick zoom in on it, like we've seen in so many other movies, the the weirdness of it, the hilarity of it, it all diminished its rewatchability. This is the second time I've watched this in recent weeks. I do plan to see it again, but not for a very long time.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

I fell into the trap once and you ain't you ain't gonna trap me again.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

I oddly enough might watch this again. I'm not sure why, but I think it might be because of all the references to all the other movies. So I feel like maybe I'll do a watch if I'm not watching, you know, Saw for the millionth time again, but it's that's my comfort watch for sure. But I would definitely watch House of Wax, Sexus Chainsaw, you know, all of those, and then watch this again and probably have a better appreciation. But I think I'm learning from Chris. I need to watch it probably have a little bit more extended time before that second watch appears.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

My mother raised me never to fall into a tourist trap. We don't like tourist traps, we don't spend our money or our time at Taurus Traps. Therefore, I will not be watching this again. I already did it wrong once by watching it anyway. Okay, alright.

SPEAKER_03 47:16

Well, let's see if we can get you on your way out the gift shop with Max Factor Fiction.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

Number one. Oh Becky. Tanya Roberts thought it'd be a great idea to run through the woods on her bare feet. You know, for realism. Really showing the pain and fear of her character.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

I'll go fact, those feet were dirty. I'll go fact.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

This is a fact. I don't know if it helped, but it sure did tear up her feet. Number two, Chuck Connors, as an established Western movie actor, was reluctant to join a horror film, but was prostrated after viewing the director's original short, which this film was based off.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

Fiction. Let's go fact.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

This is a fiction. He apparently thought this was gonna be a good role to start to reinvent himself as a horror movie villain. No, not a not a good choice. Oh, Chuck. Number three, the director continued to waffle on the telekinesis idea during writing as he felt it might be too similar to carry.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

God, it is so obvious that he waffled. What a waffler. It's a fact. Obviously, a fact.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

Fiction.

unknown 48:11

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Originally, the mannequins were just gonna be haunted, but a producer suggested telekinesis at the last minute.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Jeez. You should have let the producer waffle on that. Keep that idea.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

Alright, Chris mentioned this earlier. Good old cocaine. The setup Taurus trap was such a 70s cliche that cocaine use was all the rage. At one point, a first AD walked on set and got hit in the head by a baggie of Coke that fell from a lighting rigger's pocket.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Too many details, and I'm feeling more of an LSD vibe here.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

So I'm going fiction. I feel like these people are professional during the day, maybe not at night, so I'm saying a fiction.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

This one is a fact. I feel like Chris set you up for success on this one. You just didn't pick it up. But good old Western bad boy himself, Chuck Connor, supposedly used it a ton, even though he was out there playing Mr. Square and anti-smoking ads.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

That sounds about right. Sounds like what actors be doing sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Yes, it does. And that's been fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_03 48:59

Well, there you have it, folks. Tourist trap from 1979 has earned two hacks and two slashes. Now we certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means. We want to know what you think. Do you think this one's a hidden gem? Perhaps a lost oasis? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free over in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hackerslash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, if you're thinking of wandering around outside, I wouldn't if I were you. Bye.