Turistas (2006) Reviews

• Trouble in Paradise

  henrik-2252007-01-18

  I saw this movie despite it's bad rating, and I must say that it wasn't at all bad. Good production values, great soundtrack and a somewhat believable story. I think a lot of people would've found it better had they not expected a horror movie. Sure there's blood and guts in it, but it's more of an adventure-movie in the sense that the good-guys, bad-guys ratio evens things up. What it does lack however is a satisfying ending and a subplot that would given an added depth to the characters. I still think it deserves a 5 rating as it's different than most movies, it doesn't follow the standard 'stupid-people walking straight into doom' recipe. It's beautifully shot at locations that I'd love to see in real life. It did get a notch or two higher for the effort. If the last 15 minutes of it had been a bit more scary and gruesome I'd definitely would've given it a 6 or a 7. If you are after a Texas Chainsaw-kind of deal you are most likely looking in the wrong direction, but if you are not, then this might tickle the fright in you just enough for it to be worth renting.

• It wasn't that bad!

  iheart_ny2007-01-07

  I just saw this and I had extraordinarily low expectations, but I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought it would. I thought the "Scarier than Hostel!" bit that they were using to promote it was corny and dumb, because a lot of people, including me, hated Hostel. But Turistas is better viewed when you're not expecting it to be that great. There were a few parts I thought were somewhat dumb, but the acting isn't bad. All of the actors are in their late 20's to early 30's, which I thought was good because I did NOT want to see another dumb teen-driven horror flick. But I don't see Turistas as a horror movie. It was a thriller that was actually somewhat scary, which is something that suspense movies these days lack terribly. The parts I didn't like about it were overlookable. Like in the underwater scenes, I thought the acting could have been a little better, but in the long run, Turistas isn't a failure. I think there are much worse movies that could be on the Bottom 100, like Lady In The Water, for example. So, if Turistas is showing now at a 2nd-run house near you, you should go see it. Hopefully you won't hate it as much as typical IMDb folk do. They're all idiots, anyway.

• I've seen a lot worse

  movieman_kev2007-04-18

  A group of backpacking tourists are vacationing in Brazil. Their bus breaks down and they're greeted by some very unpleasant locals. Even though the acting wasn't up to par and the story was trite, unoriginal, and cliché, there was a few scenes that work for this movie. The Underwater cavern being the most obvious standout. I also really liked that the ending didn't go the extremely over-done route of leaving it open for a sequel (which is,by the way, the MOST overused idea in all of Horrordom) The movie doesn't stand up to multiple viewings at all. But it was a suitably enough rainy day time-waster. Not as bad as it you'd think. My Grade: C Eye Candy: Lucy Ramos shows T&A; and Beau Garrett gets topless

• Good Night, Cinderella

  claudio_carvalho2007-06-20

  While traveling on vacation through the country of Northeastern of Brazil by bus, the American Alex Trubituan (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea Tribituan (Olivia Wilde) and their friend Amy Harrington (Beau Garrett) meet the also foreigners Pru Stagler (Melissa George), Finn Davies (Desmond Askew) and Liam Kuller (Max Brown) after an accident with their bus. They follow a track through the woods and find a hidden paradisiacal beach. They decide to stay in the place drinking beer and dancing funk and parting with the locals and they meet the amicable Brazilian teenager Kiko (Agles Steib). They are drugged with "Bom Dia, Cinderela" (translation: Good Morning, Cinderella - a trick used by smalltime crooks to steal naive people) and when they wake up, they are practically naked, with all their belongings, clothes, money, jewels, passports, backpacks etc. stolen. They walk to a small village trying to find a police station, they get into trouble with the dwellers and they are helped by their acquaintance Kiko, who leads them to his uncle's isolated well-equipped cabin in the woods to wait for the next bus two days later. Along the night, Kiko's "uncle" arrives with his friends and the group discloses the sinister intentions of the newcomers. When "Turistas" was released, there was a huge campaign in Brazil to boycott this movie because it showed a bad, distorted and stereotyped image of Brazil. I have just seen this film on DVD, I am Brazilian, and I totally disagree with this position. First of all, "Turistas" is fictional, based on the urban legend or reality of traffic of human organs, and the story takes place in Brazil the same way this theme is approached in London in Stephen Frears's "Dirty Pretty Things" or the violent "Hostel" is in Slovakia. Second, director John Stockwell seems to be absolutely familiarized with the usual behavior of simple people from the Northeastern of Brazil and the way of thinking of average tourists. They give hospitality to tourists, they are friendly, they like to party and dance, the prices of food and lodging are very low, the bus drivers do not respect the traffic laws, even the use of drug to rob incautious tourists, therefore he discloses the reality in a magnificent landscape. Further, there are many funny lines in Portuguese. The sinister theme has a good and logical approach and the performances are great and realistic, only the conclusion is weak in the plot. Of course the fate of the backpackers is fictional and the possibility of an incident like this happen is practically null. Welcome to Brazil, actually a nice place to be visited. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Turistas" ("Tourists")

• Fun

  McBitter2007-01-08

  'Turistas' was a fun horror flick with a 'Hostel' like plot. The characters were pretty likable along with the film itself. It had some good gory scenes which included a disturbing open surgery scene. I am really confused about why people hated this film so much. When I saw this with a friend, we were both expecting a stupid b flick with cheesy acting. We were both surprised at the end, it didn't entirely suck! It had an OK script, OK actors, cool scenes, a fun plot, and gruesome gore. I admit, it wasn't a masterpiece but it was not horrible! I have seen much, much, much worse! Something that does tick me off about this films bad ratings is that the Brazilians are rating it bad because they think this film will lower their tourist numbers. They are wrong, people still go to the beach(Jaws) and still go to European countries(Hostel). Its just a horror flick. So you should go see this if you like fun B horror flicks.