Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Anonymous Andy (Minus_The_Beer) "Every year young people disappear ..."So goes the tagline to "Tourist Trap" and so goes the concept of countless other slasher movies from the 1970s and beyond. What sets this late '70s oddity aside from competition, however, is the pure nightmare fuel of mannequins coming to life via telekinesis. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. This instantly memorable slice of frightful nostalgia comes via producer Irwin Yablans, who previously helped bring John Carpenter's "Halloween" to the public consciousness. "Tourist Trap," unlike the wave of imitators that would arrive in the wake of Carpenter's classic, takes a page instead from Tobe Hooper's seminal "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and veers away from typical stalk & slash fare. Like "Chain Saw," It is a gritty, ugly and ultimately an undeniably humorous offering of macabre madness.Stranded by the side of the road (aren't they always), a group of young folk are taken in by an odd yet seemingly well-meaning owner of a local, deserted tourist attraction, played to perfection by Chuck Conners. Soon it becomes clear why the attraction to this spot has all but dried up: turns out someone next door is killing wayward souls and fashioning them into a small army of killer mannequins! Faster than plaster drying on a face, this horrifying discovery takes these unlucky ladies and lads on a trip they won't soon forget -- assuming they can live through it.Directed by "Puppet Master" director David Schmoeller and co- produced by Charles Band (the guy who founded Full Moon pictures, and has been throwing countless "Puppet Master" sequels and knock- offs at us for decades now), "Tourist Trap" has an almost instantly lived-in vibe about it. From the strains of Pino Donaggio's bizarre yet familiar score to the horrific yet low-budget effects, this is definitely a Full Moon production of the highest order. Chuck Conners is brilliant as the unassuming, seemingly friendly elder, while the kids -- lead by future Bond Girl, Tanya Roberts -- are surprisingly organic and sympathetic, in spite of the limited amount of set up they are given. A film chock full of visuals you won't soon forget (especially that infectiously grin-inducing final frame), "Tourist Trap" is bound to leave an impression on anyone from any walk of life who finds themselves attracted to it. And to cap it all off, it's rated a measly PG!

Anaraksoasis I had only recently heard about this little gem, though when I learned it was PG-13, I was a little wary of it. My experience with PG horrors has been not so good. Initially what really made me interested in this flick was the idea of evil mannequin's. I find mannequin's and old dolls mucho creepy. Yeah, yeah. Bite me! The cover art for this film sold me with that scary arse mannequin. Yeah I was interested. When I finally got around to watching it, I was nicely surprised. This flick be good yo! The story from a glance may seem silly. A bumpkin with telekinetic powers uses mannequin's to murder people and then turn them into mannequin's. Oddly enough, it works. The choice to not really explain why the guy has these powers and how they work was a brilliant move. Some thing's don't have an explanation, they just are. This makes things creepier. The acting is decent for a low budget film, and the girls are very nice to look at, especially the short shorts, tube top wearing Tanya Roberts (Shame we couldn't get a nude shot). Chuck Conners, however, stole this flick. Dude really hams it up but never in a bad way. He turned up the creep factor when it was needed. You can tell dude had a good time making this.There's not a lot of blood in this one, but there doesn't need to be. The mannequin's supply all the scares. They were cheap looking, but for some reason that just enhanced their creepiness. I loved how they would turn into living people,then quickly back into mannequin's. Good stuff! The score really worked well for this flick too. Eerie as hell.Is this a horror masterpiece? Naw, but it's a good flick and deserves more recognition. Eventually Hollywood will sink their grubby fingers into this one and make a remake which will probably blow, but at least a spotlight will be put on the original and horror fans will get to enjoy this one. Give it a watch, you may never view store mannequin's the same again!

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki A few good jump scares in the first scene, as guy is locked in room and things start flying through the windows, and at him, while mannequin cackles, until a metal post pierces his lower back, killing him- followed by complete silence, as we survey the damage to the room, the scene of the crime. Good opening promises a lot, I hope the rest of the film can hold up. A group of three girls and one guy stumble upon a waterfall after their jeep breaks down. They don't' seem alarmed by the strange local hick (imagine George Lazenby doing a bad Clint Eastwood impersonation) trying to drive them away with a shotgun - he takes them to Slausen's Museum, closed to the public. He even decorated it himself. They're warned by this hick to stay away from the odd, old house in the distance, and for good reason. One girl goes to have a look anyway: life-like mannequins seem to be coming to life to attack her inside. In a good unmasking scene, (Phantom of the Opera reference? vaguely Psycho reference) it is revealed that the old hick thinks he is his own brother, and is killing people to turn them into wax figures, mannequins, which he has some type of power and control over. Jerry jumping out the window was a Texas Chain Saw Massacre reference. Stupid twist of Tanya getting free but then allowing villain to take her back to the house is a major turning point for the film, but not for the better. The first half is quite good, with many references to earlier horrors without being overly derivative, but this weird combo of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, House Of Wax, and Psycho gets silly during Tanya Roberts' attack, and never fully recovers its edge it had in the first half. A basic, uncomplicated premise helps, the plot is not over complicated; weird camera angels and the bizarre mannequins themselves all make this highly effective and memorable, but the climax couldn't be any more stupid. A better ending to the film could have made it a classic.

gavin6942 A group of young friends stranded at a secluded roadside museum are stalked by the owner's brother, who has the power to control his collection of mannequins.This film is pure Full Moon, though it actually predated the birth of the company. The use of mannequins fits right into Full Moon's niche (dolls, puppets, et cetera). The production value is low, the filming schedule was short (24 days). And yet, it works. I am not going to say this is one of the greats or a lost classic, but I can safely say it is underrated -- considering how few people have heard of it, it is much better than you might think.Stephen King praised the picture, saying the film "wields an eerie spooky power, as wax figures begin to move and come to life in a ruined, out-of-the-way tourist resort." The fact King singled out this film says something, though I am not sure what. Many films revolve around a car breaking down and people taking shelter in a dilapidated house or gas station. And yet, he mentioned this one in his book (Danse Macabre). That is probably the best endorsement they could ask for.While there is very little of note in the movie (as mentioned, it follows the well-worn horror plot and adds little new to that) it is still effective, and somehow works. The characters are not developed, we have no reason to hope that any of them survive, and there is a plot twist or two that really make no sense. Do I know how the mannequins come to life or why Davey had telekinesis powers? No. I just assume the writers blended "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" with "Carrie" and this was what cooked up the oven.This could probably be called the film where Charles Band hit his stride. While he had worked as a director and producer since 1973 (following in his father's footsteps), this was probably his earliest success (though "Fairy Tales" does have a nice cult following and was the debut of 1980s scream queen Linnea Quigley). How much say he had over this production is not known, but I would boldly say it was the first thing he produced that hit home with the horror crowd.Although I am fond of bashing Charles Band whenever possible, I have to give him credit for this film. If he did nothing else, he successfully recruited a group of loyal soldiers with which to build Full Moon. Writer-director David Schmoeller had one prior job (as intern on "Capricorn One"), but went on to make Full Moon classics "Puppet Master" and "Crawlspace". Likewise, editor Ted Nicolaou had only been a production assistant on "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", and went on to helm Full Moon's "Subspecies" franchise.Writer Larry Carroll was early in his career, too. He had previously done editing for "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", "Dracula's Dog" "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Massacre at Central High", making him the most experienced of the new recruits... but we must give Band a little recognition for drawing Carroll over to the dark side before he escaped and became a writer for dozens of cartoon programs including "Dennis the Menace", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Thundercats". (Yet another "Chain Saw" veteran was Robert A. Burns, who designed the mannequins.) Perhaps most interesting was the music. Not that it was memorable, but it is quite remarkable that Richard Band was not the composer, and his role was filled by the much more celebrated Pino Donaggio (whose fee allegedly was 1/6 of the film's budget). Donaggio might be known to horror fans as a collaborator of Dario Argento and Brian DePalma, but even in his earlier days he was closely allied with horror -- churning out scores for "Carrie", "Piranha" and "Don't Look Now". On the surface, you might think Charlie Band was lucky to get Chuck Connors or Tanya Roberts, but you would be wrong (Roberts had not yet starred in "Charlie's Angels"). David Schmoeller's catch of Donaggio was the big score.