If you’re looking for a great horror movie with an exotic setting, sexy cast, and some gore, I give you Turistas. It’s another one of those vacation gone wrong movies following a group of backpackers enjoying themselves in Brazil. They milked the shit out of the beautiful landscapes and lush jungles. The first third of the movie reminded me of The Beach with a similar setting and vibes. As you might have guessed after thirty minutes shit will start to get serious. And immediately I want to emphasize that although there are a couple of fucked up scenes, this is not a gore-heavy movie. It’s relying more on suspense and thrills instead of jump scares or graphic violence. That pushes it in a more thriller direction than a straight-up horror genre.
I remember watching for the first time a couple of months after its release quite well. A couple of things stayed with me: travel lifestyle, exotic destination, weed, of course, and beautiful girls. Especially Beau Garrett in her debut movie role. With pretty vistas comes a pretty cast. And the cast of Turistas is quite captivating. They are not only fit, young and sexy but they also gave great performances. Of course, Josh Duhamel and Olivia Wilde led the charge along with veteran of many horror battles Melissa George. There’s some nudity also, not a hell of a lot, but just the right amount. And this is the thing about this movie.
It’s just so damn well-crafted and balanced, without any gimmicks. They didn’t go overboard with anything so the movie is really easy to follow. And it has everything you would want from a horror movie. To top things off, the production values are great despite the $10 million budget so the movie has that sleek and appealing visual style.
After she pestered him for years, Alex finally agreed to travel the world with his sister Bea. The two of them are currently in Brazil on a rickety bus with a crazy driver. Ahh, to be young again. On the same bus are a couple of other tourists from all over the world looking to party and enjoy the beautiful nature that this exotic country has to offer. Soon, all of them make friends and decide to join the party taking place in a small beach town. There are beautiful women, men, booze, and drugs everywhere and our gang is having one hell of a time. However, that’s not how this story is going to continue.
I have to say that I really like the general plot here. I don’t want to spoil it, so you will have to check out the movie to find out more about it. I’m just saying it’s quite authentic and intelligent. As I previously mentioned, this is not some torture porn movie like Hostel. I would compare it to The Green Inferno, only Turistas is a much more accomplished movie with much less gore. It even has intense underwater scenes for fucks sake. I will, however, admit that towards the end it does start to meander a bit. Also, the story is formulaic and predictable, once you know what’s going on, especially if you’ve seen enough of similar movies. On the other hand, you can look at this from a positive aspect as it requires so little effort from the viewer.
Finally, Turistas is a solid tale of tropical terror and as such I recommend you check it out. If you’re looking for similar movies take a look at A Perfect Getaway and And Soon the Darkness. Enjoy.
Director: John Stockwell
Writer: Michael Arlen Ross
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Desmond Askew, Beau Garrett, Max Brown, Lucy Ramos
Fun Facts: Director of the movie John Stockwell makes a cameo at the end of the movie. He’s the backpacker arguing with his girlfriend over whether to take the bus or the plane.
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454970/
