Tourist Trap
Written by David Schmoeller & J. Larry Carroll
Directed by David Schmoeller
Molly...Jocelyn Jones
Jerry...John Van Ness
Eileen...Robin Sherwood
Becky...Tanya Roberts
Mr. Slausen...Chuck Connors
When their friend Woody goes missing while looking for a service station to repair his flat tire, four city slickers--law student Jerry, his sexy and scantily clad wife Becky, adventurous Eileen, and virginal goodie-goodie Molly--track him to a closed down tourist trap called Slausen's Lost Oasis. There, Woody's trail turns cold and the foursome experience mysterious mechanical difficulties of their own.
Stranded, they become the guest of the Lost Oasis's strange but kindly owner, Mr. Slausen, who lives alone on the property with his plethora of life-like mannequins and wax figures.
This tourist trap turns out to be more of a trap than most, as the city kids are hunted down by a psychopath in a mask who threatens to turn them into dummies to be put on display.
Mannequins are inherently creepy, like red headed children and used car salesmen, and so this movie is rife with creepy moments, although short on outright scares. The acting is typically run-of-the-mill, except for Chuck Connors as Slausen, who did a pretty outstanding job. The musical scoring is often times bizarre, and doesn't always work, but that's pretty easy to look past. The women, on the other hand, demand an eye be kept on them. They are all beautiful, but despite a skinny-dipping scene only 13 minutes in, never actually "bare it all" (which, for a low-budget picture of this era is fairly rare, making it equal parts commendable and disappointing).
The mannequin-faced killer was actually pretty disturbing, especially when he gets all gussied up and looks like a Bizarro version of Robert Goulet. If Leatherface and Carrie White swapped fluids to make a bastard baby boy, this fella could quite likely be the result.
A sufficiently spooky and twisted little tale that manages to not come off as too dated...despite the fact it is well past it's sell-by date.
1979
Rated PG
90 Minutes
Color
English
United States
"We're going to have a party!"
--J/Metro
