User Reviews

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")

I was really shocked when I logged onto IMDb and saw the user rating for this film at a 3.2 out of 10. You've got to be joking me!? This film wasn't even close to being that bad. I'd say that it deserves at least a 5 out of 10 average, but I personally would give it much higher of a rating. "Turistas" follows siblings Alex (Josh Duhamel) and Bea (Olivia Wilde) and Bea's friend Amy (Beau Garrett), who are traveling in the beautiful country of Brazil. After being in a near-deadly bus crash, they meet another traveler, Pru (Melissa George) and two European brothers, and decide to head down to a popular beach spot while waiting for another bus. They end up staying longer and partying all night, but awaken on the beach and realize they were drugged. After getting in trouble with some locals, they go with a man who they met on the beach, Kiko, to a secluded house in the jungle to spend the night. Little do they know, a psychopathic surgeon is awaiting their arrival, and they have been lured there to become unwilling organ donors for other Brazilians who are awaiting transplants through the black market.

I have to say that I was actually really pleased with "Turistas". The ridiculously low user rating is a mystery to me, because as far as I'm concerned this was an above-average horror film that is much better than the most recent entries in the genre. Often compared with "Hostel" (but much more similar to "Wolf Creek" if you ask me), this film is light years better in my opinion, this was a really entertaining film. The plot isn't entirely original - young adults pursued by a psycho in a foreign country. It's been done before, many times, but the tropical setting and the twisting of the plot (mainly the reason the tourists are being killed) really makes this film stand out. Rather than a slasher movie, this is much more of a survival horror film, and a suspenseful one at that. The pacing was nicely plotted as well and I was never uninterested, always a good thing. The tension slowly builds during the first forty minutes or so, and after that all hell breaks loose. Another thing that really made this movie stand out from others though was the setting - the crystal clear waters, misty jungles, and amazing Brazilian beaches were beautiful. While it may not be your typical horror film setting, it's made use of here and is some great eye candy. I also have to mention the underwater cave sequences, which were amazing to look at but also really claustrophobic. I couldn't even imagine being in the petrifying situations these characters endured.

Surprisingly the acting in the film was really good also. Josh Duhamel, an up and coming new star, is the male lead/older brother and plays the part well. Melissa George (of the "Amityville Horror" remake) is an Australian traveler who becomes friends with the group, and she was excellent. Olivia Wilde plays Duhamel's younger sister, and Beau Garrett plays her friend. I thought all of the acting was actually very believable, and while some of the more minor characters were a little underdeveloped, the characters and the actors playing them were all very good. My only real complaint about the film would be a couple editing issues. There were a couple of times that I was confused as to what was going on and the time could have been addressed more clearly, but overall these were very minor problems that had no effect on the film. Unlike other films similar to this, "Turistas" isn't over done in the gore department - there's enough suspense and sufficient shocks to keep the film scary. Granted there are a few gross-out scenes, but nothing as ridiculously violent (and unbelievable) as what you'd find in "Hostel".

Overall, "Turistas" is a suspenseful, surprisingly believable, and very fun horror movie. It has some slick imagery and a beautiful setting, plus the storyline is really well written. Some may call it a rip off of "Hostel", but I personally think it was heaps better - some may strongly disagree, but I thought "Hostel" was pure garbage. Anyway, the point is if you like intense survival horror movies, "Turistas" could be a really nice treat. Ignore the currently low user rating, this film isn't even remotely as bad as it's made out to be. A solid 8/10, pushing a 9.

Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde) and her friend Amy (Beau Garrett) are traveling in Brazil. Their bus goes off the road stranding everybody. They and Englishmen Finn (Desmond Askew) and Liam (Max Brown), and Australian Pru (Melissa George) who speaks fluent Portuguese decide to go to the beach and find two more tourists at the bar. They are drugged and robbed. The two other tourists are kidnapped and killed during an attempted escape. The six new friends get help from Kiko who takes them to an isolated cabin. They are taken prisoner by Dr. Zamora who intends to harvest the rich gringos' organs for the poor of Rio de Janeiro.

The first half is pretty good. I would have simplified it by making all characters friends. It would make them more emotionally connected to each other. It would also make the final three less obvious. The first half has the tension of traveling in a foreign land. The chaos in the village is pretty good. The organ harvesting is so idiotic. The three girls are more likely to be sex trafficked and everybody is worth more for ransom anyways. It's a silly made up fear that makes little sense. The final chase in the water is too chaotic and hard to decipher. This is no great horror but it's got some B-movie goodness.

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

John Stockwell's "Turistas" mines territory recently visited by "Hostel", but it substitutes Brazil for Europe. A bunch of young tourists from Australia, the UK, and the US, are left high and dry when the bus they are traveling in is destroyed and their personal effects are stolen. There are no points for guessing what happens next. There are elements of "Dr. Butcher MD" in this beautifully shot horror pic that lavishes attention on the hot bodies of its female stars. It is not as violent or as gory as the recent "Texas Chainhsaw Massacre - The Beginning", but director Stockwell (who played Arnie's best friend in "Christine") does a great job of building the suspense. By intercutting the situation the turistas are facing with what the bad guys are up to, Stockwell creates an atmosphere of impending dread and hopelessness. There is a gory scene in which a stomach is cut open in graphic detail ("Men Behind The Sun"-style) and organs are removed, and there are also a couple of vicious assaults, but the name of the game here is tension. Some of the underwater material is gorgeous to look at, recalling the mood of Argento's "Inferno", and the jungle setting is unsettling. Although the film runs out of steam towards the end and spends a bit too much time underwater, it is, nevertheless, a very decent horror pic set in an exotic milieu and enhanced by some gruesome, realistic scenes of violence.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Turistas opens with a scene that is effectively chilling, but none-the-less completely destroys any mystery or suspense that the rest of the film might have been able to generate. A woman lies in a room strapped to a table, whimpering and begging for her life. In a few short edits we understand why she is there and what her captors are doing to her. Having that knowledge, the mystery of the film has been spelled out for us. We know what is stirring around the film's central characters at every single moment for the rest of the story. This would be the equivalent of Hitchcock telling us everything about Norman Bates in a pre-credits sequence.

The suspense that the film would have generated without the scene is really quite good. Six tourists: Three Americans, two Brits and an Australian woman are on vacation in Brazil, on their way to the northeastern beaches. They decide not to fly but instead take a bus. The bus' driver begins driving erratically and finally drives the bus over a cliff. Luckily, everyone is able to first bail out through the windows. With no transportation, the kids head off down the road and find a nice beach with a bar serving drinks. They do a little partying with the natives, drinking and dancing, until they notice that they are getting . . . a little woozy.

They wake up the next morning to find that they've been robbed, but also that something else is up. Hopelessly lost, they wander around the island trying to find help. But their partying the night before leads them in the direction of some local individuals who are in a business that is hazardous to the health of our heroes. More I can't say, except that watching the rest of the film, I was stunned at how good the suspense was and disappointed that I already knew the film's secret. When the kids find and empty house and open the cabinets and doors, we already know what everything means and what the owner of that house is up to.

One element that does maintain its suspense is the presence of a native named Kiko (Agles Steib), who has a sweet-face and a shy manner that endears him to these tourists. He seems like the nicest guy in the world, but for a long time we aren't sure if we can trust him. When he takes the kids swimming in some underwater caves, there's a nervous gleam in his eyes that makes us wonder if he's helping his new friends or leading them into a trap.

Once the kids are aware of what is going on (too late for at least one of them) there is some semblance of morality to the villain, a doctor who is doing a noble thing but going about it in exactly the wrong way. Given some rewrites on the script, Turistas might have been in league with films like Return to Paradise or Extreme Measures, films that build suspense on the backs of real-life issues. As it plays out, this is just one more piece of gore porn, with chases and shoot-outs and pretty bodies. The closing scene is one of that standard chase-around-the-island scenes that we've seen a million times before, and seems to go on and on until whatever suspense was building has long since drained out.

Turistas was directed by John Stockwell, a former teen actor whom you might have seen in the 80s in films like Christine and My Science Project. As a director he specializes in making films about beautiful young people in pretty locations. He directed Crazy/Beautiful, Blue Crush and Into the Blue. He makes good films, but he has yet to make a great one. With Turistas, I just wish he would have rethought his screenplay. As it stands, it is thin, familiar and reveals its hand way too soon.

(Synopsis) A group of young tourists traveling by bus in the mountains of Brazil are unhurt when their bus is involved in an accident. Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde), and her best friend Amy (Beau Garrett) hear about a cabana bar just down the road from passersby and decide to go to the bar instead of waiting for the next bus to arrive. They find the bar on an alluring beach. The women put their bikinis on and run into the water with the men behind them. They are having the time of their lives in the sun and surf. When night falls, they begin to party with the locals by drinking and dancing all night. They awaken with their faces in the sand the next morning and discover that the bar is deserted and all of their possessions have been stolen. They start walking to the next town where they meet Kiko (Agles Steib), who takes them to his uncle's house, which just happens to be a 10-hour trek in the jungle. Kiko shows them a beautiful underwater cavern with air pockets that they dive into and begin to explore. What they don't know is their adventure in paradise is about to become a terrifying one.

(My Comment) If you want to see three hot chicks in bikinis the whole movie and beautiful scenery of Brazil along with some petrifying situations and gory blood scenes, this is one movie to see. The storyline has its share of action and chase scenes with great suspense. If you are claustrophobic about being underwater and inside a cave, you will not like some of the scenes, because you will find yourself gasping for air as if you were there. The scene where Amy is being operated on is so graphic that you may want to turn your head. This horror thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat, because you won't know what is going to happen next. I know that this movie has convinced me that I don't ever want to go to Brazil. However, if you do go to Brazil, my advice to you is to take the plane, not the bus. (Fox Atomic, Run time 1:29, Rated R)(8/10)

A motley assortment of tourists vacationing in Brazil find themselves trapped in a remote beachside area after their bus gets totaled in a roadside accident. The tourists' lives are put in considerable jeopardy when they venture deep into the jungle and run afoul of a lethal and illegal human organ ring run by the bitter and ruthless Zamora (a superbly chilling portrayal by Miguel Lunardi), who plans on using the tourists as unwilling donors. Director John Stockwell, working from an intriguing script by Michael Arlen Ross, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, delivers a vivid evocation of the exotic and flavorsome location, ably creates and sustains a strong atmosphere of dread and unease, and builds a substantial amount of gut-kicking suspense (a gripping and nerve-wracking chase set piece set in an underwater cave is especially tense and thrilling). Moreover, Stockwell does a fine job of slowly allowing the initially breezy and carefree tone to become more increasingly dark and grim as the frightfully plausible story unfolds and pulls out all the ferocious stops in the brutal and harrowing last third. The attractive and appealing cast play the well-drawn and engaging characters with real skill and conviction, with stand-out work by Josh Duhamel as the grumpy Alex, Melissa George as the sweet Pru, Olivia Wilde as Alex's sunny younger sister Bea, Desmond Askew as the whiny and sarcastic Finn, Max Brown as Finn's jolly mate Liam, Beau Garrett as the brash Amy, and Agles Steib as amiable local Kiko. The luscious Lucy Ramos has a small, yet sexy role (and bares her insanely fine body!) as enticing tart Arolea. The startling moments of harsh and unflinching violence pack a pretty wicked punch, with an unforgettably nasty sequence in which a still conscious gal gets savagely eviscerated by Zamora rating as the definite stomach-churning highlight. In addition, this picture even makes an interesting and relevant point about how sleazy tourists use and abuse the locals and hence deserve to be victimized by Zamora. Best of all, there's no silly and obtrusive humor to detract from the severity of the unsparingly harsh and sadistic horror. Enrique Chediak's gorgeous widescreen cinematography offers plenty of breathtaking shots of the beautiful countryside. Paul Haslinger's shuddery and hypnotic score likewise hits the shivery spot. A solid and satisfying movie.