Country: United States
Genre: Horror/ Suspense/ Action/ Mainstream
Director: John Stockwell
Year: 2006
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
When Turistas came out in 2006, the advertising campaign made it felt like a ripoff or cash-in of Hostel, which was released the previous year. As it turned out, the torture porn trend had already peaked, and consumers stayed away in droves.
That’s too bad because Turistas is actually pretty darned good.
Much of the reason for that is because it was directed by John Stockwell. Who the heck is John Stockwell, you might ask?
John Stockwell makes movies by and about young people. He’s made three now; Blue Crush, Into The Blue, and Turistas, and each one was much better than it needed to be. Unlike other filmmakers that make youth-oriented films, Stockwell never talks down to his audience. The young people in his films typically lack experience and are naive, are perhaps ignorant and obnoxious, but they are never stupid.
All of his films display a high level of craft. Cinematography, editing, acting, music scores, script, special effects are slick and professional, far above the sloppy work that’s usually done on youth-oriented features. That’s no accident.
In the case of Turistas, a bunch of kids from the first world end up in Brazil, for the usual reasons: to party, swim on beautiful beaches and have sex with the natives. But a guy named Zamora (Miguel Lunardi) has other plans for them. Zamora is pissed off that his beloved Brazil has been endlessly exploited by it’s neighbor to the North, for natural resources, slaves, sex, and most recently for medical tourism. Zamora has found a way to balance the scales a little bit, and no, it doesn’t involve torture.
John Stockwell, screenwriter Michael Ross and the actors work together to make the kids obnoxious enough that you can kind of see Zamora’s point, but sympathetic enough that you don’t really want them to end up on the business end of a sharp instrument. That’s a delicate balance.
The young actors do their part. As Alex, Josh Duhamel is the typical parochial American, but he has an appealing core of decency. Amy (Beau Garrett), alone of the group, has actually taken the time to learn Portuguese, which makes her likeable. Finn (Desmond Askew), the major horndog and party animal of the group, is more bark than bite. When a native beauty comes on to him, he actually seems surprised, which is kind of touching.
My point is, the writer, directors and actors work together to make these characters real, not just the typical dumb, photogenic young slabs of meat, so as they get into deeper and deeper trouble, there is some rooting interest.
Even the villain, Zamora, has his reasons, but screenwriter Michael Ross cleverly alludes to the fact that Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese, who treated the indigenous peoples just as barbarously as we Americans treated the Indians. We always knew Zamora was a murderous Marxist, but he turns out to be a hypocrite, too.
The politics of colonialization and exploitation are skillfully woven into the script with a light touch, so you can ignore them in favor of the mindless adventure elements if you want, but they enrich the movie considerably.
Technically speaking, director John Stockwell earns his pay. He milks the suspense inherent in Michael Ross’ script for all it’s worth. As always in a Stockwell picture, the cinematography, this time by Enrique Chediak, is luminous and gorgeous. Turistas has a wonderful soundtrack of a variety of current popular Brazilian musical styles.
As for the horror and bloodshed, Stockwell knows just how far to go. Turistas never becomes a freak show. Stockwell gives us one bloodcurdling horror sequence, and that’s all the film really needs. The rest of the violence feels immediate and raw, but never gratuitous. Turistas’ special effects are realistic without calling undue attention to themselves.
Still, Turistas isn’t a great film. It’s focus is too narrow for that. It was designed as a youth horror picture, with a lot of beautiful young people as eye candy. But on that basis, it’s far, far better than it needs to be.
If you’re in the market for a youth-oriented suspense/horror flick that treats it’s audience with respect, Turistas should appeal to you.
By the way, I have omitted a trailer for Turistas because it gives away many of the dramatic beats of the movie, as well as the horror scenario at the center of it. If you decide to watch Turistas on the basis of this review, don’t watch a trailer and don’t read the back cover of the DVD before you watch it. It’ll be more fun that way, trust me.
