TURISTAS

A group of young people (three Americans, two English, and one Australian) on vacation in Brazil get stranded in an unknown location after the bus they were traveling in is destroyed in a dangerous road accident. The young people have to wait a few days before the arrival of a new means of transport, so they decide to accept the offer from Kiko, a Brazilian they met along the way, who offers them accommodation at his uncle Zamora's place. After a long and harrowing journey through the jungle, the group arrives at their destination, but instead of the promised hospitality, they receive a welcome that is anything but friendly… At a time when American horror cinema has offered us excesses of ultra-violent films like "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes", it seems that we are suddenly trying to slightly change the format of the genre in question. Lately, we are no longer just faced with killers who kill because their mind is sick, but with human beings who enjoy inflicting, before death, fierce and deep tortures on their fellow humans. This change was introduced by the now famous film by Eli Roth "Hostel", currently in cinemas with the "Part II", and it is what John Stockwell (Deep Rising) has attempted to do (and I am sure that other directors will follow) with "Turistas" (in cinemas since the beginning of June, although initially destined only for the home video market in August), a 90-minute horror/thriller set in Brazil, distributed by Eagle Pictures, with Melissa George (Amityville Horror) and Josh Duhamel (Transformers) as the main characters. The key element created to achieve an obvious originality or at least a diversity in the story lies in the way these people inflict torture on the unfortunate tourists, and that is in a medical way!! Let me explain better, the "form" is medical but the scalpel is used incorrectly. The director, however, after an initial sequence that should (without showing anything violent) make the viewer understand what is in store for them, reveals from the first lines to be more attracted by the wonders of this continent rather than giving depth and rhythm to the film, in fact, for the first 25 minutes nothing happens, only the phases of getting to know the group on vacation in the place where they are partying between drinks and typically Brazilian music. After a long night of revelry, the group of tourists collapses to the ground, and not from exhaustion, but simply because the ambush against them has begun, in fact, upon waking up, the young people realize they have been robbed and, as per the script, accept the offer from Kiko, a native, who invites them to his uncle's house in the house in the middle of the forest. All this, however, proceeds with a peak of tension and rhythm equal to zero, demonstrating how the director manages to give the best of himself, after "Deep Rising", with underwater shots (in this specific case in the sequence of the journey to reach the mysterious house) proving once again the talent that Stockwell has for documentaries more than for thrillers. In the middle of all this, there are some interesting scenes to add, where the viewer is deceived believing in a sudden change of rhythm and tension, but in reality nothing happens. Finally, after 60 minutes, the film attempts to shift gears showing how Uncle Zamora tries to inflict medical tortures on the unfortunate tourists, succeeding, however, in his intention only with one of them and the rest of the group manages to escape, leading to foot chases in the rain and underwater (just to change). The film is a succession of ups and downs - more downs than ups - and a tension almost imperceptible for the viewer until the moment the protagonists find themselves fighting for their survival, leading the film to a fairly original and discreet conclusion. A copy of Hostel only half successful.