Tourist Trap is a 1979 supernatural horror film written and directed by David Schmoeller and starring Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, and Tanya Roberts. The story follows a group of teenagers on a road trip when they are left stranded in a desolate area near a roadside attraction, where one of the owners uses his telekinetic powers to terrorize the team through the use of evil mannequins. A pretty standard setup to a 70s horror film but the use of mannequins and telekinesis helps set it apart and make it feel like its own thing as well. There’s a lot of similarities and things taken from movies before this one, but credit given where it’s due, this was a short film made by David Schmoeller in film school that he converted to his first full length feature on a slim budget so that’s not for nothing. The stranded teens wandering around someone else’s property without permission was reminiscent of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the now desolate roadside attraction thanks to the construction of a new highway reminded me of Psycho, and the telekinetic powers were like Carrie. So, no originality points in that aspect I suppose, but everything is used as inspiration for something else so I can’t crack down too hard on that either. Just the setup of the film being rather general, and all of the similarities to other films that I listed above made this movie remind me of other films more than it carved out its own path in my mind. Also, the House of Wax remake that came out in 2005, felt like an updated version of this movie with a bit of a thicker plot more so than it felt like a remake of the original House of Wax.
The style choices in this movie cracked me up as well viewing this in 2024. High waisted shorts, bell bottom jeans, and tube tops galore, based on the clothing alone you can easily tell this movie was made in the 70s so that was cool for the vintage and nostalgic aspects. The killer was not anything or anyone to write home about either in my opinion, I saw the reveal coming from a mile away (but maybe I just watch too much horror) and outside of the cool and creepy looking mask he wore for a majority of the film there just wasn’t a lot to really talk about or want to see more of from this antagonist. Certainly no Jason, Michael, or Leatherface but maybe that’s also an unfair comparison. If I had to choose a standout performance from the bunch I’d probably have to say Tanya Roberts who played Becky, she just ate up the screen when she had the time and looked the most like an actual aspiring Hollywood actress from her look to her delivery and movements on screen. Which I suppose makes sense as she went on to do a role in the final season of Charlie’s Angels, star and play a role in multiple films through the 80s and 90s, and eventually landed the iconic role of Midge Pinciotti in That 70s Show in the late 90s and 2000s. If I had to choose a runner up I guess I would say Jocelyn Jones who played Molly, she played the role as the innocent and somewhat too trusting final girl proficiently and was believable enough in the part. All in all, I would say this movie was just okay for me. There were elements and ideas here that really pulled me in and grabbed my attention and I rather appreciate the fact that this was a one-off horror film, which modernly can be pretty hard to come by within the horror genre, especially the slasher subgenre. But, the standard cookie cutter way of storytelling implemented in the film was too predictable and there wasn’t enough there to save the film from just feeling a bit boring at times, mix that in with the unoriginality in the fact that I was reminded of other films throughout my entire viewing of this one, and you have a pretty standard to substandard slasher flick on your hands. At least in my opinion. If you’re into 70s horror flicks though and haven’t seen this one, or if you like most of the other films I mentioned above then you will probably be able to have some fun with this film if nothing else and it’s easy enough to access on streaming so check it out for yourself if you feel so inclined. Thank you for reading everyone and I’ll be back soon to meet your pro wrestling and horror needs as always.
