Turistas (2006)

Turistas (2006) Also known in France as Paradise Lost ! It’s crazy how the French need to change titles! I saw this film almost ten years ago. I hated it at the time. Here’s the review I wrote: “It’s so bad that it gives you tourista! Apart from beautiful girls and magnificent landscapes, there is once again nothing to save, as in all John Stockwell‘s best films. Yes, even his best films are bad, apparently. He should take a bit more trouble to look after his works, which are far from masterpieces! Nothing to salvage, I repeat. Too many inconsistencies and phoned-in scenes for that to be the case.”

Except that I’ve given it a second chance and I can see that it’s not as bad as all that. I’m going to bump its rating up a notch. I loved Melissa George once again. She reminded me of the fabulous Agnes Bruckner here. Melissa was already excellent in 30 Days of Night (2007), Amityville (2005) and, of course, Triangle (2009). I haven’t yet seen the mini-series Bag of Bones (2011), because I’m reluctant to read Stephen King’s book first. Knowing me, it could still take years…

Anyway! As for Josh Duhamel (Bandit, The Show, When in Rome, You’re Not You ) and Olivia Wilde (Lazarus Effect, Her, A Vigilante, Deadfall, there’s nothing to complain about. They’re always a pleasure to see again. The film’s title of course means ‘Tourists’ and not ‘Traveller’s Diarrhoea’ as I implied in my first review at the time.

The first hour is quite interesting. Then there’s a bit of gore. However, fans of haemoglobin and extreme violence will still find this film too gentle and even say that it has nothing to do with horror! As far as I’m concerned, that was more than enough. But, yes, it’s more survival than gory, sadistic horror. In the last part, there’s also too much going on in and under water.

What’s more, it’s in dark caves, so you don’t really understand what’s going on. However, I ended up feeling suffocated. And I was quite happy to be able to breathe in front of my screen. For nothing in the world would I have wanted to experience what the protagonists went through in this feature film. So the film is still pretty bad! The direction is disappointing. You’d think it was some sort of Hostel set in Brazil. Are we trying to avoid tourism there too???

The film is a long ride through the Brazilian forest. The story turns into a manhunt during the last 30 minutes, which are the most intense in the film. The viewer is tense, but by no means petrified with terror. Admittedly, there’s suspense and the tropical thriller atmosphere is quite appealing, but there’s nothing extra to make the film stand out. It’s not necessarily a recommendable film, but it’s a radical departure from the torture porn genre as we know it. Neither a dreck nor a masterpiece, the kind of film that goes perfectly with a quiet evening of beer and chips for thriller fans. Or, at least, much more thriller than horror.