Merrick here...

...with some looks at TURISTAS, the first film from Fox Searchlight's new offspring Fox Atomic.

Love it..."Fox Atomic". Does their logo blow up the Fox logo in a spectacular mushroom cloud? If not, what a missed opportunity. On Atomic's upcoming slate? 28 WEEKS LATER and a REVENGE OF THE NERDS remake. At lest they're being diverse.

Anyhoo, we've got three reviews of TURISTAS today -- quite a bit of material herein, so I won't jabber on too long. To cut to the chase: the reviews are all varying degrees of okay-to-positive; sounds like a competent thriler. The film's directed by John Stockwell..."Cougar" in TOP GUN...whose directing credits include CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL, BLUE CRUSH, and INTO THE BLUE.

TURISTAS hits on December 1 here in the States, and first quarter of 2007 overseas. PLEASE NOTE: ALL THREE OF THESE REVIEWS CONTAIN SOME LEVEL OF SPOILERS; the last one in particular.

With that in mind, here we go...

First up? Your Friend the Penguin...

Hey! I just got back from a screening of the upcoming horror/thriller movie, "Turistas". Other than the confusing as hell trailer and crazy amounts of advertisement I saw for the movie on the internet I had no clue what to expect. After I heard about the screening I looked up some of the actors and filmmakers online. The only actress I recognized was Melissa George, and I barely knew anything about her. This lack of known faces, and the fact that the director played Cougar in "Top Gun", made me doubt that this movie would be any good. It was a monday night though and I was still a little hung over from the weekend so I figured I'd spend a night watching this movie and not go out.

For those who don't want read my whole review, here's a summary. I had a fucking blast. For a fun movie with titties and blood that's even a little innovative, GO SEE THIS MOVIE!! If you are still reading my half-dyslexic writing after that beware some minor spoilers possibly below because here's the rest of my review.

I thought at first that this movie was going to be a "Hostel" clone. The virgin studio, Fox Atomic was going to cash in on the recent success of horror movies like "Hostel" and "Saw", to make a quick buck. They essentially may have done this with "Turistas" but that's not to say that the ride wasn't fun while it lasted.

The basic plot of the movie is as follows. The movie starts out with a girl on a operating table crying in a creepy as hell setting. After some sounds and effects it cuts to a scene on a bus. A brother, sister and her friend, Alex (Josh Duhamel), Bea (Olivia Wilde) and Amy (Beau Garrett) respectably, are travelling to somewhere in Brazil on vacation. After almost hitting some kids, sitting on a cliff for a while and then careening off, the bus that they were on leaves them stranded in the wild. They see some locals carrying drinks and upon asking them about the drinks follow their instructions with some other tourists that were on the bus to a little beach village complete with a bar, some houses, and a club. After a night of fun they find themselves drugged, robbed, and lost far from all civilization. As they try to figure out what happened and get home they wind up in more trouble in the town and escape to a creepy-ass house in the middle of nowhere. I'll stop here as I don't want to spoil the rest.

At first I thought I would be bothered by the lack of known talent in this movie. After the first few minutes I knew that I was wrong. This movie is gritty as hell. From the first few minutes you feel like you are going through what the characters are going through, and cringe every step of the way. This just wouldn't be possible if baby-face Tom Cruise was the star. None of the actors or actresses overdo it and thus are very believable as the lost tourists. The british guys are funny and lovable and the rest of the cast is equally likeable. This makes it so much more painful when you witness what they go through.

This movie is not what they are marketing it to be. Sure there are some gross parts and scary moments but at heart "Turistas" is a thriller, not a horror movie. Some of the most enthralling parts of the movie are chase scenes or tense scenes between characters, not pop-out scary moments, or noises in the dark. One of the best parts of the movie in fact is an underwater cave swimming chase with flashlights. I am pretty confident in saying that this is the only time this has been done. This whole scene is steeped in so much tension and claustrophobia that it made me squirm in my seat.

As much as I loved this movie, I'm not going to say that it is for everyone. There is a LOT of blood/violence in this movie. Not fake-looking comical "Early Peter Jackson" amounts of blood either. Hard, gritty, realistic blood. Heads being hit with rocks. Wounds stapled. People slowly and precisely being cut open. Gunshot wounds. "Turistas" has all of it and includes it with style. The plot of this movie is equally disturbing. I won't reveal it here but let's just say that it's a lot more believable than "Saw" or "Hostel", and some people may find it fucked up beyond comprehension.

In conclusion, although not for everyone, "Turistas" was a refreshing horror movie/thriller that kept me enthralled until the end. If these are the kind of movies that are coming out of Fox Atomic, I think that the studio is destined for success. If you use this review call me, "Your Friend the Penguin"

This one's from Deckard...

SOME MINOR SPOILERS!!!

First in line to see a preview screening of Fox Atomic’s first feature film, TURISTAS, directed by John Stockwell (INTO THE BLUE, BLUE CRUSH). As some of you may know, Fox Atomic is a new genre division of 20th Century Fox mostly consisting of horror films directed towards teenagers and young adults. They also have THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 and 28 WEEKS LATER on their upcoming slate. They passed out a bunch of free stuff, “Turistas. GO HOME” hats and shirts as well as posters for the film. They also did a mini trivia game before the start of the film, with questions relating to Brazil. For a correct answer you got a travel guide to some Middle or South American country, which I found funny considering the subject of the film. ATOMIC energy drinks were also given out. The film has already been rated by the MPAA, and this film was the final cut (at least for now).

I know Bloody Disgusting has really been looking forward to this film for a while now, and truth be told I wasn’t really all that into it, but being a horror film it had my slight attention. The film starts off in a very clichéd manner, with a montage of newspapers headings, photos, articles and passports all detailing lost, kidnapped and disappeared tourists in some remote place in Brazil. Samba music plays in the background (similar setup to the beginning of HILLS HAVE EYES).

We meet our main characters on this shitty bus, which soon thereafter runs off the edge of this cliff, forcing our group to be stranded in the seemingly middle of nowhere. The characters find a (obviously) beautiful beach with a nice little bar and a few locals. Everyone strips down to go out swimming and from here on out to the end of the film all our female characters run around in just their bikinis (certainly a plus). The group is drugged, and robbed during the night.

My main problem with this film is what they do the next day. Being a horror film, it is expected that people do stupid things, and boy this one is stupid. They come across Kiko, a local who was at the bar where they were drugged and robbed. Kiko tells them that he knows of a “safe” place to hide where they can wait for the next bus. So our group follows this guy trekking into the jungle and climbing this freaking mountain for a good while. Yeah, messed up I know. Sad thing is, no one really seems to care that much. One of the guys makes a passing mention of “what sort of house has no fucking road to it” but other than that that’s about it.

Kiko leads our group of tourists to the film’s center of torture and death, a remote cabin where this crazy Brazilian doctor harvests internal organs “for the Brazilians” or something like that. As he’s digging around for someone’s kidney, he goes on to mention about how the white Euros and Americans stole Brazil’s sugar, gold, children and other shit, so now he steals people’s organs to make them easily available for those who die waiting to get an organ transplant..

I honestly don’t have anything against this film, although I was expecting a lot of gore and deaths, which if you like both of these you’ll be somewhat let down because there isn’t much. In fact, compared to current and recent horror films, this movie is quite tame in comparison. An operation scene is the worse it gets, and you can probably get that on like the Health Channel or whatever. Likewise, most of the deaths are run of the mill (by which I mean some people just get shot) although there are a few pleasant surprises.

The setting and location really help the film out, and the cinematography is nice. The film suffers a bit from the “MTV style” of editing in some areas but for the most part it’s good. There is actually a lot of underwater action in this film, taking place in this large complex system of underground caves. These are all filmed by underwater photographer Peter Zuccarini, who also worked with Stockwell in “Into the Blue.” The problem with Turistas however is that we’re in underground caves, not nice warm, crystal clear Caribbean waters and as such I feel that the lighting could have been better, because there are some instances where you’re just confused and don’t know what’s going on at all. There are a couple other scenes which I feel suffer from poor lighting as well.

As far as characters go, we have your usual bunch. Nice looking chicks in bikinis (always a plus), two crazy Brits from London, a brother/sister couple, with the brother being overprotective of his little sister, a “well traveled” Aussie chick who also speaks Portuguese and a couple from Sweden. The dialogue actually isn’t really that bad or corny, which often plagues horror films.

TURISTAS isn’t horrible, but it’s not the next great pinnacle in the horror genre. I wished they had passed out comment cards because I really feel like they should just recut some of the film and go ahead and make it PG-13 (they could do this pretty easy). As much as I am opposed to cutting films just to obtain ratings, this film would definitely sell better if it was rated that instead of R, because I find it a pretty tame R and as such I am somewhat confused as to who exactly they want to market this film for. TURISTAS certainly doesn’t add anything new to the genre, but it’s still an enjoyable flick. Just don’t go in expecting a gorefest, which they might try and market this as.
Turistas hits theaters December 1st.

Replicants are like any other machine - they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem

|UNC| Deckard

Finaly, here's Lord Luthias. This one has a lot of spoilers in it. They're well marked, but...be warned.

My college campus (University of Maryland) had a sneak peek of "Turistas" tonight. I haven't seen any reviews of it around online, so I thought I'd go ahead send you my review of it:

Turistas marks the first film produced Fox Atomic. There's been a lot of speculation as to whether or not the label can produce worthwhile movies, especially with the horror genre and with such iffy titles on the way like The Hills Have Eyes 2 and 28 Weeks Later.

The film releases nationwide on December 1, but my college was rather lucky enough to get a sneak peek of it now. I wouldn't have normally gone, except my friend is an absolute horror nut and told me I'd really enjoy it. I was rather hesitant, as I don't normally watch horror movies (it isn't really my genre) but I accompanied him anyway.

So with this review, I'm going to spend the next bunch of paragraphs giving a really detailed, spoiler-filled plot summary of the movie. Then I'll dive into a more generalized impression of the movie without giving specifics away:

SO AGAIN,

THE NEXT FIVE PARAGRAPHS ARE ALL SPOILERS!!!

BEGIN SPOILERS!!!

The movie opens with three Americans on a bus in Brazil, along with several other people. There's the main male lead, Alex, his sister Bea, Bea's friend Amy, a woman from Austrailia who acts as kind of a translator Pru, and two British men. Apparently, they're having fun touring the country. The bus driver, however, is apparently insane and makes a sharp turn, getting the bus stuck on the side of a cliff. Everyone jumps out the windows in the nick of time, and the bus tumbles down the cliff. Well this leaves our characters in quite a predicament, as the next bus won't arrive for 10 hours. Our characters are in quite a pickle. They decide to wait, and befriend the British folks, before some women walk by carrying alcoholic drinks. Why, there's a bar down on the beach! Of course, the characters decide to head down there and get DRUNK, and much dancing/raving/sexing occurs. Our main characters befriend two Swedish kids and a Brazilian native named Kiko, and the party begins!

The Americans and Brits awaken the next morning to discover everything but their clothes are gone. Passports, money, Swedish friends, alcohol, Brazilian natives; forget about it! Confused, our characters decide to travel into town to find out just what is going on. Meanwhile, we find the two Swedish kids getting carried away by some Brazilian men. Yeah, they're hogtied. And why? It's not really clear at the moment. They try to escape, leading to them killing the dude, and then the girl (running away) falls off a cliff. Definately the coolest death of the movie, everyone yelled. Then we see the mastermind behind all this, and he's just a relatively normal looking guy. In fact, he's a doctor. It seems he wants these tourists (Turistas, GET IT?!) for their internal organs so he can use them in his hospital.

Anyway, the gang heads to a nearby town, where everyone acts really weird. A kid is spotted wearing one of the Brit's hats, and a chase ensues. Chaos breaks out, and Kiko shows up to save the day. He promises them a safehouse up at his uncle's place in the mountains. After all, the next bus won't arrive for two days (what's with Brazilian transportation, anyway?). So the gang agrees, and heads off for a loooong hike. Before arriving, though, Kiko invites them for a swim. There's a giant swimming hole with underground caves. It's a cool little scene, and it plays much more importance later on. At one point, you can see Kiko feeling guilty for leading the gang into an unsuspecting trap. He offers to take them back to town, but they refuse. They are tired, and just want to rest. But before they have too much fun, though, Kiko makes a bad jump off a rock and busts his head. The gang carries him to the house, staple his head with a stapler (!!!), and settle in for the night.

The gang is awakened by a helicopter. Kiko jumps from bed to meet the man coming from the helicopter. It's the doctor. Uh oh. He's accompanied by a few other people, all of whom are carrying large suitcases. Again, uh oh. While Kiko and the doctor argue, while an associate of the doctor's tells Alex to run away immediately. Stupidly, he doesn't listen, and the whole crew is jumped while Kiko leaves. Next thing you know, Amy (Bea's blonde friend) is on an operating table. Oh, and she isn't knocked out. The doctor talks to her while he cuts her open (pretty graphic, it was very tense at this part), basically revealing how he's going to take all her and all her friend's internal organs because they all have use at his hospital. One of the Brits is tied down next to her, watching it all happen. The rest, however, are outside in a weird, barbed-wired pen. Through horror movie ingenuity, they free themselves and Kiko returns to help them. Bea and Pru head to the swimming hole while !
!
the men go back to rescue the Brit. They succeed, but in the aftermath, both Brits are killed. Kiko and Alex return to the swimming hole, and meet with the two girls.

But the mad doctor and his two henchmen are on their tails! So they dive into the underwater caves. A scuffle between Alex and Kiko breaks out, but it's loud and they are discovered. Kiko takes a bullet to the chest, killing him. The next bit can only really be described as an underwater chase scene. In all the movies I've ever seen, I don't think I've ever actually seen an UNDERWATER chase sequence. It was pretty cool, definately tense, and ended with the three remaining kids victorious. The ending seemed rather jarring, when the last remaining henchman must decide to either kill the three kids or the badly injured doctor. He shoots the doctor (to the applause of the audience), and then the kids basically hop on a plane and get the hell out of Brazil.

END INTENSE SPOILERS!!!

If you're looking for a horror movie, I'm not sure Turistas is the right movie. I actually really enjoyed it, in fact, I enjoyed it a great deal more than I thought I would. The biggest problem is that it's being built up like Hostel. I've never seen it, but I know the basic plot of it. Aside from the gruesome surgical scene, it isn't really all that horror-ish. It was more of a thriller, I thought, than a horror movie.

Something that really stood out for me was the acting. I guess it's weird, because movies like this generally don't get praise for their characters. But when I was watching the movie, it really felt like these kids were pissed and just wanted to get out of Brazil. The main character, Alex, was especially someone to empathize with. There were a few times when I muttered a line to myself, only to hear him say the same thing a few seconds later. It was that kind of realistic, believeable acting that was really great.

So I don't know what to tell you horror buffs. I know I left some parts of the movie out, but that's a basic spoiler summary. If you were scared that the movie would just absolutely suck, well I can promise you that it doesn't. It just isn't a horror movie, which might, I understand, suck. It'll keep you on the edge of your seat, though, and the surgical scene is really going to be the buzz of the movie. There isn't a crazy villain like Michael Meyers or Leatherface, and I think the writers and director were really showing that the monster is the conditions of Brazil. What people can be forced to do when there is no hope.

So my score of the movie is based on my enjoyment of it. There were some slow parts, and the beginning was pretty standard for these new wave horror movies. I wanted the setting and major mood to hit, and it eventually does. There's definately some great scenes, but once the real chaos begins, things get a little confusing. The film is edited very much to my liking, and there's no MTV-style shakey camera work, but there were points when it was VERY dark, and the underwater scenes were somewhat confusing at times.

For Fox Atomic, it seemed like a good beginning. Not anything particularly strong, but good. The fact that this movie wasn't absolute garbage shows that there is hope for some of the other movies they are bringing out soon.

If you decide to use any of this, you can call me Lord Luthias.