There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, you get it right with the first take…
Tourist Trap (1979)
Distributed by: Compass International Pictures
Directed by: David Schmoeller
Do you remember your first time?
Um… Let me try that opening again…
When you tried something for the first time, how good were you at it? How far did you manage to go on your first time on a two-wheeler bike? How many points did you get at your first pinball table? How was the first mixed drink you ever served someone?
Did any of those come out the way you thought they would? And did anyone there to watch it have good things to say about the results?
Was what you did as pleasing to them as watching this…?
Please note that there will be a minor spoiler or two in the piece.
Our film opens as we watch Woody (Keith McDermott in his first theatrical role) rolling a tire down a hot dirt role. He and his girlfriend Eileen (Robin Sherwood) were supposed to be on a road trip, but with the spare tire needing air, she’s left with the car as he goes the four miles back to a gas station.
Coming up on Eileen are mutual friends of theirs, Molly (Jocelyn Jones), Jerry (Jon Van Ness), and Becky (Tanya Roberts), who don’t seem surprised that Woody made a mistake. Eileen gets picked up by her friends as they try to find and rescue Woody as well.
Unfortunately, it’s too late to save him…
The other four follow a clue that leads them to Slausen’s Lost Oasis, a run-down attraction that hasn’t seen many visitors since the highway bypassed the area. They miss the “Closed to the public” sign and get to the front of the property, where Jerry’s jeep dies all of a sudden.
While he struggles to fix it, the three women find a lovely spring under a waterfall, where they decide to go skinny dipping. Their enjoyment abruptly ends, however, when Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors) shows up, letting them know that the place is closed down, before garnishing some sympathy with his tales of woe.
Slausen offers to help Jerry repair his jeep, while the rest of the party settles for a spell in his museum, a collection of mannequin exhibits depicting the old west along with other trash treasures he acquired. He’s proud of his exhibits, which he credits to his brother Davey with assembling before he went off to the city and left him alone. When the women note a house at the back of the property, Slausen tells them the area’s overrun with coyotes and they’d be better off staying put.
So of course, his guests, being sensible people, stay in the museum being characters in a horror film, go exploring the old house, where Eileen meets a horrible fate:
Molly and Becky are told by Slausen when he comes back alone that Jerry took his truck to fetch a mechanic. He’s not that happy that Eileen went off on her own, and goes looking for her, which leaves the two women vulnerable as they start searching for their friends.
Becky goes into the house, where she’s overpowered by mannequins pouncing on her. When she awakens, she’s chained in the basement next to Jerry, while another captive, Tina (Dawn Jeffory), is strapped down on a table. Jerry relates that their captor is Davey, who never left the house.
Tina isn’t long for this world, as we watch Davey smother her face in plaster of Paris, part of his process to turn her into one of the many mannequins on the property. This leaves alive only Becky, Jerry, and Molly, who soon encounters the monster that wants to stiff them…
It’s probably not much of a surprise who Davey really is: Ever since Psycho, when someone shows up with a smile and a creepy piece of real estate, it’s obvious who you have to worry about. And it’s fairly obvious that Slausen would have gotten a one-star Yelp review had he still been turning tourists into trash treasures twenty-five years later.
What isn’t obvious as we watch the film spool is what kind of menace Connors is playing. Part Leatherface and part Carrie, a telekinetic slasher is not a common villain. In fact, as originally envisaged by Schmoeller and J. Larry Carrol in their screenplay, Slausen was going to be a run of the mill psycho, but producer Charles Band insisted that he have psionic abilities as well.
This proved to be a good call, as it keeps Slausen from being bland and uninspiring. Having someone who has more than one tool at hand to hurt you allows the story to have enough uncertainty to keep the audience off balance, providing enough doubt at points that you’d figured out who’s killing everyone. (Not to mention that using telekinesis gives the movie as an opportunity for some impressive scenes, like Woody’s death noted above.)
Connors on set with director Schmoeller
Having an unusual villain gave Schmoeller something interesting to work with on his first professional shoot. For his debut helming a feature, he brings a good energy to the screen with decent pacing and shot set-ups, and gets what he needs from a cast that has a few members who would be notorious years later for not bringing enough to their subsequent films.
He’s also helped by Pino Donnagio, whose score goes from lighter to darker tones smoothly. The soundtrack alone keeps the viewer alert, and Schmoeller puts it to good use here. Which proved to be necessary, as Donnagio’s fees for his work ate up one sixth of the film’s $350,000 budget (the equivalent of around $1.8 million as of the time of this writing).
Shot over 24 days at a single location, a derelict house set for demolition once the film finished, with future noted director Ron Underwood serving as his first assistant director, Schmoeller turned out a decent small budget horror vehicle, all the more impressive as it was his first shoot. Even though the film generated $4 million on release (the equivalent of $20 million as of this moment), it was not considered a success at the time. The film would be better appreciated in later years, including an endorsement by Stephen King in Danse Macrabe, and holds up well being watched in the present.
It’s a wonderful testament to his talent that Schmoeller’s first time as a director left him with a happy ending.
Uh… Wait, let me give that another try…
