10/28/15 – day twenty-eight of thirty-one days of horror!
Roadside horror is a staple of the genre, and one of the most obscure
but influential of these type of rural nightmares is 1979’s Tourist
Trap, which offers some Texas Chainsaw-like thrills but with a really
eerie twist. Boasting the talents of Tanya Roberts as well as a
delightfully unsettling turn from Chuck “the Rifleman” Connors, the film
concerns the plight of some wayward youths (as usual) who wander off
the beaten path to a roadside attraction full of creepy mannequins.
I won’t spoil what happens next, but suffice it to say that if you
haven’t seen the movie already, I highly doubt you will see what’s
coming. Directed for maximum creep factor by David Schmoller, who would
later go on to direct notable b-grade movies like Crawlspace,
Puppetmaster and the Arrival, this is the perfect rare gem to drop on
unsuspecting viewers at your yearly Halloween party. A side-trip you
won’t regret taking!
