WARNING: Spoilers ahead ***

A horror tale of a bus trip in Brazil gone horribly wrong "Turista" focuses on a group of friends Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde) their friend Amy (Beau Garrett) and two British tourists they while looking for a local bar named Finn (Desmond Askew), Liam (Max Brown) and Pru (Melissa George) from Australia.who end up fighting for their survival when they miss their touring bus for a local tour of the countryside. After a night on the town they all wake up with all their possessions stolen by the locals. A local Kiki (Agles Steib) takes them in but the visiting tourists have no idea that there is a very nasty fate awaiting them. ***

Directed by John Stockwell, "Turista" pushes all the right buttons to create suspense and disgust but lacks compelling characters that we care about. The film is well crafted but if you'll pardon the pun it's all body with no soul. Comparisons to Eli Roth's "Hostel" are bound to occur since both shares some basic plot points. Both films are well made with the big difference being that "Hostel" had no characters that you could truly relate to. As poorly drawn as these characters are (typical for most horror films I'm sad to say which and characters are what distinguished "The Descent"), they are a bit more sympathetic than those in "Hostel". That said, both films wallow in their moments of gore at the expense of developing strong plots or character moments. For fans looking for a cheap thrill this film will be fine-it'll be like dining on a Big Mac for dinner; you'll enjoy the taste while it lasts but quickly forget about it as you move on to something more important. ---

Image & Sound:

"Turista" looks as well scrubbed as a vacationer slumming it south of the border. Images are crisp and sharp but I should note that there were some problems with digital artifacts and pixilation. I should also note that I received a CD-R review copy from Fox and the final version may not have these problems. Audio sounds fine with dialogue coming across with crystal clarity and music/sound effects making the most of the 5.1 format.

There are two editions of the film on a flipper disc for the retail release but I only received one side of the disc. The rated side has a commentary track by director John Stockwell which I'm unable to comment on because it appears only on the rated side of the disc. ***

The unrated side runs longer, has a bit more gore that was trimmed for the "R" rating and a few extended scenes. It also has the bulk of the rest of the extras. We get ten deleted scenes along with a slightly different ending. It's clear why most of the scenes were cut they added nothing to the movie and only slowed down the pacing of the film but some do develop the characters a bit more which overall would have benefited the film. ***

We also get "The Bloody Truth: Behind the Special Make Up Effects" which focuses on how some of the goriest scenes were created. It's a well made glimpse behind-the-scenes into the very realistic scenes of dismemberment scenes. We also have "The Hills Have Eyes 2" theatrical trailer included as well.

Final Words: