California Hit

Tourist Trap (1979)
directed by David Schmoeller
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

How to start a horror movie: car breaks down, gas station found, first death within five minutes. Perfect. By then the ratio of women to men is 3:1 (something else The Descent did well). Add psychokinesis, tube tops, and at least 2 in-film references to the title, and you can settle in to just enough over-the-top theatrics to really live the day.

"We can't go swimming anyway."
"Why not?"
"We didn't bring our bathing suits."
"So? Who needs a bathing suit?"

Unlike Lemora, Tourist Trap wears those lines on its sleeve. The villain, a Jack Palance-type old Hollywood hand, gets to stretch his dentures and even be charming in a sad, lascivious sort of way. And the best traditional effect this week wasn't the makeup on Neil Marshall's cave crawlers. Instead, it was Schmoeller's curio cabinet nailed to a ceiling in order to sell the impact of empty bottles let loose on an unsuspecting teen trapped on the other side of the room.