Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Tourist Trap Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 25, 2020

Even if current conditions didn't prevent people from getting together over the holidays, one assumes there are probably no festive meals or other partying planned between David Schmoeller and Charles Band. Without getting into the minutiae of what is yet another kind of bizarre nook and/or cranny in the history of horror films, it turned out that the Tourist Trap release Full Moon Features brought out on Blu-ray in 2014 was missing several minutes of footage. It was a frankly odd situation, since Tourist Trap is one of the least bloody horror films of its era, and one that rather (in?)famously was granted a PG-13 rating rather than R at the time of its release, something that Schmoeller overtly mentions in some of the supplements on this disc as causing him worry back in the day, since he felt it actually hurt the film's marketing (it turned out to be a "plus" in the long run, as the rating made the film more palatable to television programmers). One way or the other, though, an almost random assortment of snippets were removed from the original Blu-ray release. Of course, considerable controversy ensued, with fans up in arms and what amounted to an internet shouting match between Schmoeller, who co- wrote and directed the film, and Band, who produced it, with each attempting to assign blame for the issue on someone else (Schmoeller was pretty adamant he felt Band was responsible, while Band insisted he was as confused as anyone about what might have happened, while also mentioning that Schmoeller, who recorded a commentary for the first release, which I'm assuming is the same one included on this disc, never noticed the missing footage during the recording session).

As mentioned above, Tourist Trap received a prior release on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features back in 2014. For those interested in a plot recap, I refer you to Martin Liebman's Tourist Trap Blu-ray review of that first release. Marty's review is also a good resource for screenshot comparisons as well as seeing what supplements that release offered versus what is included on this release. As often tends to be the case when a different reviewer looks at a previously reviewed film, opinions vary, and I'm not quite the fan of Tourist Trap that Marty evidently is.

Tourist Trap Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tourist Trap is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The release is touted as "Uncut", and those with more picayune knowledge about this film than I have already chimed in on our Forum that this does in fact include the footage that was missing from the original Blu-ray release, but unfortunately there is no information provided on this disc as to where that footage came from or indeed what this transfer was sourced from, other than mention on the back cover that this is "presented here in a stunning, totally uncut, digitally remastered transfer". Judging solely from screenshots, it looks like the two presentations of all the "shared" footage is at least similar looking, but with some differences in color temperature. Where some shots can look virtually identical (compare screenshot 1 in this review with screenshot 2 in Marty's review), others have some noticeable differences in brightness and hue (compare screenshot 4 in this review with screenshot 3 in Marty's review). There is pretty noticeable image quality fall off at various moments, with some of the "new" interstitials looking pretty ragged at times. Some shots look seriously faded (see screenshot 18), and much of the darker interior moments, including almost all of the "basement" material, features really chunky looking grain. Blacks are crushed quite a bit of the time in these darker moments as well. This is probably an overall improvement on the lackluster original Blu-ray release, but there is certainly still room for improvement if some niche designer label decides to take a crack at this if licensing allows.

Tourist Trap Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately this release offers only lossy audio options in the form of Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Mono tracks. As regular readers of my reviews already know, I'm something of a curmudgeon when it comes to Blu-ray releases without at least one lossless track, but even within the context of lossy audio, the surround track here in particular doesn't really offer a substantial increase in immersion over the 2.0 mono rendering. In terms of dialogue, both tracks deliver things well enough, but Pino Dinaggio's moody (and kind of hilariously perky at times) score certainly deserves a better rendering, and a lot of the sound effects just come off as lethargic without much sonic "oomph". This is another area where a designer label might improve the technical merits of a future release.

Tourist Trap Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Director David Schmoeller


• Exit Through the Chop Shop: The Making of Tourist Trap (1080p; 24:35) features a bunch of interstitial interview segments with David Schmoeller, in between snippets from the film, and is a rather interesting overview of the production. This features a 2014 copyright from Ballyhoo Pictures, so I'm assuming this is the same featurette that was on the first Blu-ray release from Full Moon. The back cover of this release lists one of the supplements as Interview with David Schmoeller which (again) I'm assuming refers to this piece.


• Still Gallery (1080p; 3:35)


• Trailers includes Tourist Trap (480p; 1:55) along with those for several other releases from Full Moon Features.

As is indicated above underneath the title of this listing, this edition comes in so-called "retro VHS" packaging which measures approximately 6" wide by 9" high by 2" deep. There's also a "Mr. Slausen action figure" included, for what that's worth. A DVD copy of the film is also included. For those uninterested in the packaging and "action figure" (it's not articulated, so action is going to be somewhat limited), there's also a standalone edition being offered.

Tourist Trap Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As ironically low rent as Tourist Trap is (i.e., given how spendy a lot of actual tourist traps can be), the film has some really fascinating "meta" aspects that Schmoeller details in the supplements included on this disc. Those include the fact that two guys with the rather redolent cinematic surnames of Wyler and von Sternberg are among the technical crew, and that star Jocelyn Jones is the daughter of famed character actor Henry Jones. As Schmoeller also gets into, the film provided launching pads for a number of performers, including future Charlie's Angels Tanya Roberts. The story here is both rote and too undeveloped to ever fully register, but it's kind of fun to see "The Rifleman" in this kind of role. While this release restores the weirdly missing footage from the first Blu-ray, video quality is rather variant and never really at optimal levels. Only lossy audio options are included, but both the commentary and making of featurette are really interesting, for those who are considering a purchase.