Turistas

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

With Turistas, Stockwell dives head-first into a veritable riptide of churning, vicious exploitation cinema, and the result is surprisingly effective.

Premiere Ethan Alter

Before it descends into dull sadism and general incoherence in its third act, Turistas is a mostly effective exploitation picture, the kind of movie that would have been proudly displayed on the marquee of a '70s-era grindhouse.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

As the latest in a never-ending chain of thrillers about young people lost and dying in a hostile land, John Stockwell's Turistas at least offers the visual benefits of exotic settings and a cast of barely clad hardbodies.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Nasty stuff. It's xenophobic (message: Americans, steer clear of the Third World); it's photogenic (the Sports Illustrated-likeswimsuit issue beach scenes, the colorful villages, the lush landscapes); it's gruesome (operating table POV shots); and it's violent.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Turistas is not a slasher film -- not conventionally. Released by Fox's new teen division, it's the latest aquatic titillation from John Stockwell, the man who also brought us "Blue Crush" and the shockingly good "Into the Blue."

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Once the gore and suspense take over, this becomes mechanical and unpleasant.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The cast is unusually good for this sort of film, which only makes the poor execution more regrettable.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Starts out as an effective little horror movie before devolving into an incoherent mess during its final 30 minutes.

Los Angeles Times Dennis Lim

Turistas seeks to exploit the current craze for torture-porn, but it lacks the relentless sadism of the "Saw" franchise. More than half the movie is dull buildup.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Horror fans will twitch impatiently at those long stretches between killings. And audiences anticipating a feature-length "Girls Gone Wild" video will suffer withdrawal from the lack of loosened bra straps.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The movie, with the exception of that lone squirmy surgery scene, is "Hostel" without sadism, thrills, or funky severed-limb F/X. It quickly turns into a very dull escape thriller.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Once the torture finally commences, the film attempts to float a political point about the Third World taking back First World health-care privileges, but the chief torturers' sadistic humanitarianism is never seriously considered.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The result of this blender mash of exotic horror isn't much of anything at all, neither suspenseful, terrifying or inventively gory: Turistas is dead on arrival.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

It all begins to fall apart around the midway point, before completely unraveling into a confused, murky mess.

Variety Dennis Harvey

The "Hostel" similarities may strike some as too close for comfort, not only in plot outline but also in general mix of xenophobia, sexploitation, sadism and gore.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Turistas has mastered the international language: stupidity.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The stalwart American hero of Turistas comes off as a dislikable blank in the hands of Josh Duhamel, of the TV series "Las Vegas." More relaxed is Melissa George, who co-stars as the Aussie.

Village Voice Nathan Lee

Turistas eventually bogs down in an underlit mess.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The movie is less painful than having your kidneys removed, but Turistas doesn't offer a trip entertaining enough to take.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

These people are so stupid that they make us think, well, wait a second: Maybe those livers and kidneys could be put to better use.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

There are a couple of minutes of unscheduled surgery to put this in the sadistic fantasy genre of "Saw" and "Hostel," but mostly the movie plays out like a cheap survivalist copy of the television series "Lost."

New York Magazine David Edelstein

There's only one surgery scene, but it's the heart (and kidneys) of Turistas. The rest -- especially the incoherent action -- falls well below the mark set by the last Americans Abroad torture-porn picture, "Hostel."

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A grubby, lethally dull bid to cash in on the new extreme horror, the film turns on a conceit as frayed as Freddy Krueger’s shtick.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Endless and tedious. It's also written-in-crayon, smack-your-face dumb, and edited so that every other shot is a close-up of a flailing limb.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Director John Stockwell ("Blue Crush") and screenwriter Michael Ross have only two things in mind: titillation and giving young audiences something gross to whisper about in school the next day. On that limited basis, Turistas may well succeed. But that's nothing to brag about.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Turistas fails in almost every way a movie like this can.