CULT – Tourist Trap

Published on: 28th August, 2009

CULT - Tourist Trap  | read this item

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Ten years before he inflicted a fear of dolls upon a generation of horror fans with Puppet Master, David Schmoeller achieved something similar with mannequins. His bizarre feature debut, Tourist Trap, has often been categorised as a slasher by many critics due to its isolated location and Leatherface-like antagonist, yet the supernatural elements makes it more at home amongst The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. Much like with his later film, Schmoeller would capitalise on the viewer’s fear of mannequins by allowing his to come to life, as well as including a sequence in which one of the victims is transformed into one herself. Avoiding the usual slice ‘n’ dice clichés of the era, Tourist Trap stands as one of the more unique and intriguing b-movies of the era.

Before he developed a taste for filmmaking, Schmoeller had originally wanted to be a writer. Upon leaving high school, he decided to study in Mexico City at the Universidad de Las Americas, with ambitions of being an author. After travelling around Mexico attempting to inspire himself into writing, Schmoeller eventually made the acquaintance of Alejandro Jodorowsky, a Chilean playwright and filmmaker, and was immediately impressed by his work, particularly Fando y Lis, a surreal post-apocalyptic drama that had been shot on an extremely low budget. Schmoeller would also spend time with Luis Buñuel, the legendary Spanish-born filmmaker who was perhaps most renowned for the 1929 Avant-Garde short Un chien andalou with artist Salvador Dalí.

Schmoeller eventually returned home to Texas with his wife (Buñuel’s goddaughter) and attended UT Austin, where he would first discover his passion for filmmaking. In 1968, he began experimenting with directing by shooting several short films before making his Thesis, The Spider Will Kill You, in 1973. With funding contributed by the Director’s Guild of America, the story told of a blind man who lives in the attic of a theatre and finds himself infatuated with a mannequin. The result was a nomination for a Student Academy Award, coming in second place behind Robert Zemeckis’ effort A Field of Honor. Despite losing out to the soon-to-be Back to the Future director, the attention that The Spider Will Kill You received would land Schmoeller with an agent and his first real shot at making a feature.

Although his previous film had only ran at thirty minutes, Schmoeller knew that there was the basis for a movie within The Spider Will Kill You and began toying with various ideas on how to expand it into a full-length screenplay. With an outline in mind, he approached his friend J. Larry Carroll, who had previously enjoyed minor acclaim for his work on Tobe Hooper’s success The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The two desperately wanted a hit of their own and sensed that Schmoeller’s story could be what they were looking for. Once a script for Tourist Trap had been completed, Carroll approached a young, up-and-coming producer called Charles Band to help fund the project. Band had struggled through various no budget efforts such as Mansion of the Doomed and had started to gain a reputation as a promising filmmaker.

His father, Albert Band, had been directing a cheap horror with FX artist Stan Winston called Dracula’s Dog and so Carroll asked Charles if he would take a look at their script. Band was impressed with their story, which was essentially a psychological thriller, and agreed to produce it for them, although he would add a new element to their idea. He suggested that the protagonist, an elderly owner of a derelict museum, should have telekinetic powers, which would able him to have control over his collection of mannequins (which are later revealed to be his victims, an obsession which started after he his wife had died and he had kept her preserved). Aside from this suggestion, Band would allow Schmoeller complete creative control over his directorial debut.

To help produce the film, Compass International’s Irwin Yablans, who had previously struck gold with John Carpenter’s surprise hit Halloween, came on board. The cinematography would be handled by Nicholas von Sternberg, son of cult filmmaker Josef von Sternberg, who would later work on such dubious offerings as Wacko, No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder and Virus. To create the effective score, the producers brought in Pino Donaggio, who had gained acclaim for the cult horror Don’t Look Now, and would become known for his collaborations with Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling) and Brian De Palma (Carrie, Dressed to Kill). Another notable contribution would be for Lucio Fulci’s underrated 1981 chiller Gatto nero (Black Cat).

Perhaps the most important aspect of the movie was the special effects, as it is the credibility of this that would make the movie succeed or fail. Robert A. Burns had previously worked with Carroll on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and would later join Donaggio on The Howling. Whilst he designed the mannequins, the makeup effects were created by Richard O. Helmer, who had honed his talent on the likes of Silent Running and Rolling Thunder. He would go on to enjoy an extremely lucrative career in Hollywood, working on such blockbusters as Armageddon, Spider-man 2 and Charlie Wilson’s War. Not forgetting his horror roots, he would also be responsible for Child’s Play and Jeepers Creepers II.

For the role of the deranged protagonist/antagonist Mr. Slausen, Schmoeller eventually settled on Chuck Connors, a veteran of almost thirty years in the industry and by far the most experienced member of the production. Having played for the Boston Celtics during the 1940’s, Connor had turned his focus to acting, appearing mainly on television shows such as Branded and Police Story. One face that would become recognisable soon after the completion of Tourist Trap was Tanya Roberts, who would find fame the following year as one third of Charlie’s Angels, before appearing in the cult fantasy adventure The Beastmaster and the James Bond flick A View to a Kill. Her other co-stars would include Jon Von Ness (who would later appear in The Hitcher and Alligator II: The Mutation) and Robin Sherwood (Death Wish II).

The story for Tourist Trap would differ somewhat from The Spider Will Kill You, as the action would be transported to an old vacation spot out in the middle of nowhere, run by the charming oddball Mr. Slausen. A group of friend find themselves lost in the wilderness and suffering from car troubles when he offers to lead them back to his home, Slausen’s Lost Oasis, where he can help them. But one by one the friends become curious and soon find themselves falling victim to creepy mannequins and a masked monster that lurks in the shadows. They soon discover that the mannequins are in fact tourists who have wandered off the main road and fallen foul of Mr. Slausen, who includes them in his unusual collection.

Tourist Trap was released in North America on Match 16 1979, but due to bad marketing the film performed poorly at the box office. In an unexpected move, the MPAA decided to rate the movie as a PG, resulting in audiences believing it to be a family-orientated fantasy. Thus, kids would later discover the film when it was shown on television in the afternoons, which would gradually transform it into a cult classic. Its theatrical run would be distributed by various different companies around the country, including Compass International Pictures, Manson International Pictures and Mid-America Releasing. On home video it was released by Media Home Entertainment, and later by Paramount Home Video. Meanwhile, Schmoeller and Band would once again collaborate years later on the equally bizarre Puppet Master.

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