 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Turistas
- Review Date: March 26, 2007
- R
- Genre: Horror
- 2006
Common Sense Media says
Vacation from hell isn't for the faint of stomach.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this torturous (literally and figuratively) horror movie is absolutely not for kids. It's full of gross-out violence -- the sort characterized by yucky wounds and bloody body parts. Violent acts include a stick in the eye, a hook in a foot, shooting, knifing, and surgery (depicted here as sadistic). The insidious motive for the murders is organ harvesting, described in some detail as a problem of class/nation inequities and depicted brutally. Characters engage in reckless sexual pursuits, though the one couple who actually have sex (off camera) use a condom. Characters drink, smoke cigarettes and pot, and are drugged by murderous villains. Language is pretty much incessant, including repetitive uses of "f--k."
What's the story?
In John Stockwell's torture-as-horror flick, a bus filled with American, British, and Australian tourists plunges off a mountain road in Brazil. Escaping with only some scattered luggage, they decide to hang out with youthful, energetic locals who appear eager to party, have sex, and learn English. It's not long before the tourists -- including Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde), and his potential romantic interest Pru (Melissa George), Finn (Desmond Askew), and Liam (Max Brown) are drugged, robbed, and apparently incapable of calling home or American Express for help, and so they end up dependent on those same locals for help. Of these, Kiko (Agles Steib) appears the most sincere: He offers the group his uncle's swank house atop a jungly mountain. Little do they know, but that very uncle, psychopathic Dr. Zamora (Miguel Lunardi), intends to harvest their organs.
Is it any good?
While it's short on clever scares and long on bloody excess (machetes and scalpels being implements of choice), Turistas also lurches between images that are breathtakingly beautiful (think Blue Lagoon) and literally hard to see, as when a tattooed thug chases victims through dark underground caverns, swimming for long minutes underwater.
The fact that the doctor's own viciously verbalized racism leads directly to his downfall doesn't exactly make up for the film's demonizing of dark-skinned characters throughout. It's also helpful and silly that he explains his thinking on the issue while digging into a pretty girl's torso for her liver and kidneys (essentially, he's angry at American imperialism and arrogance and wants to see a Yankee heart beating in the chest of an ailing Brazilian child). His villainy is underscored repeatedly: He puts a kabob stick through a follower's eye, murders his minions when they misbehave, and keeps passports of past victims, for no fathomable reason except to grant the newest ones the chance to discover them and be suddenly afraid.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the carelessness of the privileged tourists, whose callous treatment of non-English-speaking people and ignorance of local customs marks them as somehow "deserving" of punishment. Do you think this a realistic portrayal of how some travelers act? What point is the movie trying to make beneath all of the bloodshed? What attitude should you take when visiting other countries and cultures?
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- Teens & kids
Kid, 12 years old
August 16, 2010
AGE
it should be PG and you have to be 18 to watch this.
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AGE
it should be PG and you have to be 18 to watch this.
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Kid, 11 years old
August 16, 2010
AGE
it should be PG and you have to be 18 to watch this.
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AGE
This movie is creepy...
This movie is creepy... DO NOT WATCH OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!!!!!!!! No one should watch this movie.
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AGE
Turistas
Not a bad film. Kind of reminds me of the Hostel movies, except they drug the people before torture/disembowlment. The question is: should you watch it? My reply is: Depends what kind of person you are and the films you are interested in. If you like bloody kidnapping/torture/post mortem movies, then yes, this is a perfect movie for you. But if you are faint at heart and have a weak stomach, you might think about sitting out for this one.
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AGE
I love it !
Is exotic, tence, gory, and really cool movie not for kids under age is too mature but is the best horror/thriller of the winter not a waste of time.
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AGE
i was scared
its was scary and disgusting ughh!!! there is a topless sence and i think only teens can watch this!! no kids under 13 or 14 can watch this!!
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AGE
Well the surgery scene is only disturbing kids 15/16 should be able to handle the most of the gore but its not even very sadistically shown (the surgery)
good thrills and storyline is good
nothing too explicit but neither for kids
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| Studio: | Fox Atomic |
| Director: | John Stockwell |
| Cast: | Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Run time: | 89 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 30, 2006 |
| DVD release date: | March 27, 2007 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong graphic violence and disturbing content, sexuality, nudity, drug use and language. |
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