Turistas

The screenplay for Turistas was written by Michael Arlen Ross. Director John Stockwell, who had previously directed Blue Crush (2002) and Into the Blue (2005), was inspired to direct the film upon reading the screenplay after returning from Peru: "I had been robbed by a group of 13-year-old, glue-sniffing kids and gotten shot at. I went to the cops, and they basically told us, 'If you give us $300, we'll let you kill these kids.' And I thought, if that kind of [stuff] is possible.... I came home and read the script and it resonated."[4] On the violence depicted in the screenplay, Stockwell added: "I wasn't really getting into a race to see who can make people squirm. I was just really interested in taking people into a world and situation that they could, maybe, see themselves also being in and wondering how they would react. It also, honestly, just taps into America's fears of traveling abroad. How we're perceived outside of our borders today."[5]

Olivia Wilde was cast in the role of Bea after auditioning, while Beau Garrett was offered an audition by director Stockwell, with whom she had worked in the past.[6]

Filming took place in the Chapada Diamantina, a region of Bahia state, and in the Litoral Norte, the easternmost coastal part of the São Paulo state.[7] Turistas was the first American film to be shot exclusively on location in Brazil.[4] The shoot was described as "low-key," with many locals hired as extras and to work behind-the-scenes.[4] The underwater sequences in the cave system were filmed largely without stunt people, and according to Stockwell, one shot required Josh Duhamel to swim 100 yards (91 m) to escape through a hole.[4] Olivia Wilde recalled losing consciousness while filming in the caves after using oxygen in an air pocket too quickly: "I start flailing around, having forgotten the emergency signal. But, of course, my character is supposed to be flailing, so every time I look frightened, they're like, 'Great, Olivia, great!'"[4]

Stockwell shot the film without hair and makeup artists present, and without trailers for the actors.[4] Melissa George described the filming experience as being completely free of "comforts": "We had no trailers, no shoes on, no clothing, no makeup artists. He [Stockwell] strips away everything to the point that it's like [shooting] a Dogme film."[8] For her evisceration sequence in the film, actress Beau Garrett had to have a body cast made, which took seven hours to construct; the scene itself took a further twelve hours to film, during which Garrett remained on the operating table, unable to move.[6] "I peed in a bed pan, and I ate food in a torso," she stated. "It was super strange."[6]

The film opened at the U.S. box office at number eight on December 1, 2006, earning $3.5 million during its opening weekend on 1,570 screens.[12] It earned an additional $1.9 million the following week, showing on 1,572 screens.[13] However, by December 15, the film's number of screening theaters had reduced to 375.[13] It would remain in U.S. theaters for a total of eight weeks before finishing its theatrical run on January 25, 2007.[13] The film had a total domestic gross of $7,027,762,[12] earning an additional $7,663,225 in foreign markets, making for a worldwide total gross of $14,690,987.[12]

Turistas holds an 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 106 critic reviews with an average score of 3.85/10. The consensus reads, "Beautiful scenery and cinematography can't save Turistas from its wooden acting and stale and predictable plot."[14]

Writing for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis reported that the film was "plain stupid," adding: "Apologists for vivisectionist entertainment trot out all sorts of rationales to justify the spectacle of human torture instead of just admitting that such spectacles turn them on. In this respect the horror audience, in its enthusiasm for go-go gore, is far more honest than those who hide behind the fig leaf of radical politics."[15] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post wrote of the film: "On the one hand, it's an oglefest of young things on the beach, as they preen, chug and splash in azure waters; on the other, it's a slice-a-rama that turns those nubile bodies into crimson sushi. The one agenda opposes–rather than complements–the other."[16]

Dennis Lim of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "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, as the lambs (clueless gringo tourists, thrown together after a bus accident) are herded slowly to the slaughter," but added: "Every now and again, [the film] connects with the harsh reality of the real world–one in which, thanks to the ongoing war in Iraq, Americans are increasingly viewed as imperialist aggressors."[17] The Village Voice's Nathan Lee wrote: "Given the dullness of the protagonists and the heavy dose of anesthetic administered during the operations, that's not an entirely unsympathetic cause, and though Turistas eventually bogs down in an underlit mess, it more or less scratches the neo-exploitation itch. Bonus point for best tagline of the year: "Go Home.""[18]

Michael Gingold of Fangoria called the film "a better and scarier film than Hostel" and compared it to survival thriller films, adding: "it’ll have you thinking that a nice safe movie theater is a better place to be this winter than a tropical “paradise.”"[19] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film a "C−" rating, referring to it as "Hostel without sadistic thrills."[20] Steve Barton of Dread Central wrote: "Turistas may not be the dud we all expected (which will no doubt earn it a heap of praise), but it’s a wholly unremarkable movie. If you’re looking for a cheap ninety minutes of routine suspense, this may very well be your cup of tea. If you’re looking for something more, take the poster’s advice and go home."[21]

The film was boycotted by some citizens in Brazil of the perceived negative image it portrayed of the country,[22] and American actor Duhamel apologized to the Brazilian government and to the Brazilian people during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He said that it was not the intention of the film to stop tourists from visiting Brazil.[23] Actress Beau Garrett also commented on the controversy, saying: "This film isn't about scaring people away from traveling, or seeing places like Brazil. Brazil is an incredible country and embraced us; I never felt alien at all in that country... it's about being aware."[6]

Embratur, the Brazilian government's agency of tourism, issued a statement grateful for the bad critical reception in North America.[24] The agency stated they did not feel that Turistas would hurt Brazil's image as viewers would differentiate reality from fiction.[25] After its theatrical release, director Stockwell commented in an interview: "I feel a little badly that the Brazilians, mostly who haven't seen the movie, maybe they've seen the trailer, have been very upset about what they perceive the film's depiction of Brazil to be. I'm like, did you guys see City of God? That wasn't the most flattering of portrayals. I think they get very defensive when an American production company comes in and makes anything other than a Chamber of Commerce portrayal of the country."[5]