Tag: Travel Horror

Happy Birthday, Hotel Horror Movies!

Time to dust off a couple of classic DVDs for a very scary birthday celebration. Hitchcock’s “Psycho” has been scaring travelers in their motel showers for five decades this week, while “The Shining” turned 30 last month—the Atlantic’s James Parker visited the hotels that inspired Stephen King’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s subsequent movie for the occasion.

Both movies made our list of 13 Great Travel Horror Movies a couple years back.


Travel Movie Watch: ‘The Canyon’

This one’s for all the low-grade horror fans. When a newlywed couple heads for the Grand Canyon on their honeymoon, things, predictably, go awry—cue the rattle snakes and the inexplicable pack of man-eating desert wolves. The IMDb page for “The Canyon” doesn’t offer much detail, but apparently the film was released last weekend. Straight to DVD, perhaps? Here’s the trailer:


More Great Travel Horror Movies

It’s that time of year again. If you’ve already worked your way through our list of 13 great travel horror movies, why not check out Gadling’s picks for the 10 scariest travel-themed movies of all time? They’ve selected a few flicks that didn’t make our list.


The Worst Hotel in the World

Frank Bures reflects on the hotels we love to hate -- and the book celebrating one of them

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The Critics: ‘A Perfect Getaway’

The Critics: ‘A Perfect Getaway’ Publicity still via IGN
Publicity still via IGN

Remember that movie about beautiful people murdering each other on an isolated Hawaiian hiking trail? It’s landed in theaters, and the reviews are piling up.

The Globe and Mail’s Stephen Cole sets the scene: “Newlyweds Cliff and Cydney are excited to be in Hawaii. He’s a screenwriter without a credit. She’s a rich girl without a clue. And they’re looking for a honeymoon adventure to fuel an interesting marriage. To that end, they’re going to backpack around one of Hawaii’s most rugged islands, climbing slippery cliffs and scooting, doused in insect repellent, through heavy jungle.”

Of course, it isn’t long before things go pear-shaped, when another hiking couple turns up dead. Cue a murderous shell game with the remaining three couples—throughout which, according to Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News, director David Twohy “uses the beautifully shot waterfalls and vistas of Hawaii to distract from some glaring plot holes.” The Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt offers Twohy a backhanded compliment, lauding a “genuinely unexpected twist” in an “otherwise gimmicky, formulaic suspense thriller”—and, disappointingly, notes that the movie was mostly shot in Puerto Rico, not Kauai.


Travel Movie Watch: ‘A Perfect Getaway’

Beautiful people murdering each other on an isolated Hawaiian hiking trail: What’s not to like?

“A Perfect Getaway” opens August 7.


My Worst Hotel Rooms

My Worst Hotel Rooms Photo by Pear Biter via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by Pear Biter via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Lists are in the air lately, so I decided to get in on the action. Herewith, my four worst hotel rooms, lifetime. I won’t name names, because I’m a gentleman. And also, because the parties in question might hunt me down and throw tiny bottles of shampoo at me.

Singapore: I was at the edge of Singapore’s Chinatown, which, as it turns out, is also the edge of Singapore’s red light district. Not that I caught on—I thought all the scantily-clad women peering out from cracked front doors were zealous about saving the environment and keeping that AC indoors. My hotel room here was easily the darkest I’ve ever stayed in: a deep red and purple color scheme lit by one dirty window overlooking an airshaft. The only outlet was in the middle of the wall above the bed. 

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Movie Tourists Haunting a Connecticut House

Movie Tourists Haunting a Connecticut House Publicity still for "The Haunting in Connecticut" via IGN
Publicity still for “The Haunting in Connecticut” via IGN

Hollywood’s latest big-screen horror story isn’t even in theaters yet, but The Haunting in Connecticut is already drawing visitors to the real-life suburban home that spawned the urban-legend-turned-movie—and its living residents are not pleased. “Most people are respectful. They stay on the road. They might take a picture,” homeowner Susan Trotta-Smith told the AP. “But we have had a few problems with people kind of rudely coming up to the door and scaring our kids, telling them the house is haunted.” Added a local police sergeant: “There are creatures looming in the night but not inside the house. They happen to be people who are trespassing on the property, looking in windows and that kind of stuff. People are going to be disappointed. There are no ghosts.”

The movie is based on stories about the house—a former funeral home—that went around the paranormal research community in the 1980s. It lands in theaters on Friday, but don’t expect a glimpse of the real deal; filming took place in Manitoba.


Nine Travel Movies to Watch For in 2009

Nine Travel Movies to Watch For in 2009 Photo by ginnerobot via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by ginnerobot via Flickr (Creative Commons)

If there’s one December fixture that I enjoy almost as much as the ubiquitous “Best of the Past Year” list, it’s the “Trends to Watch Next Year” list. What’s new and hot? What’s old but hot again? And what never goes out of style? (Trends to Watch lists, that’s what.)

So, with that in mind, here are nine travel-esque movies hitting theaters in 2009.

The Descent 2: Looks like one of our favorite travel horror movies has spawned a sequel. In the second round, the lone survivor of a caving trip gone horrifically wrong heads back below the surface—local sheriff in tow—to confirm the fate of her companions. Predictably, things don’t quite go as planned.

Point Break: Indo: Twenty years later, there’s a new band of surfing bandits on the loose—this time in Bali—and a new surfing cop on their trail, too. The producers are being coy about possible cameos from Patrick Swayze or Keanu Reeves, but hey, Swayze turned up in a Dirty Dancing re-hashing a few years back, so why not Point Break, too?

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13 Great Travel Horror Movies

Eva Holland and Eli Ellison sift through the carnage to pick their favorites -- and lose a little sleep doing so

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TripAdvisor User Threatened with Libel Suit After Reviewing Hotel

Very creepy. And it seems other TripAdvisor users posting critical reviews have been threatened, too—apparently by attorneys representing unhappy hotel owners or managers. Catherine Hamm of the Los Angeles Times asked some experts about it. TripAdvisor users “have the 1st Amendment” on their side, she writes. But she adds: “All the experts agreed that those who post on TripAdvisor or like sites need not worry about having their say as long as they frame it as opinion rather than fact.”


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