by Lizzy’s Take:
Okay so imagine if Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of Wax, and Puppet Master got together and raised a weird little horror baby in the backwoods. That’s Tourist Trap. And I loved it.
It’s got everything: creepy mannequins, a killer who keeps FaceTiming with the devil (via telekinesis), and Midge from That ’70s Show trying to survive a very cursed Airbnb experience.
“Every year young people disappear.”
— That tagline aged like milk and trauma.
👉 Recommended if: You’re into mannequins, telekinetic murderers, 70s horror weirdness, or just want to see Chuck Connors go full “wax museum warlock.”
🚫 Skip it if: You can’t handle mannequins that laugh, scream, or possibly eat souls. Or if PG horror offends your bloodlust.
The Setup
A group of friends gets stranded in the middle of nowhere (horror law #1) and stumbles upon an abandoned roadside wax museum run by a nice enough old guy named Mr. Slausen. That is… until the mannequins start moving, the killer starts levitating things, and a masked weirdo named “Davey” starts picking them off with telekinetic flair.
It’s a horror funhouse. Literally.
And in the middle of it all is our sweet final girl Molly, just trying to survive her worst road trip ever while her friends get mannequinned one by one.
The Killer (and His Vibes)
Chuck Connors plays Mr. Slausen—a sad, lonely museum keeper who might be mourning his wife… or feeding her plaster smoothies. Either way, things get complicated when his “brother” Davey shows up in a blank-faced mannequin mask and starts launching furniture and knives around the room with his MIND.
That’s right—this isn’t just some slasher in a jumpsuit. Our boy has powers. Slasher by way of Matilda. He even makes a mannequin arm fly across the room and chuck a knife like a cheap X-Men villain, and honestly? I was into it.
Special Effects: Mannequin Mayhem Done Right
This is where Tourist Trap flexes its weird little horror muscles. The film doesn’t rely on gore — instead, it throws its entire budget at rotating rooms, puppeteered mannequins, and creepy mask work that would make your local wax museum file a restraining order. Mannequins laugh, scream, and lurch toward you in ways that defy physics and sanity.
Objects fly across rooms without warning. Faces freeze in delight or terror. And just when you think you’ve adjusted to the film’s particular brand of “uncanny valley nightmare,” it finds a new way to freak you out.
Let’s just say… the line between “alive” and “display model” gets very blurry by the end. And it rules.
Cast Highlights
- Chuck Connors – Yes, The Rifleman himself, now full-on mannequin sorcerer. His performance is basically a haunted Boris Karloff channeling lonely wax museum energy.
- Tanya Roberts – That’s right, Midge from That ’70s Show. She’s young, blonde, and eventually very dead. A pre-Angels, pre-Bond Tanya radiating proto-final-girl vibes.
- Jocelyn Jones – As our main girl Molly. Quiet, reserved, then completely broken by the third act. I feel you, girl.
- Robin Sherwood – Ends up with plaster on her face and not in a spa-day kind of way.
What Worked:
✅ Creepy mannequin room scenes that feel like a haunted Hobby Lobby
✅ Chuck Connors having an existential crisis with a mannequin wife
✅ Practical effects that are WAY better than they should be for the budget
✅ The twist – still iconic, still weird
✅ That music score by Pino Donaggio, which makes it all feel tragically magical
What Didn’t:
❌ Mannequin giggles that will live in my nightmares
❌ Some scenes drag like a plaster corpse
❌ No blood, which is wild for a movie with this much death
❌ PG rating means all the real horror is in your brain, not on screen (which… might actually be worse?)
Final Verdict:
Tourist Trap is the definition of cult horror: not super gory, not super fast-paced, but undeniably creepy. It lives in that uncanny space where horror, camp, and surrealism all get drinks together and forget whose mannequin head is whose.
If you love Puppet Master, this is like its twisted godparent. If you love House of Wax, this is its dirtier cousin. If you love mannequins, therapy may be required.
But if you just want something weird and memorable that gets under your skin (and possibly replaces it with plastic), this one’s a must-watch.
