Turistas (DVD)
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While Turistas does use the premise of the Ugly American running afoul of bad guys in a foreign land, I've seen it twice now and I still don't think it's a Hostel knock-off (the theatrical release was chided for this, and now some of the early DVD reviews are doing the same). The tone is entirely different, as are the characters, the cinematography, and the reason for the killings.
In Turistas, a small group of young American and British tourists find themselves stranded in the jungles of Brazil after their tour bus crashes and they become separated from the pack. Making their way to an oasis-like, too-good-to-be true bar on the beach, they soon find themselves drugged, robbed, and truly stranded with no one to help them. The story is well-acted by Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett, Desmond Askew, Max Brown, and Agles Steib. John Stockwell's directorial style shines through in some truly tension-fraught underwater chase scenes. (Yep, that's the same Stockwell who starred in John Carpenter's Christine back in the 80s.) Read the theatrical release review here.
The DVD contains some good additional release material. First off, it's a flip-disk (R-rated version on one side, unrated – two minutes more, somewhat gorier – on the other). There's director commentary, which isn't mind-blowing but is entertaining and informative enough. Stockwell and one of the producers talk about the usual things – shooting on location, how the actors handled their roles, what they did in their off-time, and so on. Too bad no actors were included — Duhamel has an especially good sense of humor, so he could have livened things up a bit.
The Bloody Truth: Behind The Special Make Up Effects featurette is self-explanatory (and runs for about 10 minutes, with or without director commentary). There are also 10 deleted scenes (more character development, which is nice), and an alternate ending which isn't quite as good as the one in the theatrical release (but is still interesting to see).
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson