Turistas

[The Great Owl]

Are there any other Turistas fans who want this on Blu-ray?

I have a soft spot for this movie. Turistas was billed as a torture-horror film with the likes of the Hostel movies, but it's actually a strong wilderness adventure offering by John Stockwell, the director of Into the Blue and Blue Crush. I found this film to be vastly superior to the Hostel flicks.

Unlike other "Americans finding trouble in another country" movies, the American characters in Turistas are actually respectful of the Brazilians and of the culture, and they do not make the typical stupid character moves of such a movie. Josh Duhamel, Olivia Wilde, and Beau Garrett seem like decent people with whom one would want to hang out during a vacation, and the Australian character, played by Melissa George, is icing on the cake. The villain is a tough bit of nastiness, but he is actually driven by understandable intentions (unlike the antagonists of other such movies). The villains henchmen all have tangible and realistic reasons for doing what they do as well. Turistas is not a "torture film", thank goodness, but there is one scene that I find difficult to watch.

The movie is worth the price of admission for an outstanding escape sequence, where the characters swim through an underwater cave and survive by breathing the tiny air bubble pockets on the roof of the cave. It's a chilling and intense sequence.

The Brazilian scenery would look great in high definition.

Anyway, this is no reinvention of the wheel, but I'd love to shell out a five or so to upgrade my DVD.