Stuck in the uncanny valley.

In psychological terms, the uncanny valley refers to a region of human emotion when things that look and move in a nearly perfect, but not quite fashion, causes a negative response. It makes the observer feel uncomfortable and it gives off a sense of creepiness. Today's film excels at that. So welcome to the valley.

Today's movie is TOURIST TRAP from 1979.

Here's the movie itself. Enjoy.

So, TOURIST TRAP. Yes, this is a surprisingly effective creeper. Lately I've been hearing that this film was a big childhood traumatizer to a number of people. It gets common mentions at places such as KINDERTRAUMA, which is a site dedicated to movies, toys, commercials, TV shows, and so on from yesteryear that scared people as kids. But why? Well, let's get into the basic plot with an eerie pic to start off.

That will do nicely. So we have a group of friends that head off road to a quirky museum full of anamatronic mannequins in search of their friend, who went looking for help with his car. As they arrive, their car also mysteriously breaks down. At the museum, they meet and are helped by Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors). Slausen owns the place and an old plantation house a distance away. He mentions his love for the museum and the mannequins and that his brother was a master craftsman and making them look so realistic. He advises them to stay inside though, citing the dangers of coyotes at night as a deterrent.

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It doesn't take long for the group to become suspicious and decide to venture outside anyways and head to the spooky old house for answers. The house quickly becomes a house of horrors as it is filled with mannequins and pieces of mannequins and the friends soon find themselves terrorized by a madman who dons the faces of the figures.

Whoever this creep is, he knows how to to "mannequinize" people into living anamatrons. Part wax museum, part Hall of Presidents in Disneyland. His creations then become assistants who help out on his reign of terror.

It is well worth your horror entertainment time to give this film ninety minutes. While the story has some obvious plot holes, the overall execution works and it preys on our mutual discomfort with mannequins. And that it does in spades.