Tourist Trap (originally released in the UK as Nightmare of Terror) is a 1979 American supernatural slasher film directed by David Schmoeller and starring Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Jon Van Ness, Robin Sherwood, and Tanya Roberts.

The film follows a group of young people who stumble upon a roadside museum run by a lonely eccentric, where an unknown killer with psychokinetic powers begins to murder them.

Schmoeller co-wrote the script with J. Larry Carroll who served as producer for the film alongside Charles Band.

Various mannequins appear and cackle as objects fly off the shelves at him until a metal pipe impales and kills him.

The screenplay for Tourist Trap was written by David Schmoeller and J. Larry Carroll, the latter of whom pitched the film to producer Charles Band.

[5] Carroll and Schmoeller had previously pitched the film to producers Samuel Z. Arkoff and Bruce Cohn Curtis, but were unable to secure a production arrangement.

[6] The role was offered to several older Hollywood actors, such as Jack Palance and Gig Young, but both turned the project down.

[6] Jocelyn Jones was cast as the female lead, Molly, after Schmoeller had seen some of her previous performances, while Tanya Roberts was given the role of Becky.

[6] An unidentified actor named Shailar Coby is credited as Davey, Mr. Slausen's homicidal brother in the film.

[8] A portion of the interior scenes were shot at an abandoned house located at 5255 Hollywood Boulevard which was scheduled for demolition.

[8] Schmoeller made arrangements with the contractor to postpone the demolition of the building for five days, during which time the crew shot footage.

[6] Production designer Robert A. Burns, who had worked on Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977), handled the art direction—and the majority of the special effects—on Tourist Trap, including the mannequins and their physical manipulations.

[6][9] To accomplish the poltergeist-like effects in the film's opening scene, the set was constructed at a rotated 90 degrees; this allowed items to be hurled by the crew from the cabinet—which was, in fact, anchored to the ceiling—to the floor, which appeared on camera as a wall.

[6] Italian composer Pino Donaggio was in town working on Joe Dante's Piranha (1978) at the time David Schmoeller was filming Tourist Trap.

[9] Since Donaggio spoke Spanish – as did Schmoeller – the director was able to convince the composer to score the music for Tourist Trap.

[8] Despite its depictions of violence and macabre images, the Motion Picture Association of America awarded the film a PG rating.

[6] From contemporary reviews, Variety wrote: "Although pic has some appropriately menacing music and occasionally employs some decent special effects, the plot is too loaded with cliches, from the concept to individual bits of dialog to be taken seriously and not silly enough to be regarded as delightfully bad".

[11] Ginger Varney of LA Weekly wrote that the film's screenplay "falls short of perfection," but praised the art direction by Robert A. Burns, commenting that it "mounts sufficient thrills to please even the picky hard-core shock fan.

[13] Author Stephen King, in his book Danse Macabre (1981), praised the film as an obscure classic, noting that the film "wields an eerie spooky power, as wax figures begin to move and come to life in a ruined, out-of-the-way tourist resort".

This version restored the missing 5 minutes and is featured in a collectible retro VHS packaging, with additional supplements including a Mr. Slausen action figure and a DVD copy.