Turistas (/turiːstɔːs/; English: Tourists, released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Paradise Lost) is a 2006 American horror film produced and directed by John Stockwell, written by Michael Arlen Ross, and starring Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Desmond Askew, Max Brown, and Beau Garrett.
After a bus crash leaves all the passengers stranded, they are joined by two British men, Finn and Liam, and an Australian woman, Pru, who is fluent in Portuguese.
Looking for help in a nearby village, Kiko, a young local who speaks some English, volunteers to take them to his uncle's isolated house in the forest where they can wait for a ride.
En route to the house, Kiko shows the group a cave beneath a waterfall, but while diving into the water, he sustains a serious head injury.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group outside manage to break free from cages they have been contained in, and fight and kill one of Zamora's associates, with the aid of Kiko who has returned to help them.
Diving and swimming to the cavern's secondary entrance, they find Zamora is also there, and he shoots at them in the water, killing Kiko and injuring Alex's hand.
Alex attacks and repeatedly hits him in the head with a rock, but is interrupted by Jamoru, one of Zamora's henchman who is armed with a rifle.
Later, Alex, Bea, and Pru stand in line, waiting to board an airplane in silence while a couple of tourists behind them argue over going by bus.
[4] The underwater sequences in the cave system were filmed largely without stunt people, and according to Stockwell, one shot required Josh Duhamel to swim 100 yards (91 m) to escape through a hole.
[4] Olivia Wilde recalled losing consciousness while filming in the caves after using oxygen in an air pocket too quickly: "I start flailing around, having forgotten the emergency signal.
The consensus reads, "Beautiful scenery and cinematography can't save Turistas from its wooden acting and stale and predictable plot.
"[15] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post wrote of the film: "On the one hand, it's an oglefest of young things on the beach, as they preen, chug and splash in azure waters; on the other, it's a slice-a-rama that turns those nubile bodies into crimson sushi.
"[16] Dennis Lim of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Turistas seeks to exploit the current craze for torture-porn, but it lacks the relentless sadism of the Saw franchise.
More than half the movie is dull buildup, as the lambs (clueless gringo tourists, thrown together after a bus accident) are herded slowly to the slaughter," but added: "Every now and again, [the film] connects with the harsh reality of the real world–one in which, thanks to the ongoing war in Iraq, Americans are increasingly viewed as imperialist aggressors.
"[17] The Village Voice's Nathan Lee wrote: "Given the dullness of the protagonists and the heavy dose of anesthetic administered during the operations, that's not an entirely unsympathetic cause, and though Turistas eventually bogs down in an underlit mess, it more or less scratches the neo-exploitation itch.
"[20] Steve Barton of Dread Central wrote: "Turistas may not be the dud we all expected (which will no doubt earn it a heap of praise), but it's a wholly unremarkable movie.
"[6] Embratur, the Brazilian government's agency of tourism, issued a statement grateful for the bad critical reception in North America.
[25] After its theatrical release, director Stockwell commented in an interview: "I feel a little badly that the Brazilians, mostly who haven't seen the movie, maybe they've seen the trailer, have been very upset about what they perceive the film's depiction of Brazil to be.