Theme Thursday - Vacation

Theme Thursday - Vacation

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Many "Theme Thursday" participants are probably sharing happy vacation memories.

I wanted to show what happens when vacationers take that one wrong turn into terror.

Hope you enjoy the trip! :)

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Friday the 13th (1980)



Okay, so the young people here weren't so much on vacation as they were working to set up a summer camp. That said, they were out in the woods, at a lake, trying to have a good time. And we know how that went!

Jason's mom was the big "party pooper" in this flick, making these kids pay for the lack of attention given to her son by previous counselors. She was one angry mama, and this was NOT a good trip to the lake!

Pamela Voorhees was dealt with very early on in the recent remake, Friday the 13th (2009). Here, the kids WERE in the woods just for a good time, not to work at a camp. Yet again, they were thwarted.

Jason makes damn sure that, by the time the credits role, no one has a had a good trip!

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Jaws (1975)



Set in the beautiful resort town of Amity Island, this film is the one that still scares people off beaches to this day.

When a great white shark wanders too far north, his presence doesn't mix well with the many swimmers out in the waters around the island community.

This one hit close to home for me, as I grew up in New England and knew places that looked a lot like Amity. Made it all-too-real for me, and many kids I knew.

The first sequel was okay, but things sank quickly in Part III (set in SeaWorld) and Part IV (when a shark comes back for revenge).

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The Hills Have Eyes (1977)



This film is about a family on a road trip. Breaking down in the desert, they are soon hunted by sadistic, mutated, inbred cannibals. Bad, bad things happen. And they involve the very creepy looking Michael Berryman as the maniac Pluto, pictured on the poster above.

This is the polar opposite of "National Lampoon's Vacation". No memories made here are suitable for scrapbooking.

Remade in 2006 (still called The Hills Have Eyes), the plot is basically the same, yet the terror and horror are ratcheted up. A good remake, still a bad trip.

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Deliverance (1972)



A young Burt Reynolds takes his friends on a rafting trip, a last-hurrah vacation before the river becomes a big lake.

Well, we all know how this trip goes, don't we?

Again, hillbillies clash with the vacationers, in a really horrific way. This trip will NOT be fondly remembered, by the rafters or the viewers. Yeeeesh...

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Hostel (2005)



Three young men, backpacking through Europe, are enticed to a Slovakian hostel, their minds looking forward to carnal pleasures.

Unfortunately, there are rich people who also vacation in the area, at a special "club" which fulfills their darkest fantasies.

Soon enough, our backpackers find out where the supplies (as in humans) are found for this club. I cannot imagine this movie was looked at favorably by the Slovakian tourist bureau.

A bit gory for my taste, this film is one of the many in the "torture porn" horror sub-genre.

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Open Water (2003)



This film is an unnerving look at how quickly a trip can go wrong.

Based on a true story, this movie centers on a couple, out on a scuba-diving trip, who are inadvertently left behind by their tour group.

Suddenly finding themselves alone in the middle of the ocean, their struggle for survival is fraught with despair. You can't help but wonder while watching what you would do if you were in their place.

This film was followed by a sequel, of sorts. Open Water 2: Adrift (2006), is supposedly also based on true events.

A group of friends set out on a cruise on a borrowed yacht. At sea, they soon are enjoying a swim off of the boat. But a fun day turns to terror when they realize they forgot to lower the ladder and cannot get back on board the ship. To make matters worse, the baby of one of the couples is now alone on board the boat.

More a thriller than a horror film, it is at least entertaining.

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The Descent (2005)



A group of women meet in the Appalachian Mountains to go on a trip exploring caves in the mountain. Soon enough, they find that they are not alone in these dark caves, encountering some bizarre creatures.

A very well-made, scary flick, this one will make you think twice about what is waiting in the dark!

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So, what did we learn from all this?

Never go anywhere. Ever.

Of course, I could find a bunch of horror movies where the characters never even leave their front porch, yet things still go seriously bad. But, I will save that for another day.

Have a great week and Bon Voyage!