MovieChat Forums > Tourist Trap (1979) Discussion > disappointing ending

disappointing ending

posted 10 years ago by belladonna1482
7 replies | jump to latest

I had heard so much about this movie that I just couldn't wait to see it. And it really is a good, creepy thriller. But the ending fell flat IMO. I was riveted all the way through and then...nothing.

[–] wallacesawyer 10 years ago

What was disappointing? Slausen's death or Molly's insanity? I never really thought of it very hard. I didn't mind the ending.

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[–] belladonna1482 10 years ago

It's hard to explain. It wasn't that the ending was bad, necessarily, it's more like it just wasn't what I expected. I guess you could say it didn't live up to my expectations. But it was still a good film. Those creepy, singing(?) mannequins were unsettling.

[–] sjynyc 10 years ago

I thought the ending scene was great. The girl having gone insane with that look on her face. Great.

[–] tpupkin 10 years ago

I just saw this for the first time, too. I didn't mind the ending, but it's true that the movie is full of great parts that don't really add up in any way. I did love the final scene, and just about every previous scene, but there isn't really a story arc or anything narratively that feels satisfying. It's just a bunch of crazy stuff that is creepy and fun to watch.

I actually watched Motel Hell just a few nights before, and that's an example of how an equally fun movie with equally memorable, crazy scenes can be elevated with slightly more coherent writing. I felt like Tourist Trap was just an attempt to mix Carrie with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that's about as much thought as they bothered to put into the overall story.

[–] Askur 9 years ago

Agree. It would have been a much better ending if it turned out the dolls were able to continue to live even after the guy died, and maybe even made the last girl one of them.

[–] rodneylacey 9 years ago

I like the ending as-is. I like that it's never revealed how Mr. Slausen gained his telekinetic powers and with his death brought an end to everything supernatural in the end. So many movies want to explain everything by the end. Molly seems to have flipped her lid with everything that happened and it looks like she is trying to re-establish some twisted sense of normalcy by driving off with her mannequinned friends. I love how the camera zooms in with the spooky music and the crow in the foreground.

[–] Askur 9 years ago

I guess it's all about individual preferences. Personally I can't stand unexplained endings where the viewer is left in the darkness.