Terror Trips (2021) - Well... I liked it anyway!

I'll admit it right off the bat - I really enjoyed this film.  It was only when I went to see other people's reviews after I'd watched it, did I realise I think I may be in the minority.  It's about a group of American teenagers who go to a remote part of the world and end up falling foul of whatever is out to pick 'em off one by one.  Nothing new with the premise.  If you're into your horror films then you've seen that a hundred times with only slight variations on that synopsis.

When it started, I did question whether I was going to enjoy it.  The sets were pretty bland.  You could probably recreate al the sets from whatever you have lying around in your back garden.  However, when the six characters are introduced - yes they do tend to each be a bit 'one note' in terms of characterisation, they are actually likable.

The story's big point is that all six protagonists are all open horror fans and are therefore well aware of the cliches and conventions the genre has to offer.  So, seeing as most of my favourite films are cheesy eighties B-movie horror, I like to think I got most of the 'in jokes' sprinkled into the script for us die hard gore hounds.  Plus the characters are actually quite likable.  None of them were such stereotypes that they were annoying and you find yourself preying for whatever masked serial killer or monster is stalking them to take them out as soon as possible.

So the acting and characters are nice.  Plus, on the whole, based on how main characters normally act in horror films, they do make rational decisions when they fall foul of the threat in Eastern Europe while scoping out sets from previous horror movies.  But don't go expecting too much gore.  The kills are hardly imaginative and, although most of the slices and dices are practical, when it comes to blood splatter it was blatantly computer-generated.

So, I maybe in the minority in terms of who liked this and who didn't, I'd say it's worth a watch for your die hard horror fan.  The only real gripe I could find was the - literal - ending.  It effectively just stopped in what - to me - felt like the middle of a scene, leaving me with a bit of an 'oh right, is that it?' kind of feeling.  Besides that, I did enjoy the ride.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that