Best in Show: Unsuspecting Travelers Abroad (Pt. I of II)

Horror has a long history of inflicting itself upon the unexpected. Especially abroad, travelers often get way more than they bargained for. With summer fast approaching and the need to explore outside of our borders itching at the adventurous, this week's list looks at the best horror movies about travelers abroad. Ignoring the somewhat problematic nature of painting foreign lands as particularly dangerous, these free-for-all movies are often complete descents into chaos.




(imdb.com)

10. Out of the Dark

While not the most cohesive film, Out of the Dark is a rare indie horror film that feels scary. Offering a share of jarring moments featuring dead, bandaged children and terrifying shadows, the film wasn't much of a critic or commercial success. Its problematic painting of the mysticism of the third world - although met with a certain tone of first world oppression - didn't do the ghost story any favors. But, Out of the Dark is plenty horrifying. It follows a mother positioned to take over her father's business in South America, whose family is haunted upon arrival. The movie gets twisty as discoveries are made and the mother's daughter goes missing. Out of the Dark is ta telling story of how American misdeals can come back to bite you.



(imdb.com)

9. They're Watching

They're Watching is a pretty ridiculous movie with a fun, engaging plot and pretty much zero basis in reality. Following an American home makeover TV crew in Eastern Europe, They're Watching plays completely into the traditions and mystic nostalgia of the area while providing the occasional scare and intentional laugh. It's a terrifically odd movie destined to scare few, but entertain all. It's placement on this list is mostly thanks to the sketchy villagers surrounding the makeover home who make for deeply unsettling moments.



(imdb.com)

8. Wolf Creek

This movie is bleak. Wolf Creek is a gritty portrayal of suffering at the hands of a maniac. Following a pair of British 20-somethings who travel into the Outback with an Australian, Wolf Creek is a stark cat-and-mouse chase of disturbing proportions. It's a film that features little relief or absurdity and instead focuses on unsettling the viewer through very real possibilities of kidnap and torture. For some viewers, Wolf Creek will most definitely be too much, but who could blame them? This film is so painfully executed that the awfulness these characters experience, you feel, too.



(imdb.com)

7. The Ruins

The Ruins is pretty typical for a mid-2000s horror movie; dumb young adults doing dumb, adventurous things and paying for it. But none of these aspects stops this film from being terrifying. Featuring a mysterious Mayan ruin with viciously alive vines, The Ruins makes adventure feel all too worthless. From the Cabin Fever inflections of attempting to strip your body of the infection to the off-center mimicry of the plants, this movie will leave viewers afraid of going anywhere that's not a particular tourist trap. In The Ruins, unmarked means death.



(imdb.com)

6. Borderland

For detractors of Wolf Creek, heed this warning: Borderland is not for you. Following a trio of college friends who get swept up into a satanic crime cult, Borderland takes everything displayed by Wolf Creek, adds dimensions of the occult and tosses it into a small Mexican city. It's gory and gratuitous violence; all exasperated by harsh lighting and intense camera work make for a romp that'll make stomachs turn. Borderland has some of the intrusive nature of Americans into other's lands and nails the ignorance of youth perfectly.