Scarecrow-88 Lean, mean, derivative variation on (well, it directly lifts everything from) Vacancy, has a married couple on the outs who are trying to rekindle the little flame still lit (played by a very likable David James Elliot, of JAG fame and a feisty, mouthy little number, Heather Marie Marsden) is left in their marriage. They are the unfortunate example of "passing through the wrong neck of the woods at the wrong time" kind of horror movie cliché, and a car purposely hits them so the couple will have to stay at a nearby fleabag motel at the insistence of Sheriff Jeff Fahey (his performance is actually inspired; he just fits perfectly into his role, suitable for the kind of growly, hick, trailer park "officer of the law" this requires). Supposedly, Fahey is the "whole law" of whatever Louisiana backwater town this film sets itself, but when a police officer arrives where James and Marsden were wrecked, and no car is there to be found, we realize that he's more or less a fiction rather than any sort of authentic sheriff no matter how he carries himself.What I liked was that James is established as an ex-Marine, so when he starts succeeding in hand-to-hand combats and isn't someone who goes down easily, it isn't far-fetched. Plus, because he isn't a scumbag, it isn't too hard to side with him, while Heather's Nancy (considered by many viewers to be a cipher) isn't some bargain-basement weak damsel-in-distress type. She's got fire, and James may appear to be an easy target, he's tough, too. Michael Masden, as the owner of the motel, Royal Vista, is pretty much worthless. He spends his time in one room, and he's ridiculously out of place. He looks like some sort of Vegas gangster. The killers dress in tribal masks and Michael Myers-style work suits. They service the film as disposable victims for James, although there just isn't enough real tense action on screen, nor is the violence all that potent. Much more is implied than shown. Masden's part is truthfully a pathetic joke that could have been written out almost entirely. He is used to sale and rent the film out to unsuspecting victims, his face on the cover promising far more than is delivered.Fahey is the show here. Just not enough in Terror Trap to satiate the intended audience. What is established is if you cross Masden or are no longer worth his time, you're toast. Opening scene with the delicious female with her blouse unbuttoned, laying eyes opened but dead, is a grabber. The couple might be defined mostly at the beginning, with a majority of the film having them go out of their room, only to be forced into another for their own safety, as the addicted eyes of twisted onlookers stare at screens showing them the action, but they aren't just absolute clichés which helps give a crap about them.

Michael O'Keefe If you've seen VACANCY, this movie will look very familiar. You've heard of speed traps; this is a terror trap. You may say a terror trip for an estranged couple Don(David James Elliot)and Nancy(Heather Marsden)taking a road trip in hopes of gaining some excitement in their marriage. While on a lonely Louisiana highway their car is sideswiped and then rammed. The local sheriff(Jeff Fahey)investigates and advises the couple to spend the night at a nearby motel. Soon after occupying their room, they realize something is very wrong. They find out that after people check in, they become sordid entertainment for people from the backwoods that pay to watch people slaughtered on closed circuit TV. Slash, stab, splatter and shoot. Don and Nancy do make it to the parking lot, but so do the gang of brutal killers. If only they can find a vehicle to escape as the sun rises. Also appearing in this mess is: Michael Madsen, Matt Triplett, Andrew Sensenig, Lacey Minchew and B. Martin Williams. When you see a road sign up ahead that says AVOID, it is advise well taken.

Claudio Carvalho While driving at night in a lonely road, the car of the estranged couple Don (David James Elliott) and Nancy (Heather Marsden) is hit twice by another car in the middle of nowhere. Nancy asks for help and the unpleasant sheriff Cleveland (Jeff Fahey) offers to take them to the nearby Motel Royal Vista and wait until the morning, when their car would be towed. .When the couple arrives in the low-budget and foxy motel, they are attended by a weird receptionist. They are disturbed by noises and screams inside the next door room and Don asks them to keep quieter since his wife and he are tired and need to rest. But sooner they realize that they are part of a sick and deadly game, and their lives are threatened by sickos led by Cleveland and his partner Carter (Michael Madsen)."Terror Trap" is a lame rip-off of "Vacancy", with terrible story, characters and acting. The plot has several holes and the conclusion is absurd and apparently with no consequences to the creepy and sadistic participants and the victims of the sick game. Nancy is one of the most detestable and annoying characters I have ever seen, especially considering that she is leading lady of the story. I was cheering for her to be killed and vanish. Michael Madsen is a one-dimensional actor, repeating his performance in "Reservoir Dogs" is many low-budget movies. My advice: better off watching "Vacancy" again than spending time with "Terror Trap". My vote is two.Title (Brazil): "Não Há Vagas" ("No Vacancy")

Paul Andrews Terror Trap starts late one night as squabbling married couple Don (David James Elliott) & Nancy (Heather Marie Marsden) drive through the isolated back-roads of a small Louisiana town called Santa Parish on their way to a casino in Marksville, suddenly a car crashes into them & speeds off leaving Don & Nancy stranded in the woods. They call 911 for help & Sheriff Cleveland Taylor (Jeff Fahey) arrives, Taylor drives Don & Nancy to a nearby motel, the Royal Vista which is a rundown dump. Don & Nancy are given a room but soon discover that the owners are playing a sick game in which the motel is used to snuff films & the paying guests used as unwilling stars...Written, produced & directed by Dan Garcia this film could quite easily be thought as of a cheap low budget remake of Vacancy (2007) as the two are so similar, from the big city couple checking into a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere to their terrorisation & attempts to kill them by the owners for profit & the eventual turning of the tables by the resourceful city folk. Now I will list what I liked about Terror Trap, firstly I appreciated the fact that it lasted just under 75 minutes, secondly I liked that the main city couple were adults rather than dumb teens & I liked the feisty Nancy who had a lot of personality & gave as good as she got in some amusing verbal sparring between herself & Don, she almost made this watchable. Almost. You see what I didn't like far outweighs what I did. Even at only 75 minutes in length Terror Trap takes ages to get going, it's forty odd minutes before the city folk realise what's going on & the onslaught begins, the body count is really low & the gore is none existent, the plot mechanics are never adequately explained, who is in charge of the operation? Why ran Don & Nancy off the road? Are they making snuff films? Is it being streamed across the internet? How do they make their money? There's about eight people who watch monitors of what's going on but surely they wouldn't make much from that? What are these people paying for? Do they participate or not? Do they just get to watch? What do the van load of women have to do with anything? Who is Michael Madsen in this exactly? Who is the guy he blow's up at the end? The whole film feels unfinished, the film feels like a first draft without the finer points of the plot fleshed out. The film feels a lot like Vacancy. I already said that didn't I? Well, it's worth repeating. Basically I liked Nancy as a surprisingly strong & well rounded character but not much else.Gore fans will be disappointed with Terror Trap, there really is no gore to speak of & the potential was there for some torture scenes but no-one is ever shown being killed apart from a few of the bad guy's at the end & even then it's just a few bullet wounds rather than memorable gory death's. There's no sex or nudity either. The film looks alright, there's some annoying black and white ultra quick edited supposedly stylised sequences that just irritate as you can't really tell what's going on. As a whole Terror Trap is competent but little else & the lack of gore in a supposed torture pron film such as this is unforgivable, isn't it? There's no tension or scares, the seemingly random attacks on Don & Nancy are pathetic with a few guy's in animal mask's chasing them but making no real attempt to kill them for reason never really explained.With a supposed budget of about $2,000,000 one has to ask where the money went, it certainly wasn't on special effects & considering the types of films they lower themselves to make these days it couldn't have been on Michael Madsen or Jeff Fahey's fee. Fahey is quite good here actually, we never really find that much about him out & Michael Madsen's character seems almost irrelevant to be honest (I don't even remember him getting a name) although it's always nice to see a couple of pro's even if it's in junk like Terror Trap.Terror Trap (which sounds a lot like Tourist Trap (1979)) is a total rip-off of Vacancy, the two films could have been made from the same script with minimal changes. This is far too tame & forgettable to make any sort of impact, at least it's short & Heather Marie Marsden as Nancy gives it her all but when all said & done give this one a miss.