History Main / DeadlyRoadTrip

* ''Film/GuysAndDolls'' (1955). In the opening sequence, a man in a tourist group is pick-pocketed by a local while he's distracted. Watch it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6MHgh1vFQ#t=0m20s here]].

* The JossWhedon movie ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs the horror aspects of this trope, noting that it is necessary to put the vacationers in an isolated place to get them to do wildly incautious things. And then monsters attack.

* ''Film/{{Monsters 2010}}'' has a journalist tasked with bringing back his employer's daughter from Mexico. ''After it has been overrun by monsters.''

* ''Film/{{Unknown}}'': Another Liam Nelson, this time pretty much losing everything in his life on a trip to Berlin.

* Another popular urban legend is that gangs on the west coast of the US, particularly Los Angeles, will drive at night without their headlights on. If any one blinks theirs to tell them their lights are off, they have to kill them as part of an initiation. It's so prevalent that California's Highway Patrol had to make an official statement about it.

Start with a trip; it could be for work, play, study or research. Add a traveler, maybe a couple or a group of friends, or for extra trope points [[CastCalculus a group of friends who are couples.]] They're traveling far from home to someplace remote and rural, a foreign country, or ''both'' for quadruple trope points. So now they're someplace new and exiting and different... where they will be off guard; no one knows them or will notice if they disappear; they have trouble communicating with the locals or there ''are'' no locals with whom to invoke SafetyInMuggles; and there will be no help from home if they get robbed, kidnapped or killed. [[GoneHorriblyWrong And so they are.]]

* Florida has very friendly gun laws that make most crime a risk to the criminal. To get around this, Miami has become infamous for criminals targeting people going out of the airport, as they won't be armed.

* ''GuysAndDolls'' (1955). In the opening sequence, a man in a tourist group is pick-pocketed by a local while he's distracted. Watch it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6MHgh1vFQ#t=0m20s here]].
* ''TheHillsHaveEyes''.
* ''InBruges'' is an inversion. Two hit-men are sent to relax in Bruges by their boss who wants the younger hitman to have a nice holiday before whacking him for accidentally killing a child during a hit. Since the older hit-man refuses to kill the younger one]] the danger ''follows them to Bruges.''
* ''[[JurassicPark The Lost World: Jurassic Park]]'': The first victims shown in the movie are tourists.
* ''TheManWhoKnewTooLittle''.
* ''Film/{{Monsters}}'' has a journalist tasked with bringing back his employer's daughter from Mexico. ''After it has been overrun by monsters.''
* Played straight and then subverted in ''APerfectGetaway'', where a honeymooning couple tries to enjoy their vacation amidst troubling tales of serial murder. Paranoia and self-preservation run high, and anyone could be waiting to slit their throat while they sleep. Except the main characters were the serial killers from the start.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]], albeit in a foreign language, in the title of ''{{Turistas}}''.

* ''TheRuins'' (TheFilmOfTheBook of the same name). Two American couples on vacation in Mexico discover a pyramid infested with deadly parasitic vines.

* The ''{{Grindhouse}}'' film ''{{DeathProof}}''. A couple girls go joyriding when a killer with an old muscle car decides to hunt them down for kicks. Played straight in the first half, but subverted in the second.

This sort of thing can happen on a VacationEpisode and in DontGoInTheWoods, and when a space ship answers a DistressCall. This is one of the reasons why ShortCutsMakeLongDelays. Also comparable with HellHotel.

* Popular {{urban legend}}: Couple goes to a foreign country on vacation; while they're out having dinner, their room is robbed, the burglars only leaving two things: their cameras, and their toothbrushes. They use up the rest of the roll of film and continue using the toothbrushes, until finally they get their pictures back, and discover a bunch of them are of the burglar with their toothbrushes up his butt.

* The ''{{Grindhouse}}'' film ''{{DeathProof}}''. A couple girls go joyriding when a killer with an old muscle car decides to hunt them down for kicks. Played straight in the first half, but subverted hard in the second.

* According to DaveBarry, using turn signals in Miami amounts to informing [[DrivesLikeCrazy Miami drivers]] that you are a tourist, and that they may therefore help themselves to your cash, electronics, and medically valuable organs. Similarly, he recounts three German tourists in the NewYork subway system who politely asked to get off, he believes they probably got let out in the Bronx where they were sold for parts.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons,'' the first time Homer visits NewYork his wallet is stolen. He goes to complain to a cop, who steals his suitcase.

* ''BondageQueenKate'' features an inter-planetary crime syndicate that kidnaps female tourists who travel to the desert planet Dune, to force them into sexual slavery.

* In ''{{Transsiberian}}'' the protagonists are going through Siberia on a train which itself is a ClosedCircle, but above that they frequently make stops in locations that are ''also'' {{Closed Circle}}s. All of which frames the lies and smuggling and corrupt (?) police who are growing more and more suspicious of the innocent (?) protagonists.

* Happens in the MichaelPalmer novel ''The Fifth Vial'', which is about an illegal organ harvesting program in Brazil.

Start with a trip; could be for work, play, study or research. Add a traveler, maybe a couple or a group of friends, or for extra trope points [[CastCalculus a group of friends who are couples.]] They're traveling far from home to someplace remote and rural, a foreign country, or ''both'' for quadruple trope points. So now they're someplace new and exiting and different... where they will be off guard; no one knows them or will notice if they disappear; they have trouble communicating with the locals or there ''are'' no locals with whom to invoke SafetyInMuggles; and there will be no help from home if they get robbed, kidnapped or killed. [[GoneHorriblyWrong And so they are.]]

* The JossWhedon movie ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs the horror aspects of this trope, noting that it is necessary to put the vacationers in an isolated place to get them to do wildly incautious things. And then [[spoiler:monsters attack.]]

* ''InBruges'' is an inversion. Two hit-men are sent to relax in Bruges by their boss who [[spoiler:wants the younger hitman to have a nice holiday before whacking him for accidentally killing a child during a hit. Since the older hit-man refuses to kill the younger one]] the danger ''follows them to Bruges.''

* Played straight [[spoiler: and then subverted]] in ''APerfectGetaway'', where a honeymooning couple tries to enjoy their vacation amidst troubling tales of serial murder. Paranoia and self-preservation run high, and anyone could be waiting to slit their throat while they sleep. [[spoiler: Except the main characters were the serial killers from the start.]]

* The ''{{Grindhouse}}'' film ''{{DeathProof}}''. A couple girls go joyriding when a killer with an old musclecar decides to hunt them down for kicks. Played straight in the first half, but subverted hard in the second.
* ''TheRuins'' (TheFilmOfTheBook of the same name). Two American couples on vacation in Mexico discover a pyramid [[spoiler:infested with deadly parasitic vines]].

* ''{{Film/Altitude}}'' is the airborne equivalent A group of friends are attacked by an EldritchAbomination while taking trip in one of their parent's planes.

* An episode of ''[[{{CSINY}} CSI: New York]]'' discusses this when the VictimOfTheWeek was wearing an "I <3 New York" shirt and was apparently stabbed in a mugging. [[spoiler: The victim was mugged, but not only [[MuggingTheMonster was he having none of it]], but he was there to find his daughter (who'd been kidnapped and sold into prostitution; her pimp was able to get the drop on him with the knife the muggers left).]]

* The Davis family from ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3''. They're on vacation in London. You take control of Mr. Davis about thirty seconds before [[spoiler: he, his wife, and his daughter all die in a terrorist attack.]]

* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs this, a [[spoiler:group focused on finding, trapping and replicating horror movie cliches to sate evil gods specifically built and lured a group of college kids to the titular cabin]].

* Not quite tourists, but the principle is the same: a small town in ''OrderOfTheStick'' gets wind that the adventuring party is approaching, and immediately springs into a frenzy, increasing prices tenfold and putting price tags on ''everything'' (An old guy on a porch holds a sign reading "Cryptic ramblings from an old man").

* The Bali Bombings - Terrorists bombed areas where Western Tourists (Mostly Australians, if I am remembering correctly) frequented.
* Drug dealers trying to sell to Tourists in a country that takes a harsh stance on it like Indonesia.

* Popular urban legend: Couple goes to a foreign country on vacation; while they're out having dinner, their room is robbed, the burglars only leaving two things: their cameras, and their toothbrushes. They use up the rest of the roll of film and continue using the toothbrushes, until finally they get their pictures back, and discover a bunch of them are of the burglar with their toothbrushes up his butt.

This sort of thing can happen on a VacationEpisode and in DontGoInTheWoods, and when a space ship answers a DistressCall. Also comparable with HellHotel.

* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs this, a [[spoiler:group focused on finding, trapping and replicating horror movie cliches to sate evil gods specifically built and lured a group of college kids to the titular cabin]].
* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'' plays this trope straight... from the perspective of the ''hillbillies''. A group of teens and a pair of hillbillies go camping in the same general area and the former confuses the latter for {{Serial Killer}}s, inverting the usual set up for the trope.

This sort of thing can happen on a RoadTrip or VacationEpisode, and when a space ship answers a DistressCall. Also comparable with HellHotel.

* The JossWhedon movie ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' deconstructs the horror aspects of this trope, noting that it is necessary to put the vacationers in an isolated place to get them to do wildly uncautious things. And then [[spoiler:monsters attack.]

* ''GuysAndDolls'' (1955). In the opening sequence, a man in a tourist group is pickpocketed by a local while he's distracted. Watch it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6MHgh1vFQ#t=0m20s here]].

* ''InBruges'' is an inversion. Two hitmen are sent to relax in Bruges by their boss who [[spoiler:wants the younger hitman to have a nice holiday before whacking him for accidentally killing a child during a hit. Since the older hitman refuses to kill the younger one]] the danger ''follows them to Bruges.''

* ''{{Film/Altitude}}'' is the airborn equivalent A group of friends are attacked by an EldritchAbomination while taking trip in one of their parent's planes.

* ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'' plays this trope straight... from the perspective of the ''hillbillies''. A group of teens and a pair of hillbilles go camping in the same general area and the former confuses the latter for {{Serial Killer}}s, inverting the usual set up for the trope.

Cue the ClosedCircle trapping them and keeping help away, once the trap is sprung any of a hundred {{Drama}}tic and {{Horr|or}}ific developments can pounce on these unwary tourists. Maybe that nice stranger is actually part of a {{terrorist}} group and implicates the tourists. Or they're marked as easy targets for exploitation and have their stuff stolen, get kidnapped, or sold into slavery. Maybe there's a monster in the cave they're exploring that [[DwindlingParty starts to pick them off one at a time]], or there's cannibal hillbilly zombies in the foothills waiting to eat them. Point is, they're a long way from home and because they don't know the area or aren't as cautious as they should be it leads to some horrible things happening.