From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Turistas (2006)

Posted on May 22, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This time around we will be talking about the 2006 film Turistas, a horror thriller that deals with the horrors of human organ trafficking and the scares one could get when in a foreign country where you are the target of a group of people who want to do you harm. And what is very cool about this film is that the fine folks at IDW Comics gave it the comic book treatment, and like always, I wish more movie companies would team with comic book publishers to make this happen more often. So if you are ready, let’s head to Brazil and see what Dr. Zamora and his internal organ harvesters have in store for us as they slice and dice not only on film but also on the pages of a comic book! And before we move on, I want to also say that I truly do enjoy doing these From Horror Movie To Horror Comic updates as they are a great way to talk about two things I love: horror movies and horror comics. Plus I have always been a fan of comics that are based off films and will always try an cover as many as I can here on my blog.

Let’s start by taking a look at Dr. Zamora, the ruthless killer of the film Turistas, and his ways of dealing death to those who cross his path and don’t follow his orders. Dr. Zamora is a normal man who lives in a small village in Brazil and who takes care of the kids in the village with shots and healthcare, but is using stolen drugs from his victims to do so. Dr. Zamora has an army of armed men that do as he orders as many of them he pays well in drugs and cash making them very loyal to him and not minding taking the lives of others or bringing him tourists to do what he wants with. You see, Zamora is a doctor who steals the organs of tourists after he has his followers drug and take them back to his lab in the middle of the jungle so that he can harvest their livers and kidneys to give to the local hospital to save his people’s lives. He is skilled at cutting up bodies and taking the body parts he needs, but he is also very cruel in nature as he gets pleasure in killing the tourists as he truly hates them and everything they stand for. He is also very cruel to his own followers as he has no issues killing them if he feels they let him down, and uses their death to make sure others fear him. One of his major tools is fear as those who know him, serve him and are targets of his all fear him and his cruel ways. Dr. Zamora will end a person’s life not only with a scalpel but also will use guns in order to make his victims meet a bloody and painful end. He also will use sharp objects like a stick to jab into a person’s eye and into their brain showing how little he cares for life that he feels is below him. But while Dr. Zamora is very mean and evil he is just a man and can be killed like any normal person from beating, stabbing, drowning, burnt, shot and everything else that a person could die from. While he is not the most unstoppable nor brutal killer we have looked at, he is one of the top when it comes to medically killing you to steal your internal organs.

So now that we have taken a look at Dr. Zamora and his was of not only killing you but also stealing your kidneys, I think that it is time we take a look at the film he is from and that is Turistas from 2006. And like before I will be getting the film’s write up from our pals at IMDB and then will write a little about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the water and swim around the waterfalls and hidden caves as we try and keep our guts in our own bodies were they belong.

Turistas (2006)

“A group of young backpackers’ vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.”

Turistas was written by Michael Arien Ross and was his first screenplay, but he was not stranger to horror films as he was the editor on such films as Wrong Turn (2003) and 2001 Maniacs (2005). Director John Stockwell was no stranger to shooting films that are set on islands, tropical and beaches and had done such films as Blue Crush (2002) and Into The Blue (2005) and took the directing duty after it reminded him of being robbed by a gang of glue huffing teenagers in Peru and how the police did nothing about it, well they did offer him a chance to kill the kids for $300.00! The film would be distributed by 20^th Century Fox and would get a budget of around $10 million. It would be filmed in Brazil to capture the beauty of that country, and when casting they would hire such names as Olivia Wilde, Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Beau Garrett, Desmond Askew and Miguel Lunardi would be hired to play Dr. Zamora the films main villain. The film was shot very barebones with not a lot of crew and the insects were very bad during filming. The underwater stunts in the caves were the actors, and many times during the shoot Olivia Wilde would have some scary issues in the water. Once the film was done Paul Haslinger would score it and 20^th Century Fox would release it under their Fox Atomic label to theaters on December 1, 2006 and it would do ok for them bringing in $14.7 million. The film would be called Paradise Lost in the U.K and Ireland, and this was the first film to be released under the Fox Atomic label. The film would only last around 8 weeks at the first run theaters and was met with mostly negative reviews from critics, with Fangoria Magazine at least being a fan of it. The film was also meet with protests due to the negative image it shows of Brazil, and this hurt the film’s run in South America as it was blamed for trying to scare tourist away from visiting. The film would be released on home media in 2007 and found a bigger audience when the DVD would feature both the theatrical and unrated editions of the film for viewers to see as well as tons of extras including deleted scenes and director commentary. The film in 2006 was released with such other films as An America Haunting, Creepshow 3, Evil Bong, Final Destination 3, The Grudge 2, Hatchet, The Hills Have Eyes, Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes, Saw III, See No Evil, Silent Hill, Slither, Snakes Of A Plane and Underworld: Evolution to name a few.

Turistas is a film that I can remember when it was released to theaters as well as Home Media, but it took me all the way until 2023 to watch it even though I had both the film and comic for a long while…and I am not sure why it took me that long in order to watch it as it has a interesting plot and truly I am shocked I didn’t see in theaters to be honest. When Turistas was released, it was during the start of what critics called “torture porn horror” that was started by Saw in 2004 as well as Hostel in 2005, and while this was very bloody, when it comes to the scenes of stealing the organs, it in my opinion is not in the same league as those films in the bloody violent department and is more of a solid horror thriller that has some gruesome moments. What makes this film standout is that they really did film in Brazil, and this made the scenery very beautiful and 100% the film’s standout actor was Olivia Wilde who played Bea, one of the poor vacationers that is kidnapped and captured for organ harvesting. And as you know, Olivia has gone on to be in many horror and sci-fi films over the years including Alpha Dog (2006), Tron:Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and was not only one of the lead actresses but also the director of “Don’t Worry Darling (2022)! Another standout in this film was Miguel Lunardi, who played the lead killer Dr. Zamora, and he is fantastic as he looks crazy and also careless when he takes live, a very solid performance. It also very cool that Fox Atomic understood that making comic books to help promote their films was a good idea to draw in more fans to the theater and also it brings moviegoers to comic shops to get a copy of the comic they have just seen. The film’s gore effects work really well with some of the surgery shots being real as they filmed a real doctor at work! Turistas is a film that I did enjoy when I finally watched it, but also I feel has been lost in the shuffle over time as this era for horror films was a mixed bag of theater hits, direct to DVD duds and everything in-between. But if you like horror thrillers about tourists in deep trouble, give this one a watch.

Now that we have talked about Turistas as well as its main villain Dr. Zamora we should get to the comic book based on this film that was release by IDW to help promote the film as well as deliver another horror comic into the hands of readers. And first I would like to thank an Amazon Seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. And what is cool with this one is just like with the movie, this will be a first time read for me, and much like the movie, I am not sure why it took me so long to give it a read. But if you are ready, I am ready to see what Horrors that Turistas has in store for us.

Turistas # 0 **1/2
Released in 2006 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 1 of 1

Buck Mercer is a tourist who lands in Cambodia as in America he strikes out with the ladies, and he hopes to find some cheap thrills with the prostitutes in this foreign land. Once there he finds a young woman but as they are walking back to a hotel room, Buck is robbed and breaks down as all of his money is gone that he brought. But the woman tells him that it is ok, she works on credit and the two head back and have sex. Buck gets money wired to him from his bank and he spends a week with the woman who still will not take any money saying she works on credit, all the while the woman is also taking to someone on a cellphone. One night the woman drugs Buck, and he wakes up in a bathtub filled with ice feeling terrible, bloody and his organs have been stolen! We then join Don and Kym Axelrod who are in a more remote part of Cambodia to visit small villages and try and help the people, and they are joined by a guided named Pham who warns the couple not to take any pictures of the kids as they have been having issues with human trafficking. But of course Kym breaks the rules and the villagers turn on her and Don who are told to run by Pham as the men of the village gear up to attack! Don is knocked out and wakes up in the jungle seeing a chopped off human hand holding one of Kyms earrings and he sets out to rescue her. Don fights off and kills some of the villagers only to find that Pham has set them up all along as he is going to sell Kym to the slave market and then plans on eating the heart of Don!

This is a very strange comic tie in to a film as it does not feature Dr. Zamora nor does it even take place in Brazil instead it features two different stories with two different styles of baddies with one being a prostitute who steals organs from visiting tourist and the other is a guide who along with a village human traffics tourist and even eats the organs of others! The first story is about a chubby loser type guy who has no game with women. While on vacation he falls in love with a lady of the night only to wake up in a bathtub of ice with only one kidney. The other story has a couple who travel to a village to help the people who have been dealing with human trafficking only to find themselves the ones who are in need of help from being trafficked. The kidney-stealing prostitute is smooth in her operations as she uses her good looks and her skills in bed to rope in a dope and then once she has gotten a buyer uses drugs to knock them out and then steal and sell their organs on the black market. While Pham and the villagers almost seem to have a fun time messing with the tourist before they sell them or in the male tourists case eat their hearts, to Pham and his people its clear that life is cheap as they seemingly sacrifice their own people in order to toy with Don who is trying to rescue his wife. And while these stories are pretty well done and creepy, I really did wish it would have been about Dr. Zamora and his ways of stealing organs and killing those who got in his way. Out of the two stories as well I would have to say they are both very much even in the entertainment factor as both have their own sinister charm. The comic is does have bloody parts and does have some gory violent moments that should please the horror comic reader who loves the splatter. The cover for this comic is pretty much the theatrical poster making it eye catching for the fans of the film, but not so much for those who are unaware of the film as its just a close up of a woman’s face. The interior artwork was done by Fabian Slongo, and is pretty good stuff as he captures the rawness of the violence and the style of art that IDW had during this time. Over all while this ties into the theme of the film Turistas, it does not fully feel like a movie tie in comic as the main characters and place of this film are not showcased here, but with that said, it still was a entertaining read and fans of this fight flick should still check it out. Speaking of checking out, take a look at the artwork below to see the style of Slongo used in this comic release.

Well it seems like this vacation is over and it looks like the good old organs are still intact, so that means we must have stayed clear of Dr. Zamora! On a side note I wish that both IDW and Fox Atomic would have remained teaming up as there could have been some cool and interesting horror movie comics released! I should also point out that Fox Atomic did break off and have their own very short lived publishing company and even did a graphic novel based on the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (but that’s for a future update).Well before we go our separate ways until the next update, I should let you know that our next one will take us to the world of Italian horror as I will be covering Demons and a comic released by a record label! So until next time, make sure to read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a spooky, creepy good time!

A True Hero Of The People: Robin Hood

Posted on November 9, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and the first update in our countdown to Thanksgiving 2024. One classic hero that I have been a fan of since I was a kid is Robin Hood, the man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Robin Hood is a folk legend that has been talked about since the 13^th Century and is a symbol of hope for the less fortunate as he is a hero for them, a man who cares about them having food for their bellies, wine to drink to quench their thirst and a roof over their heads. Robin Hood is a world wide icon as his story and legend are known worldwide, and the fact that he stands up against the greedy and those who abuse their power makes him a true hero for many. I think the most awesome thing about Robin Hood is that no one really knows who created his story or if he was truly based on a real person, and all we truly know is that it looks as if his legend started in England. But with that, let’s head to Sherwood Forest and go on a blog update adventure with Robin Hood and his Merry Men!

Before we dive to deep into this blog update, let’s first take a brief look at the characters that make up the lore of this timeless tale. Robin Hood is an outlaw who is skilled with his bow and arrows and who is loyal to Richard The Lionheart, who was the King Of England. Robin Hood would steal money, food and other goods from the rich and greedy in order to give to the poor who were suffering near Nottingham, and this made him the enemy of the kingdom. Robin Hood did his “crimes” with the help of his Merry Men that included Little John a mountain of a man, Friar Tuck who works for the church, Will Scarlet a young skilled sword man with other members being Alan-A-Dale, Much The Miller’s Son, Will Stutely, Arthur-A-Bland and David Of Doncaster. Robin Hood’s lover interest is the lovely Maid Marion who was the daughter of a nobel man and who falls for Robin Hood after he robs some of her father’s knights and she falls for him (other tales have them knowing each other since childhood). The baddies of these tales are the corrupt and evil Sheriff Of Nottingham, the knight Guy Of Gisborne, Bishop Of Hereford and Prince John to name a few. This is just a crash course for the bios for Robin Hood and the characters that make up his legends and tales, and if you are interested in learning more about them there are plenty of great books, websites, films and shows that can help you learn more.

With Robin Hood being a legend in lore, this of course lead to him being the subject of many TV shows, movies and cartoons with almost all of them being hits with viewers and fans as something about the character Robin Hood has always found a spot with people who enjoy his adventures. I would like to take a brief moment to talk about a few of the films and shows that I can remember loving growing up! The first version of Robin Hood I remember was “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” from 1938 where actor Errol Flynn played the hero and this version of the tale still to this day remains one of my favorite film versions. The next one of course was the 1973 Disney animated film “Robin Hood” that had Brian Bedford voice Robin Hood who in this version is a talking fox. The big film version of my generation was the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves” that had Kevin Costner playing Robin. I was a big fan of this film and had the action figures done by Kenner, the NES game, and the breakfast cereal as well as the Topps trading cards. And those are my top three favorite film versions of Robin Hood but many have played the character over the decades in film and television such as Richard Greene, Thor Bishopric, Russell Crowe, Cary Elwes, Patrick Bergin, Taron Egerton, Douglas Fairbanks and Michael Praed to name a very small few. One of the strangest Robin Hoods has to be from the 1966 cartoon series called “Rocket Robin Hood” that has a space version of the character called Rocket Robin Hood who with his Merry Men in space fight off aliens…yep, it’s a weird one. These are just some of the films, cartoons and shows based on Robin Hood, and I am sure you readers have your favorites as well.

While Robin Hood has shown up in many video games, the one that I want to talk about is called “Super Robin Hood” and it was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System as part of a game called “Quattro Adventure” that also features the games “Boomerang Kid”, “Treasure Island Dizzy” and “Linus Spacehead”. The game is super basic as it’s a side scrolling action game that has you play as Robin Hood armed with his bow & arrow as he collects treasure and fights off the guards that are protecting it, and you are on this quest in a massive castle that acts like a maze and you need to find keys in order to unlock doors. Besides the guards, the area is also filled with falling maces, flames, lava, bats and traps making your quest very dangerous. While collecting the treasures to give to the poor is a big part of the adventure, the main goal is to save Maid Marion who is being kept prisoner at the Nottingham Castle. While the game is not groundbreaking it is a fun and simple game that will surely kill some time on a boring weekend and will give fans of Robin Hood some joy as they arrow down baddies and save the day. I should also say that this game was released in 1991 for the NES, and is one I did not have as a kid.

Did you know that Robin Hood has also made his way into the world of food as well? As some restaurants have the name Robin Hood or have that Sherwood Forest theme with one being a cool little diner in Southampton, PA that at some point I plan on eating at whenever I am in the area. But what I want to really talk about is Robin Hood Flour, a product that has been on store shelves since 1909 and is currently released by J.M. Smucker Company who of course makes the Smucker Jellies to the retail market. The flour is very popular in Canada and can be obtained at some grocery stores here in America that deal in imported foods. When I was a kid I do remember seeing Robin Hood Flour on the shelves when my Mom would bring my brother and I grocery shopping and would try and get her to get it as it said Robin Hood on it. One day Juliet and I should get some Robin Hood Flour and make some Robin Hood themed cupcakes!

One other thing I want to briefly talk about is that at Jungle Jims, a massive world market grocery store in Cincinnati and a place that has all types of awesome decorations that many are taking from old amusement parks as well as fairs. One of the coolest things they have is the Sherwood Forest area that is complete with animatronics of Robin Hood and his Merry Men that has come from an old amusement park. The animatronics are on a timer and sometimes move about and talk. Now this is very awesome to see if you are a fan of Robin Hood like myself seeing these old amusement park attractions while grocery shopping is a really cool thing and adds to the Jungle Jim experience. Checkout the picture below as it was taken by my gal Juliet.

Now many of you know that I like the old Marx Toys and some of my favorites that I own are my 60mm figures of Robin Hood that come in green plastic. The knights are in grey and are taller versions of the classic plastic Army Men figures. The ones that I have are Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Little John, Friar Tuck, The Minstrel, Sheriff Of Nottingham and a Knight. These figures are so cool and I would say that my two favorite ones are Robin Hood himself as well as Little John as I like the designs of them, and the best part is these figures are from the 1960’s and they have really good details for that time. Sadly I do not have the whole set as there are more Merry Men as well as Knights for figures and they also had play sets that I do not have that included horses. But just wanted to take a moment to show these Marx Toys some respect as I really do think they are cool basic figures that I am sure brought many of kids happiness in the 60’s and 70’s as Robin Hood was very popular then.

Since I was a very young kid I have been a big fan of the legend of Robin Hood as a hero of the woods who helped the poor and robbed the rich that were very greedy and treated others poorly was something that just always set right with me. When you breakdown Robin Hood to his core, he is a hero who decided to do something about all the injustice he was seeing in his homeland and along with a band of like-minded folks they set out to right all the wrongs and give hope to those who needed it the most. Now we are at the review part of this update, and I have decided that the comic will be from King Comics as they had a cool three issue mini series perfect for this update. Now keep in mind this was a really hard choice as there are many Robin Hood comics to choose from that are really great reads. I would like to thank Game Swap Kettering for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head to Sherwood Forest and see what Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men have in store for us.

King Classics: Robin Hood # 1 ***
Released in 1977 Cover Price NA King # 4 of 24

King Richard is fighting the crusade and rumor is he is being held for ransom, and while he is away the likes of Sheriff Of Nottingham and Guy Of Gisborne are taking advantage of the people by taxing them with the guise of using the money to get the King back. Sir Richard, the father of Marion, asks the Sheriff for a loan as well as to watch over his daughter while he goes on a quest to rescue the King, and a terrible deal is made. Later Robin Hood is gathering locals to join his group that is protesting the corruption and even scares away Guy Of Gisborne causing him to play a bounty on the head of Robin! While The Sheriff has set up Sir Richard that leaves his boat crew turning on him and he winds up a prisoner in the dungeon of the Nottingham castle. Robin Hood then meets a mountain of a man named Little John who after a quick tussle joins The Merry Men the group that helps Robin and together they defeat The Sheriff and Guy who made the mistake of trying to track down the bandits. And later Robin Hood and his men steal tons of gold to give to the poor from Geoffrey Of Bellamy, a man who is trying to marry Marion by force thanks to The Sheriff and this causes Robin Hood and his men to come up with a plan to stop the wedding and free Sir Richard from his cell. Some time passes and on the wedding day of Geoffrey and Marion, the brave Robin Hood and his men are able to save Marion as well as scare off Geoffrey and his men that come looking for her, and this cause major anger and even gets the attention of acting King Prince John The Landless who holds a arrow contest hoping that it will draw out Robin Hood cause of the high prize money and he is right! As the knights surround Robin Hood from the woods, The Merry Men appear and are able to save their leader and pull off a big escape, but five Merry Men are taken prisoner. And Robin Hood of course comes for them and saves them as well as Sir Richard and finally he is able to see his daughter Marion again, but their joy is cut short when Geoffrey and his men attack and kill many of the Merry Men and even take Marion back prisoner! Now Robin Hood is angry that he along with Little John and other Merry Men head to the castle for a big showdown. Robin and his men are joined in battle by a cloaked man who saves Robin twice during the battle and soon The Sheriff, Geoffrey, Guy and Prince John and their men loose the fight and Robin Hood is the hero of the day, he also learns that the cloak fighter was King Richard and he also is able to win the heart of Marion and the two are to be married.

This is such a fun read and while some of the pacing is a little odd and I feel like characters such as Little John are downplayed it still is a thrilling adventure ride that showcases the bravery and caring personality of Robin Hood. The issue’s plot is simple The King of England is missing as he went to fight in a Holy War an during his absent many of his fellow rulers and people of power are taking advantage of the people by raising taxes and stealing their land, but Robin Hood and his band of friends and followers have seen enough and are fighting against this corruption and evil doings and this is causing a big brooding battle to take place that will leave only one side standing. Robin Hood is a very caring man who wants to help those less fortunate and will protect them when those wishing them harm comes around, he is loyal to his friends and those he swore to protect and is super skilled with a sword but more so with his trusty bow and arrow. He will die for his cause and while looked as an outlaw by some for the many he is deemed a hero. Little John is a mountain of man who once worked on the side of the greedy but who now is using his strength and skills to fight along Robin Hood in his quest to help the poor. Marion and her father Sir Richard are both good people as well who want to see England flourish and serve only the missing King Richard. And of course Marion and Robin fall in love when he saves her and she lives with him at his camp. The issues baddies Sheriff Of Nottingham, Guy Of Gisborne, Geoffrey Of Bellamy and Prince John The Landless are all big talkers but none of them have the means to truly deal with the “outlaws” that are being a pain in their sides and have disrupted the flow of the money and land they are stealing. And in the end all these guys get what they deserve when King Richard returns to England and shows that he is not on their side nor approves on what they have done while he was away. The issue has some action and while it would have been nice if the fights were a little more showcase I feel this is a really good comic that does the legend justice…I will say that I would have like to have seen Friar Tuck even in a cameo. The cover for this issue is pretty cool and shows Robin Hood firing off an arrow, and the interior art is really cool classic comic book stuff but cannot find who did it so Unknown Artist gets the credit. Over all if you like the legend of Robin Hood and find a copy of this comic make sure to give it a read as it really is a enjoyable read, and checkout the artwork bellow to see the style used in this comic. Oh and Robin Hood wears red in this comic and not green the color most people think of when this character comes up.

As you can see, Robin Hood really is one of the most iconic heroes around the world and his story is still being told in books, comics and films as his impact on culture is that deep. And when choosing what comic to cover for this update I have so many to choose from as such companies as A+ Comics, Eclipse Comics, Dell Comics, Eternity Comics and Charlton Comics have all made some amazing comics based on him. So in other words, if you like Robin Hood you have many comic options to choose from to read. Well it looks like it is time for us to leave Sherwood Forest and head to the world of coloring books as we take a look at Captain America and his Whitman adventure fighting robots! So until next time, read a comic of three, watch a Robin Hood film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for some coloring time!