Volta™ – Irish Independent Film Online

10. And Soon the Darkness (1970)

A very early example of the type, this British thriller is a cautionary tale about the perils of foreign travel. Two adventurous girls take a cycling holiday in France where, creepily, several young women have recently disappeared. As they make their way through the countryside, their discomfort level increases from saddle-burn and leering locals to a full-on chase from an axe-wilding maniac. Remade in 2010 by Marcos Efron, with Amber Heard and Odette Annable playing the doomed tourists.

9. Frozen (2010)

Activity holidays are never a good idea in horror movies, and this excellent thriller from Adam Green is the perfect advertisement for staying put on the couch. A trio of snowboarders are stranded on a mountain chair-lift and must make the life-or-death decision to try and get to safety or die of exposure as the temperatures plummet. The hungry-looking wolves below them don’t make the choice any easier. The film was made entirely without the use of special effects, meaning the actors really were suspended 100 feet over the Utah slopes.

8. Dead Calm (1989)

Nicole Kidman made an early career breakthrough in Phillip Noyce’s twisting thriller, in which she plays a too-perfect wife taking a long boat trip with Sam Neill’s trusting husband. In the middle of the ocean, they meet Billy Zane’s stranded survivor of a shipwreck and bring him on board. But everything is not what it seems and soon all three are locked in a battle for their lives. Noyce based his script on Orson Welles’ The Deep, filmed between 1967 and 1969 but never finished.

7. Paradise Lost (2006)

The beautifully photographed locations for John Stockwell’s thriller add a glossy sheen to a gory story as a group of American backpackers on holiday in South America come to a variety of sticky ends when they get caught up with a gang of human organ traffickers. Clearly not learning the lesson, star Melissa George would do it all again the following year when she takes a boating trip that goes wrong in Christopher Smith’s mind-bending horror Triangle.

6. 127 Hours (2010)

Heading out into the great unspoiled Utah desert without telling anyone where he was going, James Franco’s Aron Ralston finds himself trapped under a falling boulder and must resort to extreme measures in order to save his own life. Director Danny Boyle adapted Ralston’s real-life story in a daring, occasionally wince-inducing, story of monumental courage in the face of dreadful odds. The video diary that Franco keeps is closely based on tapes that Ralston shot while stuck in the canyon which have never been seen by the public.

5. Open Water (2003)

Rule number one when holidaying in paradise: stay on the boat. Writer and director Chris Kentis tells the story of a young couple on holiday in the Caribbean who get separated from their boat on a scuba-diving trip and find themselves lost in hundreds of miles of shark-infested ocean with little hope of rescue. Based on a true story, Kentis’ low-budget sleeper hit made more than $50m at the international box office.

4. Travellers (2011)

Four friends pack up their backpacks for a weekend burn on their motorbikes but their trip from the city to the country brings nothing but disaster in writer and director Kris McManus’ grungy thriller. When thy play a prank at a campsite, which goes terribly wrong, the four fall foul of a gang of Irish travellers, who mete out their own brand of punishment. Features a cameo from Charley Boorman, son of Deliverance director John.

3. Westworld (1973)

Long before Michael Crichton was worried that genetically engineering dinosaurs as a theme park attraction was not necessarily the best idea, he sent a pair of thrill-seeking urbanites on a hedonistic adventure at the futuristic Westworld, where robots act out typical Old West scenarios for the paying punters. When something goes wrong and the robots rebel, the two are stalked by Yul Brynner’s relentless mechanical gunslinger. Brynner’s character is a homage to his Magnificent Seven cowboy and wears the same costume.

2. A Perfect Getaway (2009)

Writer and director David Twohy’s immensely enjoyable B-movie throwback has an adventurous young couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovitch) on honeymoon in Hawaii who discover that a serial killer is stalking the island, preying on tourists. Deciding not to abandon their holiday, they keep going and hope for the best, kicking off a thrilling chase through the idyllic landscape.

1. Deliverance (1972)

Doing for camping holidays what Psycho did for motels, John Boorman’s classic tells the story of a group of city slickers who get more than they bargained for when they take a rafting trip down river. Even the presence of a buck-toothed banjo-playing kid doesn’t stop them from sealing their own fates. A sensational smash-hit on release, Boorman’s film was nominated for three Oscars in 1973 and has been added to the collection of the National Film Preservation Board in the US.