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This is an American remake of a 1970s British thriller about two girls on a cycling holiday who encounter a psycho killer in rural France, as one does. According to the film critic Halliwell, the original was a ‘risible suspenser,’ ‘long on red herrings and short on humour’. I didn’t see the original, but I guess the screenwriters of the newer version thought they could a better job in 2010! Suffice to say, the description, ‘risible’ still applies, I fear.

Here we have two young American tourists on a cycling holiday in the Argentinean outback. We know from the opening scene with one of the girls in chains, being baited with electronic prods, that it is not going to end well. Go back a few days and two bright, attractive young women breeze into town on the last day of their holiday. One of them, Ellie, says, ‘How cute is this!’ Really? The scene looked rather grim to me: remote, poverty-stricken and rather too many shifty-looking men sitting around brooding and staring lustfully at anything with nice legs. Even without a psycho on the loose, the warning signs were there. But these two plough on, completely oblivious to the danger that awaits them.

They find their way to the Hotel Rosa Maria, where the owner, (interestingly called Rosa), greets them with, ‘You are not travelling alone, are you?’ Cue some seriously furtive glances and meaningful stares, Rosa’s hubby being the worst offender. Everyone seems to know something, but why are they not telling the girls? Naturally, as they have an 8am bus to catch the next morning, they do the sensible thing and go to the local bar in the shortest dresses they can find in their rucksacks (why would you take such attire on a cycling holiday?) and drink shots of tequila, or whatever the local brew is. If only they had decided to get an early night! But then it wouldn’t have been much of a thriller.

After a few drinks at the bar, Ellie does her best to encourage a bit more leering from every man there. She flirts outrageously and dances provocatively to the song lyrics, ‘when I think about you, I touch myself’. Did her mother never tell her not to talk to strange men or dance for them? Not only does she talk to quite a few, she ends up outside snogging the face off one of them. And he really isn’t remotely attractive. She could do much better if she were just a bit picky, or perhaps waited till she got home! Her more sensible travel buddy, Stephanie, gets a bit uptight and goes back to the hotel, leaving her to it. A big mistake, for someone sensible, because it means they miss the bus the next morning, which is the real start of all their problems.

The only interesting character in the whole movie is the Brad Pitt look-alike called Michael. I spent far too much time trying to decide whether he looked more like Brad with his sunglasses on, or off, and lost the plot a bit. But there actually isn’t much of a plot to lose. Basically, someone is trying to sell these girls over the border into Paraguay, as sex slaves presumably. Michael is an American, stuck in this dreadful place looking for his girlfriend, who disappeared mysteriously a while ago; a fact he neglected to mention when it would have been useful information. For a while he tries to help Stephanie when her friend goes missing, while looking rather dodgy himself. Then both girls get caught. One of them ends up dead, and one of them escapes. I won’t spoil it by telling you who the real villain is, but as you will pretty soon guess, it’s one of the locals.

You would think the whole thing could be quite amusing if it was meant to be a parody of the original, except it isn’t. It’s not even a little bit ironic. That is not to say that you won’t necessarily enjoy it, if you like cheap thrills and formulaic thrillers; or if you enjoy watching close-ups of young women in short skirts and bikinis. It was suggested to me that this is all part of the genre, designed to make us think about how we objectify women. But, I’m not buying that. The film does objectify women, and reduces them to stereotypes for no good reason. There is no artistic merit to it, and as a thriller, it is pretty predictable. There is a good girl and a bad girl and no prizes for guessing which one cops it.

It is interesting that this version is co-scripted by a woman. I ask myself, why would a woman participate in writing a film that objectifies women the way it does? What was that bar scene all about, the short skirts, the choice of music on the jukebox? Why are the young women such stereotypes? Stephanie is the good girl, the vaguely sensible one who agonises over breaking up with her boyfriend Nick, and just wants to enjoy a healthy bike ride around Argentina and a chance to practise her Spanish vocabulary. Ellie is the bad one, flirtatious, and a risk-taker, out to shag any man below the age of 30 in Argentina. Ellie naturally has to suffer more for her sins.

The bar scene was vaguely amusing I suppose, depending on how you viewed it. But I

So i finally decided to join this group and show what's inside my bag.
This content can change everyday, as so the bag itself (because i own sooooo many bags and love them all).
So this is what i have inside my bag today:

1 - Casio EX-Z85 camera case (the camera is not inside because i was using it for the photo)

2 - Mango wallet

3 - Felt wallet where i keep my moleskines and Post-it notes

4 - The bag i'm carrying today (from Quebramar, a nice portuguese trademark)

5 - Journal (where i'm writing some travel info about Amsterdam. I will fly in 3 days...)

6 - Vogue sunglasses and their case

7 - Reusable aluminium bottle (with water inside)

8 - Moleskine journals (for different subjects. I tagged them with vinyl)

9 - Post-it notes

10 - Coin wallet (offered by my sister)

11 - Dutch phrasebook (i am trying to learn something for my trip)

12 - Car documents (the wallet was also offered by my sister)

13 - My lovely purse from Parfois (it was offered by my friend Ana and i keep some medicines and make-up products inside)

14 - Reusable shopping bag (was also offered by my sister)

15 - Moleskine weekly notebook 2009 (it is not a "Helvetica edition". I have to confess that i faked it with vinyl...)

16 - Felt mobile phone bag (offered by my friend Raquel)

17 - Green tissues (magnolia great smell)

18 - Wet tissues

19 - Motorola mobile phone (this is a very basic phone and it was realy cheap. I usually carry it in my trips)

20 - SD card 2Gb (i bought it today, very cheap)

21 - (from top to bottom) Vichy lipstick, Yves Rocher Deligloss and Oriflame lip gloss

22 - Small (ans so sweet) purse where i keep my pen-drives (made by my friend Raesha)

23 - Sony Ericsson S500i (i love it!)

24 - Scarf

25 - Spearmint gums

26 - Pilot V5 Grip black pen

27 - Pink bracelet (to show it at the store, join credits and win ice creams)

28 - Small Swiss Victorinox "Signature" knife (with other tools)

29 - (from left to right) my car, my home and my work keys

30 - The mail i received today, both from USA, from Raesha and Ty (I loved both)