A bunch of fit, freewheeling twentysomethings stray off the beaten path in search of a hedonistic paradise and wind up in Hell. If this sounds like Hostel or any other film in which a dash of outlier hubris can land you in the lair of a scalpel-wielding psycho, that’s because it’s a generic reduction of the genre, its only glint of originality provided by a preposterous Robin Hood twist. Still, director John Stockwell knows water (Blue Crush and Into the Blue), and he conjures some genuine gasp-for-air moments when cave diving inexplicably makes its way into the plot. The wide-awake organ harvest is cause for a few winces too. Other than that, it’s just plug-and-play victims getting bound, tortured, and eviscerated. Oh, and the entire, never quite alarming downward spiral takes place in Brazil, thus the title, but with a few minor nips and tucks it could take place anywhere, even Revere.
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