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The 10 worst movie holidays ever

The 10 worst movie holidays ever

The 10 worst movie holidays ever
20 June 2013

Not going away this summer? Bit depressed by the grey skies that won't seem to disappear? Well, this might help.

To make us all feel better about staying put for the season, we've assembled a list of the very worst movie holidays in living memory. Just to show that for those smug types currently shopping for flip-flops, things can go horribly wrong...

(Images: All Star)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Year: 2008

Location: Hawaii

Okay so it was never going to be a great holiday. After having his heart broken by that damn Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), Peter (Jason Segal) falls into a deep pit of depression and after attempting, and failing, to fill this with casual sex and burning romantic photos of the pair, he follows a friend's advice and plans a break. But after arriving in Hawaii, he finds that his recent ex is also staying at the same resort. With her new boyfriend. Horrible scenes above.

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Frances Ha

Year: 2013

Location: Paris

Throughout most of the film, 27-year-old dance Frances (Greta Gerwig) is not in a good place. But in one of her more bizarre and misjudged attempts to ignore this fact, she decdies to take an impromptu trip to Paris, despite being unemployed and only knowing one person in the city. Predictably, it's a disaster. Unable to get in touch with her friend, she wanders the streets alone. Just to make it all worse, on her return to New York she finally gets an excitable voicemail from her friend in Paris. She spends the rest of the film/her twenties paying the trip off.

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The River Wild

Year: 1994

Location: Idaho

A family bonding trip that takes in some whitewater rafting as well? Sounds perfect to us. Bumping into two criminals on the run, one of whom is a bonafide psychopath? Yeah, not so much.

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The Heartbreak Kid

Year: 2007

Location: Cabo

This incredibly underrated offering from the Farrelly Brothers was a box office disappointment at the time and once you've seen it, it's not hard to see why. A relentlessly bitter film about relationships and, well, people, it's undeniably funny but also a tad depressing. Ben Stiller's character heads off with his new wife on their honeymoon but the problem is, he doesn't really know her that well. Pretty soon he realises that he's made a pretty huge mistake, as exemplified above.

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National Lampoon's Vacation

Year: 1983

Location: Los Angeles

If movie road trips have taught us anything, it's that we should never go on them ever. The Griswold family prove this point perfectly in the classic 80s comedy that catalogues a series of mishaps that happen on a journey from Chicago to Los Angeles. In the cruellest scene of all, the family finally make it to their intended location, a theme park, only to find that it's closed for two weeks.

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A Perfect Getaway

Year: 2009

Location: Hawaii

Another honeymoon gone wrong in this twisty thriller that sees three couples hiking their way to a remote beach in Hawaii. Before you can say "this honeymoon is over", two dead bodies show up and everyone becomes a suspect. We're assuming you might have missed this one, as a lot of people did, so we don't want to spoil what happens. Needless to say there's a rather large twist at the end and a rather awful holiday to be had.

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Dead Calm

Year: 1989

Location: The sea

Out on the water, you'd assume that the worst thing to fear would be sharks or maybe pirates but in this Australian thriller, the most terrifying problem on the high seas is Billy Zane. Yes, really. In a breakout role, he torments a couple grieving for their son, played by Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill. The whole film serves to show that hitchhikers at sea are even worse than those on land.

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Deliverance

Year: 1972

Location: Georgia

A film which influences countless other "holiday hell" movies, such as Eden Lake below, this gruelling 70s classic took four businessmen on a trip out to the wilderness and put them, and us, through the wringer. Some local rednecks take an immediate dislike to them and, well, if you've ever heard the line "squeal like a pig", you'll be aware of what happens to them.

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Eden Lake

Year: 2008

Location: Unspecified, northern England

Pretty much summing up what a lot of Londoners actually fear about the north of England, this grim, disturbing horror film has a middle class couple, played by Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender, tormented by the locals when they go on a relaxing weekend to the country. It's an extremely tough watch and even though it might border on crass stereotyping near the end, it's uncomfortably close to the bone for anyone who's ever felt threatened by gangs of kids in the UK.

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Open Water

Year: 2003

Location: Great Barrier Reef

One of those films that was so effective, it automatically entered our list of top 10 worst nightmares ever, this micro-budgeted true life thriller told a chilling tale of a couple left adrift in shark-infested waters. It's also our go-to excuse for never going out on the ocean or never going out at all, in fact.