production designer robert a. burns, who had worked on tobe hooper's "the texas chain saw massacre" (1974) and wes craven's "the hills have eyes" (1977), handled the art direction – and the majority of the special effects – on "tourist trap", including the mannequins and their physical manipulations. to accomplish the poltergeist-like effects in the film's opening scene, the set was constructed at a rotated 90 degrees; this allowed items to be hurled by the crew from the cabinet—which was in fact anchored to the ceiling—to the floor, which appeared on camera as a wall. other special effects were accomplished with the use of wires. for the death sequence of tanya roberts's character, for example, a block of wood was taped behind roberts's hair; a knife attached to a wire was hurled at the back of her head, which stuck into the wooden block.