Bags packed and ready to go, there's nothing better than relaxing in front of the TV/whatever device you watch films off to chill out with a movie before the holiday madness of trains, planes and automobiles begins right? Not always so. Here's a list of films to avoid right before going on any trip abroad. Unless, of course, you enjoy a case of the mean, cold sweats.

1. Snakes on a Plane

OK so it's one big joke, but another way of looking at it is, it's two phobias rolled into one - sneaky serpent devils and planes (heavy machines in the sky, people). It's always a treat to hear Samuel L. Jackson bellow out his trademark expression 'motherfucka', especially when he’s talking to a) an inanimate object or b) an animal, but still the idea of being trapped on a plane with a bunch of aggressive venomous snakes is no joke.

2. Flight

Denzel Washington is scarily convincing in his portrayal of a drug-addled alcoholic pilot who considers flying after a massive night of intoxicated events nothing out of the ordinary. His morning breakfast is an O.J. with vodka, and a line of coke is just a pick me up. The intense crash scene would alarm an audience in any case, but what makes it that extra bit jolting is how early on in the film it is.

3. The Grey

Liam Neeson is a strapping burly man, but even he looks fragile out in the wilderness of Alaska. Now, the likelihood of you heading off on a break to Alaska is not great, but nevertheless what happened if you somehow crossed over some frozen wilderness and ended up in a Neeson? Side note: a 'Neeson' refers to two situations. The first is threatening someone over in the phone in calm, experienced combater, and the second case is ending up in some frozen wasteland. This is second case situation. After The Grey, everything in a pack seemed far more threatening, including small terrier pets.

4. Spring Breakers

Depending on how mad you want your holiday to be, this would either be an incentive or a massive put-off. One look at Franco with dreadlocks was enough for us to think of travelling around the Kerry ring instead of chancing this crap. Plus, during one of the many hazy scenes it occurred to me, what if Selena Gomez/ her character Faith actually had a personality before the Spring Break madness drained it all away? Heaven forbid.

5. Psycho

Hitchcock is recognised as the master of menace for good reason, and Psycho is THE Hitchcock movie. When a woman on the run stops at a motel and is murdered in the shower by the reclusive mama's boy owner, it makes you think sleeping in your car can't be that bad a safety measure. As one of the first films to kill of a main character in the opening scenes, Hitchcock jolted cinemagoers into thinking about who exactly you are staying with on the road, more than any other movie before or since.

6. Alive

One word: cannibalism. Based on true events, the film tells the story of a young Rugby team who crashed over the Andes and had to eat their dead friends in order to survive. Delish. If watching these men eat their freezing dead chums doesn't make you squirm, you may want to check that out. Sounds like a case of the psychopathic tendencies.

7. Castaway

Tom Hanks chatting to Wilson the volleyball is priceless, but it's not a friendship we would ever want to enter into ourselves. A beach getaway is one thing, but this tropical Island skews the meaning of paradise to convey something more indoorsy and companion-populated.

8. Paradise Lost/ Turistas

A gap year or year abroad is surely something everyone should at least consider right? Most definitely, until you stumble across this horror and rethink your life plan. A lifetime adventure travelling around unknown countries is sure to be a hoot, but unless you can ensure me the package comes with a guarantee of intact organs, then I think I may have to re-evaluate.

9. Taken

None of the incidents in this film would present a real problem to us except OUR dad isn't Liam Neeson, so we would essentially be up the swanny if kidnapped and sold as a sex slave. These kidnapped characters only went to Paris and look what happens to them. Camper-van around Ireland anyone?


10. Die Hard 2

Just think of Die Hard (one), but set in an airport and - even worse- a plane. The usual explosions, flying bullets, Tasers, drug trafficking et al makes a good action thriller, but also makes you think it's not just the security queues that are off-putting about plane travel. It would almost make you consider a nice voyage by ship, but then the memory of Titanic looms over you. Where does it end?