Well-made for the genre--the excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-torture-begins genre--Hostel follows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez, Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) as they trek to Slovakia, where they're told beautiful girls will have sex with anyone with an American accent. Unfortunately, the girls will also sell young Americans to a company that offers victims to anyone who will pay to torture and murder. To his credit, writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) takes his time setting things up, laying a realistic foundation that makes the inevitable spilling of much blood all the more gruesome. The sardonic joke, of course, is that Americans are worth the most in this brothel of blood because everyone else in the world wants to take revenge upon them. This dark humor and political subtext help set Hostel above its more brainless sadistic compatriots, like House of Wax or The Devil's Rejects. In general, though, there's something lacking; horror used to suggest some threat to the spirit--today's horror can conceive of nothing more troubling than torturing the flesh. For aficionados, Hostel features a nice cameo by Takashi Miike, director of bloody Japanese flicks like Audition and Ichi the Killer. --Bret Fetzer
On the DVD The first question most fans will ask is, "Where is the unrated footage?" Surprisingly, the only new footage to be found is 30 seconds added to the Fulci-esque "eyegasm" sequence (as it's affectionately referred to in the executive producers' commentary.) The meat, shall we say, of the DVD is in the extras, particularly in "HOSTEL Dissected" (a three part "making of" featurette) and the four feature-length commentaries. The featurette is very amusing mainly because of the wicked irony of the film crew having so much fun making a film whose subject manner is so graphic and unsettling. Some of the highlights include Eli Roth joking at a press conference about Icelandic actor Eythor Gudjonsson ("Oli") and how he is going to replace Björk as Iceland's big star, only to be picked up on Icelandic news as a confrontational proclamation. Also priceless is Roth telling actress Jennifer Lim ("Kana") that Hostel is inspired by true events about a similar place in Thailand, and she gullibly eats it up. The best extra by far is the executive producer's feature length commentary with Quentin Tarantino. During the film they discuss many topics including whether Hostel is a "horror" film or a "thriller," how they got away with an R rating, why the new breed of highly graphic horror films are so popular, why European actresses are less uptight about nudity, director Takashi Miike's cameo, and all the extra grossed-out ideas they never filmed but would love to add. Looking at Hostel you would think they're all a bunch of sadistic and creepy guys, but after listening to their commentary, nothing could be further from the truth. They all simply just love the horror genre, love filmmaking and are having a blast making their movies. What is great about the extras on this DVD is they really breathe life into the filmmakers' personalities and thought processes. If you think that Hotel is a simple soft-core torture film, watching the extras and listening to the commentaries may help change your perspective. --Rob Bracco
(51 votes)
2.
Internationally renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino presents Eli Roth's HOSTEL, the follow-up to the writer-director's hit debut, 2002's CABIN FEVER. More grisly than Roth's feature bow, HOSTEL is a mixture of many of the most terrifying things about human nature and the world at large, culled from many impossible-but-true stories of human trafficking, international organized crime, and sex tourism. Relentlessly graphic and deeply disturbing, the film is sure to shock even the most hard core genre fans.
HOSTEL tells the story of two adventurous American college buddies Paxton and Josh who backpack through Europe eager to make quintessentially hazy travel memories with new friend Oli, an Icelander they've met along the way.
Paxton and Josh are eventually lured by a fellow traveler to what's described as a nirvana for American backpackers - a particular hostel in an out-of-the-way Slovakian town stocked with Eastern European women as desperate as they are gorgeous. The two friends arrive and soon easily pair off with exotic beauties Natalya and Svetlana. In fact, too easily…
Initially distracted by the good time they're having, the two Americans quickly find themselves trapped in an increasingly sinister situation that they will discover is as wide and as deep as the darkest, sickest recess of human nature itself - if they survive.
The hallowed tradition of the post-college European backpacking trip turns into an unimaginable nightmare for two unsuspecting American 20-somethings in Eli Roth's (CABIN FEVER) sensational second outing. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) have embarked upon a hedonistic tour of the continent, and somewhere along the way they picked up an Icelandic lunk named Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson). In Amsterdam the trio partakes of the pastimes most dear to frat boys everywhere: weed, prostitutes, and nightclubs. But when a fellow traveler tells these thrill-seekers about the decadent scene that awaits them in Bratislava, they find themselves unable to resist its lures; enticed by the promise of a hostel full of beautiful girls who love Americans, they set out for the remote areas of Eastern Europe. There, the sex farce to which the film's first half is devoted slowly turns ominous, as the boys hook up immediately with the gorgeous Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova), whose eagerness masks more sinister intentions.
Soon, the disagreeable backpackers find themselves on the other side of the flesh trade, sold by the girls into an exclusive human trafficking operation that gives its customers the opportunity to torture and kill a helpless victim. Much of what follows consists of the squirm-inducing surgical horrors that characterize precursors such as SAW, with the implications regarding the capitalist system and the human soul becoming ever darker. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, the film amps up the gore factor as much as it can get away with, and, in the tradition of the best horror films, offers a satirical socially conscious commentary.
(41 votes)
4.
Full of adventure and fun, two American college buddies Paxton and Josh backpack through Europe eager to make classically hazy travel memories with new friend Oli, an Icelander they meet along the way.
Paxton and Josh are eventually lured by a fellow traveler to what’s described as a sort land of milk and honey for American backpackers – a particular hostel in an out of the way Slovakian town stocked with Eastern European women as desperate as they are gorgeous. The two friends arrive and easily pair off with exotic beauties Natalya and Svetlana. In fact, too easily…
Initially distracted by the good time they’re being shown, the Americans quickly find themselves in an increasingly sinister situation that they’ll discover is as wide as the vast web of post-Communist government corruption and as deep as the darkest, sickest recess of human nature itself – if they survive.
(37 votes)
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