Hostel

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 Amazon.com

Haters don't get it...

There are documented cases of these "hostels" existing.
so, i guess you could say that the concept is based on true events. This film gives the audience a walk-threw of several young adults, living their lives as carelessly as most usually do...when something happens that (if they live) changes their lives forever. It was an awesome horror movie experience, terrifyingly graphic, and the somewhat passive attitude that suggests "it's JUST a severed limb...or its JUST an eyeball on her cheek...or it's JUST another humans life" made the film very darkly entertaining and at the same time, all the more difficult to sit threw. After watching this, i had a similar vibe as to the one i got from watching the original Blair Witch Project. Not really scary, just really creepy atmosphere...and above average acting.

The sequel, however, is a different story...
September 15, 2008

The sold out theater i was in gave a standing ovation when the credits rolled.

I dont care what the haters say, This is good film making.

I purposefully avoided all media related to hostel till I was able to catch it in theaters(on opening day.) It made it an absolutely amazing experience. The sold out theater i was in gave a standing ovation when the credits rolled.

Avoiding this movie is like avoiding sex, sure you can do it, but you're a worse person for doing so.

Again, like its sequel, the video and audio quality on the blu disc is amazing. And the directors ending is very much different than the original ending. Disc contains both versions of the movie (Unrated cut, and Directors cut.) If you're a fan of the film, pick this disc up. September 8, 2008

oh my!!!!

i didn't like this movie its so kadiri!!!!!!.... people killing people just for fun??? ewh!!!!!!! but if you dont have any choice this movie would be your last option....its so panget!!!!! September 5, 2008

Ghastly

I really enjoyed Cabin Fever, which is partially what made Hostel such a letdown. Hostel is a movie that revels in pure sadism. It's not the first movie to do that sort of thing, but it does so in a way that is gratuitous and rather pointless, as though the writers and producers had lost interest in the plot and were trying to one-up each other to see who could come up with the grossest torture and nastiest injuries. Atmosphere is not a problem in the movie, but the gore-for-the-sake-of-gore element that drives the movie renders it unfulfilling as a viewing experience. The ending is also somewhat silly. Overall, a ghastly movie full of rather grotesque tortures that really don't aim towards any greater contextual purpose except to show off the crew's vivid imaginations. The film is not for those lacking strong constitutions. July 13, 2008

So bad it's bad.

I saw this movie hoping it might be like the first Saw (i.e. have some orginality and true scariness - unlike the sequels), but was highly disappointed.
There is nothing scary, just disgusting torture and violence (that you know is completely fake), so the movie just looks gross, nothing more. June 15, 2008

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