Overall Rating
 Awesome: 22.1%
Worth A Look: 25.97%
Just Average: 6.08%
Pretty Crappy: 13.26%
Sucks: 32.6%
9 reviews, 127 user ratings
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| Hostel |
by Dennis Swennumson
"Foreign horny women are killers now too?"
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Ask a certain male college student what a life-changing European trip entails and thoughts of potent, legal drugs and relentlessly horny women immediately occupy his head. “Hostel”’s writer/director Eli Roth knows this, and the first third of his movie plays exactly like that vacation. The three characters depicted here could be plucked from “Eurotrip” or the mini-movie seen in “Rules of Attraction”, horny guys experiencing an amusement park of weed and women with accents. They’re a despicable trio, obsessed with only two aspects of life in a foreign place. But the fun ends when you wake up strapped to a greasy chair in a dungeon to the sound of a rusty drill. This otherwise completely ridiculous scenario is perfectly constructed by Roth. The trend on the verge of completely dominating R-rated screen space is splatter horror, and “Hostel” is the best current example of it.The three in question are Pax (Jay Hernandez), who directs the itinerary, Josh (Derek Richardson), a guy who seems perpetually on the rebound and Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), their European tour guide and self proclaimed “king of swing.” The opening events of the film are normal fare, hanging out in cafes and talking about the essentials of the vacation. After a few disappointing nights, they hear of a little-known hostel that boasts some of the most beautiful clientele imaginable, and view the pictures to prove it. At first glance, the script is utilizes one dumb premise as another, but Roth is always reminding us of what’s at stake, these guys just graduated college and want one last hurrah before it’s 9-to-5 jobs and mortgages. There’s something inherently amusing about the film’s weakest plot point, these people are so desperate they listen to travel advice from a guy sporting a cold sore on his lip.
A lot has been made of the film’s ad campaign and how Quentin Tarantino’s name has been plastered all over it. The notion of Tarantino being used as simply a ploy for the box-office dollars as it was for Zhang Yimou’s great “Hero” was an observation that held weight. It’s true, any kind of presence from the director will attract attention, but “Hostel” does feature a blatant “Pulp Fiction” reference and Eli Roth- though it is a pet peeve- allows his characters to spout off in Tarantino’s trademark manner here and there. After seeing “Hostel” it’s apparent that this attention is warranted, Tarantino’s involvement as an executive producer is no more of a marketing ploy than the current advertisements for “Jerry Bruckheimer’s Glory Road” or even a major studio. In a certain genre, for a certain movie, a name means quality. Horror utilizes the same long-standing tradition; this movie could easily have featured talking points from Stephen King, Sam Raimi or Wes Craven.
What’s important is that Eli Roth- as much as a fanboy as he may be- understands the techniques needed for successful displays of torture and gore. Though other elements are in play, corruption an important one, violence is at the heart of the movie. However, the film’s structure allows the tension to boil over. The camera does cut away at some of the crucial points, not every torture scene is designed to gross the viewer out. Make no mistake, “Hostel” is undoubtedly has the ability to make certain audience members dizzy, but the filmmakers understand the other key aspects of the production. The art direction is a twisted wonder, the landscapes are filmed in a way reminiscent of a sweet calendar, and the details of the torture generally put the audience in the gut-wrenching fear of the situation.Though “Hostel” has already received plenty of attention, here’s to Eli Roth, he has made a great follow up to an inspired debut in “Cabin Fever.” Though it’s a pure hate-or-love-it affair, the movie offers a lot to a wide audience, from those who appreciate Fangoria’s contribution to film on the big screen to those who will wait for the option to pause the movie on DVD. In the realm of horror and for this longtime fan, “Hostel” gains attention for all of the right reasons and delivers on all of the expectations
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=12912&reviewer=338
originally posted: 01/15/06 15:34:47
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Toronto Film Festival For more in the 2005 Toronto Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
06-Jan-2006 (R)
DVD: 18-Apr-2006
UK
21-Apr-2006
Australia
23-Feb-2006
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