HOSTEL
Part
II
With
Lauren
German,
Heather
Matarazzo,
Bijou
Phillips,
Vera
Jordanova,
Jordan
Ladd,
Monika
Malacova,
Jay
Hernandez
Directed
by
Eli
Roth
On
the
back
of
the
first
Hostel’s
success,
naturally
a
sequel
had
to
follow
and
unlike
cases
of
the
past,
came
hot
on
its
heels.
So,
what
can
they
do
to
invigorate
the
basic
premise
of
young
tourists
being
tortured
to
death
by
the
highest
bidder?
Roth
manages
to
swing
it
with
a
few
switches,
like
a
gender
shift
and
adding
two
of
the
killers’
perspectives
to
the
storyline.
A
beautiful
model
meets
a
trio
of
diverse
young
female
American
tourists
in
Italy,
and
convinces
them
to
travel
to
a
spa
in
Slovakia.
And
yes,
their
sense
of
self-gratification
lures
them
to
the
infamous
hostel
(albeit
on
a
less
gratuitous
impulse
than
the
boys
from
the
first
film).
So
why
didn’t
the
operation
get
shut
down,
seeing
as
the
Jay
Hernadez
character
escaped?
That
gets
tied
up
in
the
movie’s
opening
sequence.
The
three
girls
are
instant
targets
for
potential
murderous
high
flyers,
two
of
them
American
businessmen
(one
super
keen,
the
other
doubtful).
One
of
the
girls
falls
victim
to
a
bloody
Countess
Bathory
fantasy,
and
as
mentioned,
some
welcome
switches
are
injected
throughout
the
narrative
which
will
be
a
spoiler
if
mentioned
here.
Again
one
can
read
a
bit
more
into
Roth’s
film
than
other
torture-horror
titles
–
below
the
surface
lies
a
critique
on
the
escalating
slide
into
materialism,
making
money
at
all
cost,
conscienceless
neo-Yuppie
culture,
and
the
“highest
bidder
wins”.
In
the
global
market
people
justify
illegal
and
morally
reprehensible
behaviour
because
they
can
afford
it.
It
reflects
on
ever
declining
attitudes
–
people
are
willing
to
buy
stolen
goods,
and
because
they
paid
for
it
and
didn’t
physically
rip
it
off
makes
it
acceptable.
In
the
Hostel
movies
the
“clients”
didn’t
go
out
and
stalk
someone
to
kill
–
it
is
done
for
them
and
because
it’s
paid
for,
killing
that
commodity
they
acquired
is
fine.
I’m
a
great
fan
of
extreme
entertainment,
Horror
and
its
variants,
yet
I
can’t
help
but
fear
that
we’re
exposed
to
these
images
to
such
an
overwhelming
extent
that
we
become
more
accepting
of
it
as
we’re
desensitized,
and
those
with
more
blunted
emotions
and
thin
moral
fiber
could
be
spurred
on
to
step
over
the
line.
For
instance
(while
not
related
to
Hostel
in
any
way),
this
June
2007
some
idiots
in
South
Africa
were
arrested
for
decapitating
a
live
husky
with
a
chainsaw…where
does
it
go
from
there?
People
disappear
not
daily,
but
on
the
hour,
never
to
be
seen
again
–
no
doubt
places
like
that
depicted
in
Hostel
exist
in
a
far
less
glamourized
or
organized
way.
While
it
should
be
viewed
as
90
minutes
of
cheap
thrills
with
a
tub
of
popcorn
next
to
your
screaming
date
not
to
go
beyond
the
theatre
or
the
DVD
player,
one
cannot
help
but
think
a
bit
further
than
the
bloody
entertainment
–
and
the
mere
fact
that
someone
would
think
about
it
beyond
that
in
an
uncomfortable,
unsettling
way
means
there
could
be
someone
out
there
watching
with
an
opposite
attitude,
with
no
sense
of
ethics
or
value
for
life,
strictly
out
to
make
as
much
tax
free
money
as
possible,
be
it
selling
drugs,
smuggling
guns,
kidnapping
women
and
children
into
prostitution
slavery,
making
snuff
movies
or
even
setting
up
a
venue
where
someone
can
pay
to
kill
another
human
being...
It
is
also
not
up
to
us
or
the
filmmakers
to
see
the
audience
as
intellectually
infantile
morons
who
will
go
out
and
replicate
on-screen
atrocities.
It
is
the
world
as
a
whole
(not
horror
movies
or
rock
music)
that’s
sliding
civilization
into
decline.
Our
self-destructive
nature
is
unsurpassed
on
this
planet,
some
of
our
biggest
fears
lying
in
the
chance
of
us
running
a
collision
course
with
one
of
these
disruptive
(and
possibly
deadly)
elements.
As
a
whole,
the
psychology
seems
to
be
dissolving
from
horror
films
with
each
new
production,
like
commercial
music,
becoming
more
base,
simple
and
one-dimensional
with
the
storylines
boiling
down
to
not
much
more
than
“killer
torments
victim(s),
survivor
gets
away
with
a
bit
of
vengeance”.
But,
the
Hostel
movies
are
also
not
mere
"murder-porn"
as
many
reviewers
chastise
it.
Those
with
the
maturity
to
handle
this
kind
of
extreme
entertainment
should
also
have
the
insight
to
read
between
the
lines
and
see
the
subtext.
These
movies
are
NOT
for
children.
Quentin
Tarantino
is
again
executive
producer,
and
Roth
and
his
brother
Gabe
also
made
one
of
the
trailers
during
“intermission”
for
Tarantino
&
Rodriguez’s
Grindhouse,
entitled
"Thanksgiving".
DVD
Extras:
On
watching
this
movie
again,
more
of
its
layers
are
exposed
as
you
move
past
the
initial
effect
of
it
being
gratuitous
torture-schlock.
The
commentaries
reveal
even
more,
and
here
you
have
several
to
choose
from.
Executive
Producer
Quentin
Tarantino
joins
in
with
director
Eli
Roth
chatting
on
all
aspects
of
the
production,
from
its
inception
through
to
the
final
product,
including
the
subject
of
Roth’s
fake
trailer
Thanks
Giving
for
Tarantino
&
Rodriguez’s
Grindhouse
movies
(would’ve
been
cool
to
include
the
trailer
as
an
extra
though!).
You
also
get
making-of
featurettes,
a
deleted
scene,
trailers,
and
a
blooper
reel.
4
/
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