Hostel is the brutal, sadistic horror written & directed by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) it's produced by legendary director Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill). Eli Roth is famous for his low budget but extremely gory & violent horrors & Hostel is no exception.
I was recommended this by a friend who said it was a good film, however I think they just wanted to see me squirm! I quite like horrors but I only enjoy them when they have a really gripping storyline like the Saw franchise for example. This film unfortunately doesn't, it's one of those that just uses violence for the sake of it & I really didn't enjoy it at all. This is one of those films that doesn't have to be outstanding to be a hit. This film is a hit simply because it is so violent & become a bit of a cult classic for this reason & this reason only.
The story (weak as it is) is that two American backpackers, Josh (Derek Richardson) & Paxton (Jay Hernandez) are in Slovakia & hear about a hostel filled with girls with no inhibitions. The two friends board the train to Slovakia to find this hostel & hope to pull a load of girls.
However the man who recommended the hostel to them is the man who is knowingly informing of a hostel in which they will be tortured & ultimately killed. How does he know this? Because he's part of the group who carry out these heinous acts.
On arrival Josh & Paxton check themselves into the hostel excitingly & that night go out to a bar hoping to pick up some girls. After a long night, the drunk young men are separated, Josh stumbles back to the hostel while Paxton passes out in the storage room.
Josh then wakes up in a dark room handcuffed to a chair surrounded by power tools & surgical objects. A Dutch businessman enters the room & proceeds to drill josh in the chest before telling Josh about his unfulfilled dreams of becoming a surgeon. Josh begs to be released & the man agrees, taking the handcuffs off so josh can go free, not before cutting his Achilles' tendon. Josh crawls towards the door only to see it shut in front of him. This is the last we see of Josh.
Paxton returns to the hostel to discover his friend isn't there. He contacts the police who are no help. The girls offer to help him but then demand to be taken to an art show, Paxton obliges but when he arrives he witnesses a man cutting up his friends body. Will Paxton manage to escape or will he, like his friend become victim to this awful crime that the perpetrators call a business.
I didn't like this film at all. Like I said before I like horrors if they have a story, this doesn't have much of one. They might as well have just tortured & killed the young men in the first half an hour of the film which would have saved me 90 minutes of my life watching this gore fest. This film is extremely violent & definitely not one for the squeamish. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. If you want a really good, inventive horror then try Saw.
I own the 2 disc special edition of this film. I purchased it from play.com for £4.99 even that was too expensive for a film like this! It has many special features on each disc including; Directors commentary Interactive featurette Special effects featurette Music & sound featurette Set design featurette Photo gallery
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Production Year: 2002 - Horror - Director: Danny Boyle - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Cillian Murphy, Megan Burns, Noah Huntley, Christopher Eccleston, Marvin Campbell, Brendan Gleeson
Production Year: 1984 - Horror - Director: Joe Dante - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, Judge Reinhold, Corey Feldman
I'm sorry for the H, but for this to be a full DVD review, I would prefer to see a review of the extras in the same detail as your review of the film, not just a list of them.
jonesri 24.01.2009 19:21
I agree that this is not as good as the Saw films (well the early ones anyway).
psirac 23.01.2009 17:00
Never seen this but I know it's supposed to be pretty nasty.
excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-to rture-begins genre--Hostelfollows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez,Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson,Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier I...
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excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-to rture-begins genre--Hostelfollows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez,Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson,Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier I...
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A trio of teenagers two American one Icelandic backpack around Europe looking for a ... more
good time. While in Amsterdam they are told of a youth hostel in Slovakia where all their wildest dreams will come true. Jumping onto the first train there the thr...
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Advantages: Realistic gore, note worthy cinematography, and cleverly edited. Disadvantages: Average performances, not as much gore as I expected and weak characterisation.
Advantages: Violence, some gore, basically it's a European slasher film Disadvantages: Poor acting, weak plotline (though it's not really a major factor in this case)
![Quentin Tarantino Presents : Hostel [2005] [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78487819.jpg "Quentin Tarantino Presents : Hostel [2005] [DVD] [2006]")
Jan 23rd, 2009
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