Hostel Review

[mouldy311]

In Eli Roth’s latest film, Hostel, I finally remembered why I love movies more than food. After sitting through countless hours of beautiful but slow stuff and films, like American-Pie: Band Camp, that insult my intelligence, this film comes through with dialogue and a plot that made me laugh and gasp. The plot is basic; a couple guys looking for sex wind up in Slovakia at a hostel where they expect to find the best women in Europe, but instead find an art show where you can pay to torture poor unsuspecting people. That is almost as straightforward as it gets, but what kept me looking was the bodies. I mean this in two basic senses: the gorgeous, living women and the dismembered dead ones. For anyone who saw the cool gore fest that was Cabin Fever, this is what could be expected but in both aspects Eli Roth goes above and beyond the call of duty. The movie isn’t very long, but in the first 30 minutes of the film about, there is an average of 2 boobs per minute on the screen, which I can appreciate. And in the last 30 minutes there is an average of something getting chopped off at about a part per minute. For those of you who are wondering what happens in the middle 30 minutes, the plot is kind of a sneaky mystery where you can’t help but feel an impending sense of dread about what will happen to these guys.
The direction of Hostel is shinning and damn near pitch perfect on every level as Roth shows an ability to get some humor in while also knowing when to spray the blood. I can’t wait to see what this guy does with a real budget over 5 million as he showed impressive growth from his first to his second film. He also picks his actors well as Jay Hernandez, long an ensemble member shines through in this film. Even Derek Richardson from Dumb and Dumberer conveys the nervousness and eventually terror of his character with pathos I wouldn’t normally expect from such a young actor. The comic relief is the Icelandic friend Oli, played with a goofy zest by investment banker Eythor Gudjonsson, who has no previous experience and got the job by talking to Eli Roth at a press junket.
For people with strong stomachs, the gore will not surprise, but for majority of people used to the PG-13 violence of late, this film’s intense scenes will likely make you queasy. The film as a whole is a little shallow but is supurb in almost every aspect.8.5/10

[mouldy311]

anyone else have a review?

[AWP82]

Well, I'm kind of a lazy reviewer so I'll give it my best shot...

Hostel was...um...good, I guess. 6.5/10

Yeah, that's the best I got. Sorry. lol

Well nah, I can add a few comments. I was quite surprised at how much the movie got away with as far as nudity/sex stuff goes. The first half of the movie was like borderline soft porn. But then I guess the MPAA made up for what they missed by chopping out most of the gore/disturbing stuff (if there's any more than what I saw in theaters). I knew those ads saying "paramedics were called due to audience members' reactions to the movie" (or something to that effect) were bullshit. But damn, I kind of felt cheated by how tame it actually was. Too many quick cut aways! Too much of that "disturbing" stuff happened either off-screen or way too quickly. It should've been more drawn out and graphic so I could savor the intensity. Speaking of intensity, that's all I really got out of it...intensity. Not suspense, or even a cheap boo scare. Isn't horror supposed to be suspenseful? Hostel was like "horror light"...or "diet horror." Don't get me wrong, it was entertaining, and I enjoyed the slow buildup (despite the immature/annoying characters), but the pay off was kind of underwhelming. Maybe hype killed it a little. Maybe an unrated DVD will make up for it.

So um...yeah, how's that for a review? I guess my laziness wore off.

[ilovemovies]

Hostel was a decent horror flick. It actually threw me off at first because is starts off as a sort of raunchy teen sex comedy. There is a surprising amount of nudity (not that I'm complaining or anything ). Although when they get to the hostel it's pretty obvious that something is up from the begining. The characters make the typically stupid mistakes that characters in slasher flicks usually do but I suppose that is to be expected. I will say I was surprised by one scene in particular. And it's from that point on when the movie really got my attention. From there on, the movie turns into a taut and fairly suspenseful, not to mention grizzly horror flick. Some of it is pretty gory and gross though even then it doesn't quite live up to the hype (someone actually fainted while watching this, are you kidding me?!). The acting is decent. Jay Hernandez carries this movie off fine. The rest of the actors are adequate. This isn't a great movie but it does it's job and kept me entertained. Though, personally, I liked Wolf Creek more.

7/10

[fooknasty]

5/10

I was very dissapointed with Eli Roth's fallup to the fanboy classic Cabin Fever. It seemed that Hostel lacked everything that made Cabin Fever great; the comedy, human interest story, and good dialogue. The dialogue between the three main characters was trivial at best. When Roth tried adding that human interest story, it just seemed so out of context. Such as when Hernadez's character talks about seeing the little girl die in Lake Michigan, it just seemed so added in like "oh, we probably should add some depth to this movie." The dialogue was solid in Cabin Fever, but in Hosterl, just seemed pointless and vague. the ending even seemed to quick and, believe it or not, I could see coming. Overall, I was very dissapointed in a movie that I wanted to like.

[Cronos]

ugh, aside from wondering why Takashi Miike would want to appear in this garbage the only thing i was left thinking at the end was what shots/scenes were stolen from what film. most of the scenes in Hostel looked exactly like ones ive seen in other films...Roth is not a good director, the film lumbers around and for a horror film, i was surprised the first half has nothing in the way of horror. that wouldnt be a problem if there was any story or character development but that is also missing from this mess. as for the gore, i was left wondering where all this amazing stuff we had heard of went. there was nothing aside from a splash of blood here and there with a couple of severed fingers. yawn

the acting and script are also shoddy and very childish

complete crap

3/10

[SweetEnLow]

I heard some reviews saying it was just a snuff film with lots of nudity.

I rented the unrrated version on the weekend. I thought it had a good storyline, decent acting, really liked Jay Hernandez in it. It is scarier than your average monster flick, because it makes you think about all the sick people out there, and a story like this can happen. It kinda sticks with you. There were a few scenes that were kinda gross, but I don't really get all the hype saying it was the goriest thing ever. I have gotten more squeamish watching Nip/Tuck sometimes. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie.

7.5/10

[JackassFan]

This actually surprised me. I didn't like Cabin Fever at all, and I was expecting this to be crap too. But I think Roth used a more decent storyline, and the build-up to the action was loads better in Hostel than Cabin Fever. The best thing about this, in my opinion, is the fact that it's so realistic. With certain horror films such as Alien or A Nightmare On Elm Street, well that's not very common. Whereas this could happen to anyone. The acting, especially from Jay Hernandez, was so convincing. Good movie. 7.5/10

[freakandgeek]

****contains spoilers***********

i hated this movie!
oooh naked girls, drugs. boooooooooooring.
atleast the hero got out at the end. thats the only thing i liked abut it.
the movie was pointless to me.

[ElderPredator]

Originally posted by freakandgeek
****contains spoilers***********

i hated this movie!
oooh naked girls, drugs. boooooooooooring.
atleast the hero got out at the end. thats the only thing i liked abut it.
the movie was pointless to me.

Exactly how I felt. I can't stand all the stoner and babe shit in the film. Yes, I do love hot girls but the movie just felt like a soft core porn to me with a little bit of torture on the side and tons of fucking stoners. The movie was absolute crap.

[PSU80]

Originally posted by freakandgeek
****contains spoilers***********

i hated this movie!
oooh naked girls, drugs. boooooooooooring.
atleast the hero got out at the end. thats the only thing i liked abut it.
the movie was pointless to me.

Ditto!!!

[kubotakhan01]

A little slow for the first hour. Picked up afterwards, but It wasn't as shocking as people kept saying it was. I was less than impressed. I also think it was a little too ambitious. And as for the gore, It was nothing new. Alot less gory than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, It's Prequel or the Hills Have Eyes. Not a bad flick, but nothing I haven't seen before either. Heard about the upcoming sequel. Think I'll pass.

**
out of 5

[cloneofkelso]

absolutely perfect 100 percent it delivered so much that after seeing it i asked my wife to marry me

[Father Goose]

Too many of you are being too hard on Eli Roth when it comes to Hostel. This was a good movie, and he showed a lot of growth from Cabin Fever. Hey, I didn't mind the sex and drugs prelude. In fact, I kept thinking "this is going to be good" because he just took his sweet time leading up to the horror aspect of the film. The torture scenes were such that you both wanted to turn away and watch at the same time. I can see why Miike made a cameo - the torture scenes in this movie rivaled those in Audition. The scene with the enthusiastic American torturer in the locker room was outrageously good.

One thing puzzles me still. I understand how they got guys to the Hostel, but how did they get the two Japanese women there?

Anyway, this is an 8/10, must see for all horror fans. I can't wait to see more from Eli.

[PSU80]

Give Eli a break? Are you kidding me? Hostel was a terrible film with a lack of plot. All he was doing here was trying to shock people. Tits & Gore, that's all he's got. Cabin Fever was way better than Hostel. Hostel is without question one of the worst if not the worst film I've ever seen.

[Beenthere]

Hostel is pure entertaining exploitation: no more, no less. I missed politically incorrect bloody sleazy trash cinema.

If someone does not like that kinda movies and always look for points or masterpieces or messages or high standards cinema they got to stop watching flicks like Hostel. There are enough classy movies or "clean" genre films to enjoy.

I will watch practically everything!

Hostel: Gore - 9/10
Sleaze - 8/10

[kubotakhan01]

Originally posted by PSU80
Give Eli a break? Are you kidding me? Hostel was a terrible film with a lack of plot. All he was doing here was trying to shock people. Tits & Gore, that's all he's got. Cabin Fever was way better than Hostel. Hostel is without question one of the worst if not the worst film I've ever seen.

I agree. Cabin Fever was alot better than Hostel. I also agree that Roth was trying to shock people and thats about it(and he did a less than stellar job of doing so.) I have seen worse, but Roth has got to start thinking his scripts through a little more. I can't see Hostel 2 being much more than a gorier replica of the first movie.

[ShoDaddy]

I thought Hostel wasn't really that good except for the revenge part at the end. That dirty european got it hahahaha

[rocknblues81]

Cabin Fever was one of the worst movies ever and this movie is better, but still not good. Maybe i was just waiting for the movie to get down to business, but I found the first 45 minutes or so to be totally worthless and just a waste of time.

This would have worked better as a Tales from the Cript show instead of a full length feature.

5/10

[Diapason]

I’ve been watching these flicks since the days of The Birds, Psycho original TCM etc., and I can say objectively that this movie was fairly effective. I don’t see why some reviews are so negative. I mean, really…IT’S A HORROR FLICK!!! What were you expecting…AMADEUS - SCHINDLER'S LIST? Yeah, it didn’t have the acting brilliance or the top notch directing as in JAWS or THE EXORCIST, but hey, it was a decent horror flick as far as I’m concerned, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t put it in the top 10 or anything, but it wasn’t horrible. As far as the stoner T&A stuff, again… IT’S A HORROR FLICK. Other than that rare collection of classics, 99.9% of ALL horror movies are filled with mindless sex and drugs, or have you forgotten. That’s why we like horror movies…it’s garbage….but it’s so much fun. As far as Cabin Fever, I don’t know what kind of heavy drugs some people are on, but are you kidding me? That movie was ridiculous. It was really bad. Relatively speaking, Hostel is a far better movie in every respect. I mean….PANCAKES….YOU’RE THE PARTY MAN? Please!

[Father Goose]

Nail on the head for Diapason. Cabin Fever was a barely passable first effort, but it did show a love for the genre and some potential. Hostel is a big step forward, and I dug it. Look, do you think a horror god like Miike is going to do a cameo for a lightweight? Not happening. What horror fan can't appreciate a mutilated torture victim hiding on a cart full of bloody body parts? Like Diapason, I too have been a horror fan since I was a youngster in the 70's. Horror is a different animal. You have to draw the distinction between crossover horror that attempts to be successful in a traditional, mainstream movie sense (Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, Omen, Jaws) and good old fashioned horror. On that level, Hostel works. Put another way, Hostel is not the kind of movie you would bring home to your mother. But you got to love it!

[Kevin Smith fan]

Hostel 7.5/10

Eli gave me one of the best horror flicks of the new millennium in 2003 with Cabin Fever, so going into Hostel I had pretty high expectations. Despite an undeniable similarity to the 'Saw' franchise (which I completely hate and place blame for the current state of the horror genre), I gave this flick a shot due to Eli's past work. By the time I'd seen it, I'd heard all the hype about how gorry it was, but upon viewing I felt this aspect was a little over-hyped. And maybe it was just the unrated dvd exploiting their opportunity to show us tits tits and more tits, but I felt the opening dragged a bit. But, as with 'Fever' the ending brings us the big pay off. Once Jay is in the Hostel, the movie kicks into overdrive to make up for dead time. The story is great, but I felt a lack of style from this picture. It's kind of sad since Eli's said that with Hostel he was hoping to develope his own techniques as a director. There really isn't much flavor to this film, despite a rather horrifying and clever script. Not only is the directing dry, but the score was atrocious. In horror, the soundtrack means a lot to me. Nightmare on Elm Street 2's salvation shines through in its wonderfully eerie score, and IMHO the best music from the NOES serries. Cabin Fever had great music. It kept things at a frantic pace, and really re-inforced moods and themes happening throughout the film. Hostel's was rediculously bland. Bring back the 'style' of Cabin Fever and I'm totally there for Part 2.

[MisterTwister]

I'll never get the hate for this movie.

9/10

[rocknblues81]

It has about 45 minutes of boring filler. That's the problem with it.

[JackBurton72]

It was a decent horror movie. But doesn't it feel like it never really gives you what it promises. There was way too much time wasted to finally get to the torture scenes And when it finally gets there it doesn't seem like a big deal. In thefilm Audition where it spends almost a whole hour to get the torture scenes but when it gets there it is a big deal.
But the revenge ending in Hostel is pretty cool. 6/10