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Quentin Tarantino Presents : Hostel [2005] [2006]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

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


An Okay Thriller
Review date: 2008-11-07 Rating: 6 out of 10

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Disturbing, but more thrilling than chilling as one of the victims seeks to escape a sticky end. Worth watching.

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Reviews


not what i hoped
Review date: 2008-10-25 Rating: 2 out of 10

not got on dvd but just seen the first chunk of film on channel fiveUS...and i don't understand its appeal.
its worse than Cabin Fever.
it tries to be very original but transforms itself into a soft pornography and then goes slightly morbid for a few minutes (with very little blodshed)then changes scenes for more chat.
its too painful to watch...no gore promised,no cheap scares no well thought out ones.
nothing thrilling.
honestly if you want a superior effort in this style then watch the effective Wolf Creek...or the recent The Hills Have Eyes remake...they are far superior than this tripe.
why did Quentin Tarantino attach his name to this disaster???

Its Gore to the Fore and Little More
Review date: 2008-09-27 Rating: 2 out of 10

If you are expecting to watch Hostel and be subjected to two hours of unimaginable horror, degredation and fear, you may well be disappointed. Even if this is not what you are expecting, you may well still be perplexed, frustrated or even annoyed. Here's the synopsis: Paxton and his two mates have a ball in Amsterdam and then discover that there are greater treats in store for them in a town in Slovakia. The arrive there and find that they have been duped into a torture den where the perverted customers of a snuff ring pay huge amounts of money to participate in their sickest fantasies. All three are tortured and Paxton escapes, carrying out a revenge which echoes the actions of the sadists, making him...wait for it...just as bad as them. Possibly. And that's about it. So while there is the possibility of an an interesting premise here, it's one which remains undeveloped and unsure of its intent.

Eli Roth started making films on super 8 when he was eight years old. So, at thirty-four, you'd think that he'd learnt something. Apparently not. His first feature, Cabin Fever, was weak and directionless (both meanings of the word apply), and Hostel follows suit. So what, if anything, is Roth trying to say here? Is this an essay on sadism? Paranoia? Evil? Good and Evil? Xenophobia? The ethics of vengeance? Is he challenging the audience's response to titillation or voyuerism? Whoa! Steady on there. None of these things are dealt with in a way which gives the film any substance, something which it desperately needs. The drug fuelled sexual activities of first part are paralelled in the second, darker section which presents us with two sides of the concept of pleasure and this is itself is fascinating enough for exploration, but no. Any conclusion regarding Roth's intent remains entirely elusive. Despite that, the film seems to want to generate a serious tone but it just never gets into gear. The final half hour runs the risk of becoming comical, especially with a series of ludicrous contrivances which seem to be there simply to get it all over with. There's no tension, no heart and little brain, all of which makes for a film which is uninteresting and utterly pointless.

Most of the unpleasantness which is dealt out by the torturers takes place off screen or is simply glimpsed in passing but there is plenty of gore which becomes a substitute for tension. Paxton's revenge is shown in more graphically, presumably to reinforce the notion that he has became what he is trying to escape from. It's not easy to empathise with the characters so that by extension, it's not that easy to care either. And for violence to be effective (unless you actually get off on that kind of thing), and for the viewer to fear for the victims, we need to care. It's all so woolly that it becomes difficult to come to any kind of conclusion, except that you may have wasted a small part of your life by watching it. And the fear that Roth will go on to make another.




Utter tripe!
Review date: 2008-09-26 Rating: 2 out of 10

I'm not a great fan of either Eli Roth or Tarantino or slasher films in general and have only just watched this on TV as I wasn't going to buy it..what a shock,it's rubbish,I thought Cabin Fever was awful too and this is similar,a bunch of obnoxious,stoner types get bumped off one by one in ever increasingly sickening ways,I say that but I felt it was just tacky,I have no wish to try it but surely after having two fingers lopped off by a chainsaw you would probably lose a lot more blood than this and/or go into shock,likewise that was one hell of a knife to cut through tendons like they were wet spaghetti,I apologise if you like it,but I'll stick to the Grudge,KM 31,Jacobs Ladder.......

Don't book this for your B&B
Review date: 2008-09-11 Rating: 6 out of 10

I must confess to enjoying the gore splattered genre to de-stress. Make sure there isn't going to be a power cut, make a cup of tea, get out the biscuits. Ah - hold the biscuits. They may not stay down. This is, as all reviewers have rightly pointed out, violent, sadistic, gory and - no getting away with it - sick. It is also more disturbing than others of its type because there really are people out there for whom this is entertainment they would pay for. Yes, it's slow to get going. You have to sit through a fair amount of boys bonding, lovely ladies and a lot of sex but I imagine for the majority that's not exactly taxing. It also gives you a little more empathy with the characters than you get in other gore films. I winced a few times and turned away once. I might give pedicures a miss for a while. Don't watch this if you're squeamish, prudish or easily offended. Knowing that something is as graphic as this you can't really moan when it gets down and bloody. Do watch it if the genre interests you and pick your hostels wisely.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Barbara Nedeljakova
Jan Vlasák
Derek Richardson
Jay Hernandez
Eythor Gudjonsson

Creators:
Jay Hernandez (Primary Contributor)
Derek Richardson (Primary Contributor)
Eli Roth (Producer)
Eli Roth (Writer)
Boaz Yakin (Producer)
Chris Briggs (Producer)
Daniel S. Frisch (Producer)
Mike Fleiss (Producer)
Philip Waley (Producer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822085930
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL,
Release date: 2006-08-07
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 90 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005
Language: Czech (Original Language)
Language: Dutch (Original Language)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: German (Original Language)
Language: Icelandic (Original Language)
Language: Japanese (Original Language)
Language: Russian (Original Language)
Language: Slovak (Original Language)
Language: Spanish (Original Language)

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