Director Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER) touches brilliance with this film, but ruins it with some of the vile cynicism that has infested recent horror films.
Paxton (Jay Hernandez, CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL) and Josh (Derek Richardson, DUMB AND DUMBERER) are two American college students who have gone to Europe to have endless nights of drinking, drugs and sexual conquests. They hook up with a wanderer from Iceland named Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson, film debut) who joins them in their debauchery in Amsterdam. Paxton is the definition of obnoxious American while Josh is more sensitive, yet follows Paxton’s every move. Oli is just a wild and crazy guy. They learn of a hostel in Slovakia that has the hottest women in the world, who just live to hook up with an American.
Of course the trio hits the next train to Slovakia, where they meet a Dutch businessman (Jan Vlasak, 2000’s DUNE) who creeps them out, which we know in a horror film means bad news for our heroes. Paxton, Josh and Oli end up hooking up with the beautiful Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova, film debut). After a night of partying, Oli disappears. As anyone who has seen the trailers knows, the hostel is a set up for an organization that allows rich people to live out their sickest fantasies murdering and torturing other humans. Once Josh disappears, Paxton becomes leery of the whole deal and sets out to find his friend.
First off, reports that state the film is the goriest ever are hyperbole. I saw the unrated version and ICHI THE KILLER from Takashi Miike (who makes a cameo appearance in this film) is much gorier. Plus, have these people seen Peter Jackson’s DEAD ALIVE? Anyway, the film has some poignant ideas about Americans’ attitudes and behavior when visiting other parts of the world. Those parts are great. The whole idea of people paying to torture other humans is intriguing. Paxton has a funny and smart interaction with an American client (Rick Hoffman, CELLULAR) that is the best scene in the film.
However, what the film fails to do for its entire running time is develop a real sense of dread. The film takes its time getting to the bloody parts, but gets too excited and doesn’t take enough time to build suspense. Yet, when Paxton shows up at the torture chamber, the film starts to slow down and build tension, mainly because we know what is in store for him. The film even does a nice job of building up a moment that in most horror films would just be the dumb teenager running upstairs when she should be running out the front door.
However, at one point, the film builds our sympathy for a victim then undermines that with one vile shot that plays as humor. The moment is so wrong that it throws the film off its rails. Roth makes us care about this character then kind of says, “ha, ha, wimpy cry baby, it’s all just a joke.” It’s this same cynicism that ruined the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake. This “it’s just a movie” mentality carries over to the revenge conclusion that is too convenient and “satisfying” for a movie trying to say something about the self-centeredness of America’s youth.
I recommend horror fans who like some smarts with their splatter to check this film out. A mature audience might be able to see around the sick cynicism, but I can see so many younger and immature audiences cheering at the gore, which is sad. Humor in the wrong moments can undermine an entire film’s message. HOSTEL only goes wrong in patches. It balances between satire and edginess its whole running time and makes the wrong choice on which way to go at too many key times to truly succeed. Roth has a brilliant horror film in him — this film shows us that. It’s just not this film.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
