hostel

[Son of Sam]

these where two very bad horror movies and when I say bad I don't mean in a good way

[Staplez]

I kinda liked the first one.

[newb]

I kinda liked the first one.

agree

be more specific in your critiques SoS

[The_Return]

I wasnt impressed with the first one until the last 15 minutes or so...the set-up portions were flat and really poorly paced, and most of the gore scenes were pretty lackluster. I did vaguely enjoy the role reversal aspect, but on the whole I wasn't impressed at all.

[Posher778]

I enjoyed Hostel. I thought it was fun throughout, although the last half was practically a totally different film. I guess I tolerated the soft core porno beginning more because I already expected it.

[Unaboner3000]

Way too much gratuitous sex in the first half of the film. If I wanted to watch something to beat off to, then I would've popped in a porn DVD. And then the second half was kinda slow apart from the final ten minutes or so.

This movie could have been so much better.

[Roderick Usher]

I really liked them both. They are classic horror expliotation with solid political commentary

[Elvis_Christ]

I really liked them both. They are classic horror expliotation with solid political commentary

Don't know about the political commentary thing. Thats giving it a bit to much credit.
Definitely exploitation in they way there just titty laced gore flicks.
The first flick is nothing special apart from the last 20min I liked the second one a lot more better characters and darker atmosphere but it throws all that away with a lame ending.... and yeh blame downloads for it failing at the box office :rolleyes:
Eli Roth is over hyped by a bunch of kiss ass journalists and pop horror fans hope he does deliver a flick to make me eat my words.

[Roderick Usher]

Don't know about the political commentary thing. Thats giving it a bit to much credit.


The chick lures the Americans into the Hostel in Slovakia saying "since the war, we don't have enough men around" or something to that effect... Slovakia hasn't had a war... it isn't Bosnia

This is playing on American ignorance of Europe and showing "ugly Americanism" in a clear manner.

Also it is mentioned that you pay extra to kill an American - that's a pretty pointed statement. It's one think to point out ignorance, but another thing all together to single out Americans as "the problem" in the world.

The film is very political and intentionally so.

[Son of Sam]

did anyone else think it was a bit racist towards Slovaks?

[Kemal]

Maybe it wasn't special to people who watch lots of similar movies, but I liked the first one.

No, it wasn't racist. The bad guys were international, including an american.

[ChronoGrl]

No, it wasn't racist. The bad guys were international, including an american.

No, not racist. One of them was a big, bald fat man. And as my boyfriend would observe (who was shaving his head and has a bit of a pot belly), "Why is it always the bald fat man?! No one ever sympathizes with the bald fat men!"

So it's baldist and fattist.

bwahahaha

[BloodRedFlower]

Apart from the political critique, I think both Hostel movies have a deep sociological meaning to them. They make a satire out of capitalism, saying that everything has a price, everything is allowed as long as you have enough money to cover it. The question "would you kill someone if you knew you'd never get caught and had someone to clean up your mess" is also an good one. I think these movies brought up a lot of interesting questions and that's what made me enjoy them.

However... I didn't like the first movie, thought the idea was great but it was poorly executed, too many titties! The second didn't have that part and the message was much clearer, so I really liked it.

[Vodstok]

i didnt like hostel. i get the commentary, but honestly, i think Eli just likes tits, a LOT (cant fault the man for that, though)


The last little bit was great, but my ultimate disappointment was because i was under the impression the entire movie was supposed to be torture and blood. by the time we got to it, i was annoyed and the impact was lost.


I would enjoy something that was the same basic idea, but unapologeticly brutal from start to finish. Wolf Creek was better, imo.

[ChronoGrl]

i didnt like hostel. i get the commentary, but honestly, i think Eli just likes tits, a LOT (cant fault the man for that, though)


The last little bit was great, but my ultimate disappointment was because i was under the impression the entire movie was supposed to be torture and blood. by the time we got to it, i was annoyed and the impact was lost.


I would enjoy something that was the same basic idea, but unapologeticly brutal from start to finish. Wolf Creek was better, imo.

That's how I feel about the movie...

There wasn't enough commentary to be a real socio political critique.
There wasn't enough torture (in my opinion) to make it true torture porn.
There wasn't enough brutality (in my opinion) to make it true torture porn.
There was too much soft core porn build up at the beginning of the movie that was completely unnecessary.


I was honestly disappointed with the film... I just wanted significantly... more, especially after the attention that the film got.

AND, I agree with Vod, even though Wolf Creek as a whole wasn't that great a movie, I thought it was more brutal than Hostel.

[Vodstok]

AND, I agree with Vod, even though Wolf Creek as a whole wasn't that great a movie, I thought it was more brutal than Hostel.

exactly. it was flawed as well, and the end made me think that some college jerkoff killed two of his friends and tried to pass it off, but it started early and maintained its pace throughout. And it did it with 3 victims, only 3.

[Son of Sam]

he might have wanted to make a social statement with the movie, but I think he failed badly, whats wrong in just making a really gory horror, why do these film makers try and make their work more than that?

[jenna26]

I understand, and can even appreciate, what Roth was trying to do with Hostel. Unfortunately, as others have said, he failed. It was clumsy, and not all that effective. The last few minutes was pretty damn good, the first half was sex over substance. He took on too much, he is just not a good enough filmmaker to make the film I think he honestly wanted to make. He aimed too high. I actually prefer Cabin Fever, because it was just goofy fun. It wasn't really trying to be anything other than that. I much prefer to watch a movie that aims low, and at least kind of hits the mark than to watch a film that aims high and so completely misses the mark.

I felt the same way about Saw and High Tension (and Wolf Creek actually, which I found to be just BORING as hell), all movies where the people involved seemed to think the film was more clever, or better, than it actually was. Well, in my opinion anyway.

[ChronoGrl]

I understand, and can even appreciate, what Roth was trying to do with Hostel. Unfortunately, as others have said, he failed. It was clumsy, and not all that effective. The last few minutes was pretty damn good, the first half was sex over substance. He took on too much, he is just not a good enough filmmaker to make the film I think he honestly wanted to make. He aimed too high. I actually prefer Cabin Fever, because it was just goofy fun. It wasn't really trying to be anything other than that. I much prefer to watch a movie that aims low, and at least kind of hits the mark than to watch a film that aims high and so completely misses the mark.

I felt the same way about Saw and High Tension (and Wolf Creek actually, which I found to be just BORING as hell), all movies where the people involved seemed to think the film was more clever, or better, than it actually was. Well, in my opinion anyway.

It's really scary how much we seriously see eye to eye.

I agree absolutely with every point here, even with Cabin Fever - I thought that this little film was great because he didn't have any sort of higher agenda. It was cheesy, yes, but I thought it worked significantly better than Hostel.

I also agree with Saw (though for IRONIC AMUSEMENT, it's absolutely GOLD to see Carey Elwese trying to pull off an American accent), High Tension (which was predictable and DISAPPOINTING) and Wolf Creek (though I liked it better than Hostel, I thought that the blood and killings should have come much much sooner.

[CopperShark]

The chick lures the Americans into the Hostel in Slovakia saying "since the war, we don't have enough men around" or something to that effect... Slovakia hasn't had a war... it isn't Bosnia

This is playing on American ignorance of Europe and showing "ugly Americanism" in a clear manner.

Also it is mentioned that you pay extra to kill an American - that's a pretty pointed statement. It's one think to point out ignorance, but another thing all together to single out Americans as "the problem" in the world.

The film is very political and intentionally so.

Yup, I agree. To those who aren't getting it watch the commentaries. I liked both Hostel films, the second more than the first I admit. I still think Eli's best film thus far is Cabin Fever though. I just really liked that one.
I do believe Hostel was over hyped though. The gore wasn't really all that gory but I still thought it was fun to watch and I got a few laughs from it. The bubblegum gang killing the thugs, the girls getting run over, Edward salad hands, The Asian girl's eyegasm. It wasn't the greatest movie ever but I don't watch horror expecting something of Oscar caliber quality. I watch them because they are fun.

[Elvis_Christ]

I actually prefer Cabin Fever, because it was just goofy fun. It wasn't really trying to be anything other than that. I much prefer to watch a movie that aims low, and at least kind of hits the mark than to watch a film that aims high and so completely misses the mark.

You hit the nail on the head there Jenna, totally agree well execpt for the High Tension part I thought that was a great film... easily one of the best modern slashers.

[jenna26]

You hit the nail on the head there Jenna, totally agree well execpt for the High Tension part I thought that was a great film... easily one of the best modern slashers.

I would agree, except the ending KILLED it for me, didn't like the direction it took at ALL. But I suspected that was where it was heading from the beginning, and all I could think was please, let me be wrong....and I wasn't....:p So it was a rather huge disappointment for me. But a lot of it was damn near great, (though VERY similar to Intensity by Dean Koontz). If they had decided to go another way with the ending, I would probably say it was one of the better horror films of recent years. But in the end, they tried to go for the "you won't see this coming" ending instead of just.....making a good horror film. Hell, even with the twist, it could have been great, I just don't think it was done very well at all.