Don't be expecting an all out gore fest!

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2007)

Despite this being a well directed and effective film. I feel this, like many other horror films, has been overrated in terms of gore. Slogans like "The sickest film you'll ever see" grace the front cover..okay, maybe if you only watch like 5 films a year.
I found the gore only came later on in the film, the first part of the film dealing more with the 3 carefree young travellers as they go exploring in Amsterdam. The unpleasant aspect of the film is not the actual on screen violence, more the way in which the 3 travellers are lead astray, promised beautiful women at this "too good to be true" place of pleasure, all they have to do is catch a train and go there. Viewing becomes increasingly uncomfortable when you see just how wrong they were to go there, it seems they are 3 decent people alone in a sea of scheming strangers and evil twists. They are in unfamiliar territory, everyone appears to be hostile, you can feel the earlier energy in the film disappear as what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime turns deadly serious.
However, when the violence does come, it is pulled of with precision and skill, no tired clichés, no overblown heroics, just upfront depictions of one human being relentlessly sadistic to another. It is the idea which is revolting...business man paying big bucks just to be able to torture somebody for kicks. The actual scenes of physical torture are brief, but intensely graphic for their short period.
If you want all out gore and violence, Hostel is not what your after, watch the remake of "The Hills have Eyes" for that. Hostel, under the talented direction of Eli Roth, is an insight into the darker side of human will, and deals with how far some people will go to 'try something new'.