Simply Great

Rating: 9/10 (11 May 2007)

I watched Cabin Fever (Eli Roth's first directorial effort) and thought it was fantastic. When Hostel came out though, it was one of those movies that people talk about incessantly (among these are "Saw" and "The Silence of the Lambs"). When I finally got around to seeing it only recently, I certainly was not disappointed.
Whilst I believe that Cabin Fever is slightly superior (though I thought the bowling alley massacre flashback was a bit unnecessary) Hostel shows that Eli has made improvements as both a writer and a director. He writes some great characters like the wannabe surgeon and the crazy American torturer (though none compare to the young police officer "Winston" in Cabin Fever), and the violence...well, that's where a lot of the genius comes.
Just like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" before it, people were saying that this is bloodiest, most violent thing they've ever seen, but in fact a lot of the violence takes place off screen. When you do see it though, it's never irrelevant and its always brief. A lot of it is really evoked through sound. As a result, people leave the cinema thinking that they have witnessed a person getting things done to them.
Eli also adds in a little political commentary for good measure. The fact that Americans are more expensive than other nationalities, presumably because everyone wants to get their revenge on them.
I also really liked how Jay's character manages to get his revenge on just about everyone at the end of the film, and how he decides to do it instead of getting into a situation where he has to do it. My favourite scene is of course the bathroom scene at the end.
People who don't like this film either just plain don't like it, or just don't look past the gore and violence to see all of these details. Overall, this is a very good film which could have been much worse had it not been Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino behind it. Can't wait for Hostel Part 2. However I'm a little less optimistic about Cabin Fever 2, but we'll just have to see.