low budget: no time for research

Rating: 5/10 (4 December 2007)

Finally, I gave in and went to see Hostel, because it kept being referred to in daily conversation of the young and reckless. Now I know why I usually do not go to see light pieces like this one. It is because however intriguing the first sequels might be, after a few minutes the usual problems surface and keep bugging you even until after the end. Loose plots, fact-defying situations and conversations, and wrongfully chosen backdrops all boost the impression that low-budget also resulted in not taking the time to carry out the necessary researches on the subject, the location etc.
In Amsterdam a wily youth advises three backpackers from the US and Iceland to go to Slovakia if they want to hook up with nice chicks. The reason, he says, why so many easy girls can be found there is that there are no guys in that country because of the war. What?? Come on, the last time there has been a war on Slovakian territory was back in WWII. Eli Roth must have mistaken Slovakia for Slovenia. But there has not been a recent war in Slovenia either, only its neighbors, Serbia and Croatia were engaged fighting one another in the early to mid '90s.
When the backpackers arrive to Slovakia what they find is a run-down country out of the stone age. Not exactly what it is like in reality. I am not saying Slovakia is the European Dubai, but people not having more than three crooked teeth in their mouthes and driving around in cars you would not see anywhere else but in an industrial museum paying tribute to the ex-Soviet era's technological achievements is a bit of an exaggeration. Slovakians also drive Ford, Opel, BMW and Mercedes cars like everybody else in Europe. And they do have state-supported dentistry as well.
No care has been taken to try to find out what the location of the film is indeed like in reality. The sad truth is that the place you would find child gangs attacking backpackers in broad daylight is not Slovakia, but England and the disgraceful outer districts of Paris.
Either American movie makers do not know anything about Europe, or they think we are stupid enough to be depicted as we are in their films. Actually, the only character resembling a European is that of Oli, so why all the hassle to excuse the Icelandic president? And if you intend to make the central train station of Bratislava look like it was in Germany you could at least remove the coke ads written in Slovakian from the background, Mr Roth. I mean, this is what one sensible man would start with, is it not?