One of the sickest films ever made!!

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2006)

I think I've pretty much seen it all. Especially as an intense horror fan for the last 15 years, I've watched almost every kind of horror and gross out blood spattered film out there and Hostel made my skin crawl!! I have to say that there is an enormous percentage of human beings that should NEVER see this film because god knows there is enough sick twisted psycho's out there. What differentiates this from other blood soaked, gory films?? Reality. There is something very real about Hostel, there is something abnormal and disturbing about the situations, the setting, the captives and the men torturing them. Or perhaps it's just the incredibly sick premise in the first place that will turn your stomach. If this film was any more intense I'm not sure I would have been able to sit through it. I almost feel like slapping a disclaimer on this review because although I seem to dump praise on the film with a nine out of ten...I don't feel many should see this unless you've got a STRONG stomach, and a need to see something abnormally twisted. But fifty million dollars worth of people have already seen it. Perhaps Eli Roth's sick creation is this day and ages Texas Chainsaw or even The Exorcist which shocked and awed people decades ago.
It's not the buckets of blood or even the goriest scenes, it's just the imagery and the acting. The lead actors do a top notch job. The film starts out for the first half hour or more and I was beginning to wonder what I was watching because it seemed more like Harold and Kumar go to Europe with another guy. Getting high, "F" this, "F" that and showing breasts every possible chance just for the sake of doing so. No hint or horror anywhere in sight. And then comes the intrigue when the friends began to disappear one at a time. A factory in a small European town allows rich men to pay to dismember, operate, murder, do anything they want to live human victims who are tourists that are being kidnapped right off the street. In all fairness there is a small handful of gory, disturbing scenes amidst a basic story but those scenes are powerful enough to make you crawl to your core. Derek Richardson plays the lonely, geeky, Josh. He does a good job although he disappears early but his paranoia is the first to be explored as he suspects something isn't right. His scenes being tortured and murdered are gut wrenching and his screams are terrifying. That's not an easy thing to pull off in such a capacity. Newcomer Eythor Gudjonsson plays horny, party guy Oli and in that rank he does fine. He never really gets to show off his acting chops as we never actually see him getting taken or murdered. The real shining star of the film is Jay Hernandez. Over the years I've seen him in many other things but he has never stuck out or shined like he does in Hostel. He performs the crazy party teenager part to the point where I thought...these kids are just stupid annoying teenagers and then he gets submersed in with the killers and fights his way out. He commands the screen, and is definitely leading man material and his screams and scenes of torture are brutal. The three men shown to be the torturers also do a good job especially Jan Vlasák who actually meets the boys on a train to Bratslava. He seems like such a normal, every day businessman, with a family, friends, personable and then to see him in the capacity of a sick twisted killer is revolting. The supporting cast are all very well done but the main character(s) really do make this film.
Eli Roth who both wrote and directed the film has created something far beyond his usual average campy films. This film is very, very real. It holds a record for using the most languages in a film with no subtitles which simply holds it's realism. Filmed entirely in Europe the setting is both beautiful and frightening, dark and grim, old fashion, something very creepy about every scene. Blood and gore is everywhere as well as female nudity abound...it's a cash cow without a doubt but it's also well made and hits the mark as a disturbing, psychotic thriller. I can honestly say I don't wish to...and hopefully will not ever watch Hostel again because it's something I don't wish to sit through. Not because it's a bad film...it's brilliant...but because it's that disturbing!! For anyone and there will be plenty who says this was crap and not scary and yadda yadda yadda...I think you better make an appointment with your shrink. 8/10