the first 'exploitation flick' of the year doesn't strike where it could've

Rating: 5/10 (18 January 2006)

Eli Roth is a filmmaker I've heard about through the cult film 'Cabin Fever' and his latest film, Hostel, is presented by action-film maestro Quentin Tarantino, and produced by him and horror filmmaker Scott Spiegel. I wondered as the lights went up why Tarantino decided to put his name on the film. I can sort of understand why- as it brings out some grisly violent scenes, with enough gore to pack in his seeming enjoyment for it (see Kill Bill for details)- but also remembered that another film he was involved in, From Dusk Till Dawn, was quite similar. Dawn, also a film where it's sort of two topics converged into one 'exploitation' flick (which Tarantino himself might argue or not, depending on your pov of what's exploitive in the genre), was a much better film, with main characters (one of them played by QT himself) who were also violent, but somehow relatable. Roth's film here doesn't really give much to invest in the characters, and then when the film focuses on its final character's survival, it becomes not so much unbelievable- as I know by some point I SHOULD try to suspend disbelief- as it is empty.
I like a horror film to be something that actually gives me suspense, and if it shocks me then to back it up with something in the story, or with the characters, to give it some leverage. The first forty-five minutes or so of 'Hostel' just shows our main characters, Paxton and Josh, living it up in Amsterdam, then taking a tip on another Hostel (or practical prostitution palace) in Bratislava. There's nothing given at all to the character really, except that one is less inhibited than the other at times. Roth tries to add substance by giving the run-down city an almost Third Man feel (i.e. there's curious, dangerous beings all around, particularly children and other undesirables, everyone possibly 'in' on what the main characters aren't). But Roth as a writer isn't much concerned with spending that much time with these guys, unlike Tarantino did with his screenplay ten years back. If there had been perhaps even more set-up, or more scenes showing the two (err three) friends together, there would've been back-up. However Roth is more interested in what comes in the second half of the film.
To give credit where credit's due, Roth at least doesn't commit the sins of the filmmakers of, for example, 'Saw'. The cinematography and production design is a full notch above those far lesser, laughably bad films. In the sort of 'exploitation' sense he doesn't screw around with the audience by playing too many guessing games. Like QT, he goes for the torture scenes- and there are a good many few of them- by not always showing it, more of showing the reactions to the violence. And I suppose as a director dealing with such subversive, trashy material like sex (lots), drugs (some), and unmitigated carnage, he does film it without too many gimmicks or stupid flash cuts and such. However, his style, which isn't a horrible one, is lacking due to how the substance is too ambiguous for its own good (I only knew what this whole torture building was for after reading a couple of reviews after the fact) and didn't really keep me on the edge of my seat. If he was looking to make me laugh at times as well, which is good and bad depending on which scenes I might mean, its sometimes at far too inappropriate moments. All of the imposed atmosphere is moot when torture just happens for the sake of it.
I know that Roth, unlike someone like Mel Gibson who said his film would be 'good for the soul', doesn't relish in these scenes, and maybe is trying for something gruesome out of the recent slew of ultra-violent Asian flicks ala Fukasaku and Miike. But the wit of those films, albeit quite dark, is too absent here, and after a while one wonders if all of this is more for the filmmakers' benefit than the audience's. Who knows, maybe I can recommend it for a certain quota of the public who are into the take-no-prisoners films like from the 70's (I Spit on Your Grave for example). But it just wasn't for me; after a while even after trying to shut my brain off and enjoy the mindlessness of it all, I got impatient. There's some good stuff in the film, but muddled over by not being able to connect the set-up with the payoff. C+