Horny, gory drama but not even Tarantino tainted.

Rating: 5/10 (29 October 2006)

Hostel is a mystery. Why would Tarantino present such a movie? It has been a while that Tarantino "presents" movies and it is getting time that he directs more than presenting (I'm a fan of his).
You would think if Tarantino presents this movie, he would be proud of it as he would have done the same thing. Therefore it would be like a Tarantino movie.
It is not.
Okay it is sexy, very gory and fast paced. But the properties end there. No script, no visual aesthetic, no acting, no budget for proper CGI effects, no camera work and very weak scenario. Everything is just a pretext for the last part of the movie. Nothing to build the appropriate suspense ambiance.
The acting is not very good except for some evil characters and one of the heroes (Derek Richardson). The sound track is acceptable but you could have expected more (sound effects are effective though).
As for the plot, the twist is interesting but takes too much time to develop. Even for a 90 minutes movie! Separated in 3 parts, the scenario takes too much time on the first one. During the second part you wonder where this is going as it is going too fast for a conventional horror movie. The 3rd part reveals that is more a gory movie than a horror movie. Acceptable but it is not what I paid for. I expected a bit different albeit they suggested in the making-of that it is inspired from real events.
Anyway, I did spend a relatively good time but, thanks to the producers, it was short.
I don't think I would see this movie again. I would recommend it as a rental more for its gore than horror. Other than that, wait to see it on TV.