good movie, ignore previous criticisms

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2006)

In the same vein as gritty horror films such as Seven and Saw, Hostel is less challenging but more believable. In an interview I saw with Eli Roth, the writer and director, he explained that his passion in film making was rooted in horror films of the 70's and 80's. Anyone who's seen Cabin Fever will know what type of films Eli Roth has set out to make. By setting out to scare the pants off viewers, Eli Roth has created a film that is not pretentious or proud of itself, it's just a really scary, well executed story. Whereas Cabin Fever contains the energy and enthusiasm of someone new to feature length film making, Hostel is a more polished example of what is essentially a shockingly graphic horror film. I loved this movie and was almost wetting myself while watching it. I highly recommend this to anyone but be warned this is extremely graphic.