Publicity stunt as lame as the film itself...

Rating: 2/10 (7 January 2006)

I have to say that it's been quite a while since I've fallen for the hype surrounding a movie like this one. Unfortunately, I got caught up in the promises made by Hostle and was let down in the most disappointing way.
A perfect way to illustrate just how this film manages to fall so short of the mark is to compare it to the lame publicity stunt I had to bear witness to on opening night.
During the first remotely "scary" scene in the film an audience member simply leaned forward and fell to the floor, leaving his girlfriend to scream out for help. Was he so scared by the graphic violence on the screen that he passed out in horror? Were we witnessing what we had all heard was true... would paramedics actually have to be called to the theater? No, not at all.
The act was so transparent that it simply annoyed anyone who cared to notice. And the same thing can be said of the film itself. It's just another safe horror movie done by the numbers, dull and unoriginal, that simply pretends to be more than it is.
Hostle is no more shocking, scary or disturbing than anything you've seen before. And much like it's failed publicity stunt, this film deserves to be ignored.