Eli Roth Gives Us a Taste of Humanity's Dark Side

Rating: 7/10 (11 December 2012)

I don't recall watching HOSTEL in the theater. I'm pretty sure I did, but I have no recollection of it whatsoever. For whatever reason, my brain has totally blocked any memory of originally seeing the movie. All I remembered was that it was brutally violent and helped the SAW series solidify the profitable nature of "torture porn". I hadn't watched the movie in years when I saw it sitting in my collection a few weeks back and decided to reintroduce myself to Eli Roth's gore-fest. After watching it again with a few years of letting it settle in at the back of my mind, I realized it's a little better than I rememberand a little less violent. That's not to say the movie seems tamer after watching it again. HOSTEL can never be considered tame. HOSTEL is the story of three friends backpacking through Europe: Paxton, Josh, and their new Icelandic friend Oli, the "King of the Swing". These guys are one a never-ending quest to get laid and, when Amsterdam doesn't quite live up to their expectations, they're directed to a hostel in Slovakia that's loaded with available women. Arriving in Slovakia and settling into the rumored hostel, the trio make a connection with two beautiful women, Natalya and Svetlana, who act as their guide to the booming nightlife. But soon, things take a dark turn as Oli disappears one night, supposedly making a sudden return home, and the hostel starts feeling a little less welcoming. By the time we learn the hostel's horrible secret, it's already too late.
Let me start by admitting that I'm not a horror fan. Less than 20% of my total DVD collection might fall into the genre. The average horror movie has nothing to offer me and my personal tastes. So a horror movie needs to have an interesting angle or some incredibly good reviews for me to hunt it down, and HOSTEL has just that. The premise behind HOSTEL is an intriguing one and is rumored to be based on truth (in that the organization at the center of the movie might be based on an existing service). When I watch a horror movie, it's got to be truly frightening and the idea that psychopaths like the ones we see in this movie might actually be out there somewhere doing business is a grim one. We all have the ability to commit horrific acts and the concept that there are people out there that embrace this ability and treat it as fun or a form of release is disgusting. And this movie is, if anything, disgusting. In a good way, though. The movie gives us a solid 45 minutes to get to know these characters before they get to the meat of the film. Even if they do come off as a bit two-dimensional at first, it gives us a chance to know them so when the horrible stuff hits, it's got more of an effect. The first half of the movie is pretty slow and, at times, outright boring but it all builds up to a gripping final half hour.
The gore in the movie is awesome. I love practical gore. I'll take some rubber intestines over a CG disemboweling every time. HOSTEL runs with practical horror effects and it comes off as that much more disturbing. There are a few instances where it might not have looked quite right (for those who've seen the movie, I'm primarily referring to Kana) but it's all part of the fun of going over the top. Eli Roth has an obvious passion for the horror genre and, if there's any doubt, listen to any one of the multiple commentary tracks that come with each of his HOSTEL movies. His passion for terrifying an audience and his solid grasp of storytelling make HOSTEL a pretty cool movie. He uses a bunch of unknown actors in the film which, while I'm sure helped keep the overall cost to a minimum, also helped see the victims in the movie as real people. I'd never heard of Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, and Eythor Gudjonsson before, and, really, I haven't heard from them since. I hear Gudjonsson is pretty big in Iceland though. The real stars of the movie are the villains, who are fleshed out a little better. Particularly the Dutch Businessman, played by Jan Vlasák. Considering that Vlasák doesn't speak English, it's that much more impressive how menacing he comes across. Eli Roth's HOSTEL is a really good movie for what it is, and this is coming from a non-horror freak. The violence is brutal but shot in just such a way that a lot the worst happens off- screen or in quick glimpses, and Roth leaves the audience's minds fill in the blank. If more effort had been put into creating some more sympathetic victims, this movie would've been even stronger.