A Fresh Film For the Horror Genre

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2010)

The Horror film Hostel is directed by Eli Roth and stars Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, and Eythor Gudjonsson. The film takes place in modern day Europe.
The film begins with a shot of a torture chamber and then cuts to two Americans, Paxton and Josh (Hernandez and Richardson), and an Icelandic man, Oli (Gudjonsson), in Amsterdam. After being locked out of the hostel they are staying at they are brought in by a young man who claims that there is a much better hostel in Slovakia, with all the best girls and no other Americans. So the three decide to travel to the hostel by train and on the way they encounter a middle aged man who creeps Josh out by touching his leg, and at the time he seems to have no significance. When they arrive at the hostel they discover that everything they heard about it was true and their roommates are two beautiful women (who they get to know quite well). But little do they know everything is not what it seems...
The writing of this film was quite ingenious. It reminded me a lot of a Hitchcock film because it really focused on characterization for around the first thirty minutes before focusing on the plot. By the time the plot actually came around I felt that I knew the two main characters Paxton and Josh very well and rooted for them when the film turned into horror. The actual screenplay was quite original I have never seen anything quite like it and I enjoyed how realistic the film was. At points there were noticeable coincidences but not so unrealistic that it ruined the whole film. Eli Roth proves with this film that he is a great addition to the horror genre.
The direction of the film was also very good. Along with the writing it really helped develop the characterization and it also kept the film interesting the whole way through. Roth created an extremely gory film and he succeeded in making me flinch at the screen by the brutality. This is one of the goriest films of all time and Roth did it all necessarily, by necessarily I mean he never overdid it just for the scares. This is Roth's second feature film (his first being Cabin Fever) and he proves with it that he is a director that is going to stay around for a while.
The acting in this film is quite good as well. Hernandez is the lead and starts off as an enjoyable, relaxed guy. As the film goes on he evolves due to the circumstances he is into a much darker person that is confused, in pain, and angry. He plays his part very well and is very convincing. Richardson plays Josh and is probably the most relatable character in the film. He just got out of a serious relationship and is just looking for a good time. He is a genuinely nice guy who gets into tragic circumstances and I rooted for him the whole time. Gudjonsson plays the part of Oli, he is basically just there for comic relief and he is pretty funny, so good job to you. This is a well acted film.
Overall I give this film a strong 7/10, due to the fine acting, direction, and writing. This film is definitely one of the best American horror films of the past decade, along with Saw and 28 Days Later. I can't really think of any other ones at the moment. Another thing I really liked about this film is how it is divided into two parts and how they are separated. The first part is the pretty part with all the girls and drugs, you can tell this part by how the two roommate girls are very attractive and wearing makeup. The second part is the not so pretty part and the two roommates are not wearing makeup during this part. I would recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of the horror genre.