A very pleasant surprise

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2006)

I must admit, Roth has redeemed himself with Hostel after an abysmal outing with Cabin Fever. In that film I could not care less if these characters lived or died because they were so unlikeable. It is SO important in horror or thriller movies to make the characters so relateable that you could imagine that it is actually you in their situation. I am pleased to say that Hostel works very well in this area. Three guys backpacking through Europe together get a tip-off that there is a bevy of beautiful women in a town in Bratislava who are ready and willing for anything. It happens that the guys aren't having too much luck in the people-saturated Amsterdam, so they decide to trek over to this town. And so the mystery and terror begins... One of the things I was shocked by was the polish of this film - not often do people describe horror movies as beautiful - from the cinematography to the score. A good example is the intro with the credits: snapshots of a dank place somewhere with someone whistling, cleaning up a room of some sort from many different angles, often blurred or out of focus - but never actually knowing what the heck is going on. Now, for a supposedly gory and ultra-violent movie, I found these sensoral moments very rewarding. For me, buckets of bloods splattering the screen is not scary - more often what you don't see will terrify the viewer much more effectively, so the actual goriness of the movie only accounts for roughly 20% but, because of the other 80% involved, the 20% becomes crucial to the telling of the story (YES, an intriguing story in a horror movie). After an intro of getting to know the characters, once events happen to take them away from the main action you feel for them and their fate. Even beyond this movie, it leaves you with a sense of what happens next? and not just a sequel for sequels' sake. Jay Hernandez is excellent in his role, showing a great vulnerability for a male lead when it was possible for him to become all 'Die Hard' on us - that said, he knows when to bring out the big guns when required. The other two includes Hernandez's friend who began the journey with him and tries to summon the courage to approach the very forward women in Amsterdam, and an Icelandic backpacker who is the complete opposite joined them along the way who bringing a lot of humour to the tale. The terror in the movie is excellent and the psychology of the characters, intriguing to say the least, albeit disturbing. As with most horror movies, the overall message is the same regarding our human ability to trust others and when it is misplaced. I am hoping with the sequel they can build on and enhance the atmosphere created in this movie and continue to chill the pants right off us :)