If he keeps this up, Roth has potential to be an up and coming horror master

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2005)

So, apparently filmmaker Eli Roth had premiered his debut film Cabin Fever in 2002 at the Toronto Film Festival. Three years later, even when his sophomore film still had technical tweakings to be worked out, he felt obligated to the Toronto film fest audiences to come on back. And come back he did. His new film, entitled "Hostel" is just as gruesome if not creepier than his latter. It concerns a couple American tourists, Josh (Derek Richardson, who until now has been written off for his mistake in acting in the Dumb and Dumber prequel) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez), who have been backpacking in Europe with fellow Icelandic backpacker Oli for the last few weeks. When they arrive in Amsterdam, they are told by a kid named Alex that there is a town in Slovakia where the women out-populate the men 5:1 due to the civil unrest of past war, and that every woman there loves tourists, ESPECIALLY Americans. The three find all of this to be true when they travel to the small town and meet their sexy limber roomies, who somewhat resemble skyy vodka models. When Oli disappears after the first night they spend in their new hostel, the boys eventually shrug it off and continue partying, but it slowly becomes apparent that there is something very wrong going on. Very, very wrong, like a 15 on a 1-10 scale of wrongness. BOTTOM LINE: If your a horror fan, even if you've just began to get into horror, this (Cabin Fever as well) is a must see. Some parts make you laugh, other parts make you feel for the characters, and a lot of parts make you grit your teeth and clap in satisfaction afterwards - all the elements of a great horror film. Eli Roth knows what a horror film needs to be and he shows it in his work, and if he continues his work like he does, he'll be around for long time.