Very Tarantino

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2007)

This is a Tarantino flick as much as Eli Roth's. There is plenty of shock, gore, and even a little comedy.
This is the film in a nutshell - In modern-day Slovakia there exists a Hostel which lures young, low-profile tourists into staying long enough so that they can be captured and used by a "hunting club". The main characters are lured by the prospect of beautiful women and plenty of sex. When they first arrive, the girls are everything they expected and more. Later, we see that the characters start to disappear one by one as they are abducted.
They are taken to an old warehouse run by an organization which charges members (worldwide) fees for the right to torture and kill a victim of their very own, in the privacy of their own cells, using dozens of torture instruments.
I rented the unrated DVD version of the film. It definitely goes beyond a standard "R" rating. One disturbing aspect of the film is that the "club" charges the most $$ for the chance to kill Americans (they are considered the fillet mignon). Another is the fact that none of what happens is all that unbelievable. Jerky guys who travel a long distance to get laid let their guards down and fall victim to beautiful girls, drugs, alcohol, their own egos, and even a band of poor kids who roam the streets as gangs demanding candy! I think Eli Roth is trying to make some sort of social commentary here. You think? What the film does very well is keep you guessing. Every actor is an unknown, so you'll never know who lives and who dies.