A violent attack on the senses

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2006)

Having been pleasantly surprised by Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, and falling for the sucker puncher that was Tarantino's involvement, albeit minimal, I eagerly awaited this film.
The film borrows ideas from across the board but is certainly original in it's shock value! Whilst I have seen many, many horror films from the comparatively tame but classic Hammer films to the more extreme films like Takashi Miike's Audition (Miike actually has a brief cameo in Hostel) and the total gross-out films such as Cannibal Holocaust and Zombie Flesh Eaters; Hostel left me feeling extremely uneasy unlike a lot of it's predecessors.
It would be hard not to be lured into the jaws of doom by the absolutely beautiful Natalya & Svetlana, and indeed that's when things begin to go horribly wrong for our 3 young hedonistic travellers.
Jan Vlasak should be applauded for his portrayal of the particularly unnerving, failed surgeon. The reason he didn't make the grade as a surgeon is revealed, much to the terror of young Josh.
The group of infant thieves is a nice touch and added a somewhat morbid comedy factor to Hostel, but not as to the detriment of the overall theme.
Extreme, brutal, stylish and aesthetically grand (well, not for poor Yuki!) but I still can't decide whether I really liked it or I was repulsed by it. Perhaps it was both. Some censorship is avoided I presume, by not mixing the sex with the violence or vice versa. I think that means mission accomplished by Eli Roth & his mate Quentin.
It will be interesting to see whether Hostel 2 can maintain the tension and evolve at all or just sink into awful sequel oblivion.