Does one of the nastiest horror films of the 21st century live up to the hype? Short answer, no

Rating: 4/10 (13 August 2017)

Long answer: Eli Roth jettisons the satirical potential of his screenplay in favour of... not a lot to be honest. The thing is, the torture scenes, while repugnant and disgusting, mercifully don't take up too much of the film. As a result, this is mainly a film consisting of 3 repulsive guys going around objectifying women and having sex, before as always in a horror film their search for action leads to a very bad place indeed. I have heard this film described as a satire or sociopolitical commentary of some sort, and there is something there for sure. The trouble is, there just isn't an awful lot to Hostel. It's nasty and mean-spirited but mostly it's just tedious. There are intense moments but there's not enough atmosphere; basically, the film just wonders what to do with itself for an hour before exhausting the viewer with endless torture porn towards the end. It is undeniably disturbing and the acting is good for a horror film. There's definitely an element of fear, but Eli Roth, although his direction is perfectly fine, didn't quite manage to back up his ideas with a decent script. Watch Saw instead (The first one, not those awful sequels).
4/10