Sick torture in its purist form

Rating: 6/10 (3 March 2006)

Hostel is very much like two movies in one--the college male fantasy Euro-trip followed by a psychotic deluge of raw torture. The story line is rather "simplistic" (not in a bad way) void of any intricate plot twists, tension buildups and surprise endings. Not much thinking is needed to follow this movie. It is obvious that the Director, Eli Roth, is very influenced by filmmaker Takashi Miike's work because, Miike has a cameo in Hostel and this movie follows the same time line format as one of Miike's films, Audition. As with Audition, Hostel is rather tame for the first 3/4 of the movie and then the gore-fest mercilessly comes at you full force for the last 30 minutes. It seems others try to compare Hostel with the two Saw movies. I totally disagree. Where Saw and Saw II are more of a psychological mind thriller that keep you guessing, Hostel is just raw torture that makes you...disgusted. The real horror of Hostel is that the main reason for the torture is based on "actual events". To think that something like this takes place in the real world is very scary and sick. The one actor I enjoyed seeing in this film, if only for a few minutes, was Rick Hoffman. He seems to perfect the character who we all would love to beat the hell out of. In the movie, Cellular, he personified the prick lawyer type; he brings that same character's traits to this role in a refreshing, twisted way. If anything, Hostel definitely pushes the envelope on how far a film can go to show you mindless torturous gore. I can't put it any "simpler" than that.