Over-hyped and Unoriginal, but fun

Rating: 4/10 (18 January 2006)

Title: Hostel (2006)
Director: Eli Roth (Cabin Fever)
Cast: Jay Hernandez
Review: Of all the over-hyped movies in the world...this one takes the taco. I mean, Eli Roth the director of the disappointing Cabin Fever is back with his new creation: Hostel. And this time around he uses the same marketing strategy he wisely employed while promoting Cabin Fever which was hyped as a "return to gritty 70s horror" and we all know how that turned out. So here we are again, with Roths latest money making scheme ...did he succeed in making a better film then Cabin Fever? The story is about three friends who are out in Amsterdam backpacking through the country, enjoying all the girls, booze and drugs they can. On a certain occasion they meet this guy who tells them about a Hostel that has the horniest and prettiest girls in the universe. Of course they fall for that irresistible offer and go, they hook up with the girls and one by one the guys suspiciously start to disappear.
There were some good things in this movie. First off, the way the film was shot is beautiful. We get some nice lighting, some nice grissly looking sets. Art direction and cinematography were excellent.
We get good performers, Jay Hernandez being the one that stands out the most. He shined in "Crazy/Beautiful" and here he shows he wasn't just a one time fluke. The rest of the cast of unknowns do a cool job and the characters seem real and likable. So basically we got the elements for a good film right? The problem for me with Roths Hostel, was that it wasn't original at all. Roth has obviously been seeing a lot of Japanese horror films and he is just copying a lot of their style of storytelling. Roths appreciation and influence by J-Horror is so evident, that even Takashi Miike (one of the most respected Japanese horror directors) has a cameo on the film.
But again, the film was walking over all too familiar ground. Friends backpacking through a strange country? Thats almost as overused as the old stormy weather/car breaking down/ spooky mansion down the road plot device. But there it was. Similarities to Saw I'm sure will spread like wildfire. There's even a scene clearly ripped off from the Japanese movie called Suicide Club.
I guess Roths just doing the same thing that Tarantino does with his films which is basically ripping off stuff that he likes and using it in his own movies. But at least Tarantino makes up for that by writing excellent stories and dialogue. Not so on Roths film. Heck if you've seen John Woos Hard Target, you'll get the gist of what this movie is about. The movies plot is waaay to simple, so much so that I quickly got bored when I saw that it was going to go nowhere.
And then there was the gore. And this my friends was the thing that upset me the most. We get some gore, but this film is being marketed as a balls to the wall gore fest that will leave you gasping and it really isn't all that. The gore was highly restrained. I could feel the blades of the MPAA cutting away at this film, more sharply then ever before.
Watching Hostel reminded me a lot of the time when I saw Romeros theatrical release of Land of the Dead. You could just feel the censors holding back Roths film. Specially during those scenes involving the actual torture of the characters. Just when you think stuff is going to get good. Snip! The almighty hand of the MPAA cut the film. I'm guessing I can better review this film once I have seen the final directors cut of the film and not this hacked down version. I hope the gore will really be out there, cause the version I saw at the theaters was really tame compared to other horror films I've seen. It does have its moments (like that eyeball scene!) but for this seasoned horror fan, the gore was a bit light.
But movies aren't all about gore, so lets see. Aside from the fact that the movie was ripping off a gazillion other horror movies...some scenes were just too stupid. There's an instance in which a character looses two of his fingers at a certain point...yet he manages to drive a car, run around, hide and fight some bad guys, all without passing out. I wasn't alone in thinking that it wasn't at all possible. The dude would have passed out from hamerging a loooong time ago. Yet there he was hopping about. I know, I know, its just a movie, but suspension of disbelief will go only so far! All in all, Id say that Hostel was a film that had its moments and had some good things going for it, and yes, when compared to Cabin Fever, Hostel is far superior. But still it was missing one ingredient that matters a whole lot for me in horror movies: originality. Still, I think Roth can come up with something better. This sophomore effort is OK. But just OK. I'm still going to wait out for Roths masterpiece, cause this sure wasn't it.
Rating: 3 out of 5