hostel

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2006)

Director/Script: Eli Roth, Cast: Jay Hernadez (Paxton), Derek Richardson (Josh), Eythor Gudjonsson (Oli), Barbara Nedeljakova (Natalya), Jana Kaderabkova (Svetlana), Jan Vlasak (dutch businessman)
When I went to see this movie, I honestly did not think I was going to be able to make it through. The characters are so unlikeable and arrogant its no wonder half the world hates us Americans. They were such a bunch of loudmouthed jerks, I was hopping they would all get cut up. However, watching the film to the end, I can see why the director choose to depict the characters that way. The horror in this film really sets off in the second half when they end up at the torture chamber in that hell hole of a village in Slovakia. Really the only jerk in the movie was the Paxton character. However, one develops respect for him by the end of the film and are actually glad that he survives. When his friends start to disappear, Oli being the first, we can see that he truly does care for his friends. When he finally escapes from that dreadful place of torture, he is able to find a car that by chance has the keys still in the ignition! He could easily have left but he risks his life and getting tortured again by those sadistic freaks to save that Japanese girl when he hears her screaming knowing she is getting tortured.
By having this film start out as a typical teen sex movie and gradually regress into extreme horror, these people are not so arrogant anymore but fearful beyond anyones imagination. It is probably well known by now that Eli Roth was inspired to make this film based on a Thai web site that advertised the torture of humans for a price that was shown to him by Quentin Tarantino. The web site was probably a hoax but who knows, maybe their is such a place in this world. Their is certainly enough sick f**ks in this world to support such a place! Roth did a very outstanding job of making the events in this film seem real. I must admit that I felt rather unsettled after leaving the cinema. This is without a doubt a more intense horror than is normally shown in theaters. When this comes out in its uncut form on DVD it might be an NC-17. I thought the theatrical version was close. The character of Natalya was quite the evil bitch! Barbara Nedeljakova did a great job portraying her. I agree with another commenter that described her as the ultimate femme fatal! It will be interesting to see if see gets cast in other films.