Hostel Movie Review:


I grew up on horror movies. I loved them so much that after renting Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original version) I re-watched it with a tape recorder, so I could listen to the sound from the film long after returning the video. As I grew older I began to develop a taste for the more gruesome horror films, and I would like to think that I have seen many of the gorier films. I was blown away by Eli Roth’s new horror film, Hostel. It was the most disgusting and horrific film experience that I may have ever had. There are limits to which an audience can endure torture. The violence is so extreme and twisted in its creativity, I could barely keep my eyes on the screen. I absolutely loved it.

The simplicity of Hostel is part of its charm. It may only be simple because of how much film trailers show these days, but we know what is coming in the first half of the film. Two American college students, Paxton and Josh, are traveling around Europe in search of as much excitement as they can find when they hear about a Slovakian town filled with incredibly hot European women. As soon as they arrive in the town, along with their Icelandic friend, they find the rumors to be true. Unfortunately the party doesn’t last long for them.

The first half of Hostel is simply filled with a college guy’s fantasy. There are naked women strewn about the screen, and it is almost to the point where the audience is being seduced, but something just doesn’t quite feel right about it, almost like the calm before the storm. Once the storm begins it does not let up until the last frame of the film.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Hostel is not even the violence, but the audience’s reaction to the violence. As much as the torturing bothers the audience, once the tables are turned and the cruel villains are being tortured, it is suddenly acceptable. This, along with a scene in which the boys visit a brothel in Amsterdam, is what sticks with me long after viewing the film. Roth makes a subtle but strong point about lines in which we cross in order to get excitement, and the best part about the message is that he never uses words.

Film is a visual medium, and often I think it would do screenwriters to remember that. The escape scene in Hostel is brilliant because it shows the audience nearly the entire structure without the use of dialogue. This isn’t to say that dialogue is unnecessary, but very few directors know how to survive without excessive amounts of it. Roth proves himself a strong filmmaker by drawing us in no matter what happens to be on screen.

It should be known that as much as I loved this film, the only thing that this fact proves is that I may be a little bit twisted. There is no question that the style in which the film is shot is near flawless, but this fact will escape most viewers when they are bombarded with seemingly endless scenes of suspense and gore. This is not the kind of film that I would recommend to even casual horror fans. Only true fans of horror will be able to appreciate the masterful way in which the story unweaves, and this is because they have the ability to see beyond the violence easier. In fact, the violence will be the highest selling point to any real fan of horror.

Hostel is being marketed with a great deal of emphasis on the fact that Tarantino produced, which is not only very smart, but also surprisingly apparent. There is something about the twisted humor in the film and the unapologetic approach to the violence which screams Tarantino’s name. Hostel is also a much tighter film than Cabin Fever, which gave Roth his fame. It is a far more impressive film, and although it is too soon to make statements about the future of the film, in my opinion it deserves a spot in the history of important horror films.

Ryan Izay

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