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This movie was horrible, I liked saw because it had an intriging story. This was true crap, no story just gore and sensless torture. I didnt like this movie and I truly dont like Eli Roth.
I was suprised that i enjoyed this movie. Im not a fan of gore and hate torture but i handled this movie. The movie managed to have me grossed out but not to the point of looking away, except the eye scene, which is a good thing. It was very suspenceful too. And being the teenage boy i am, i definately enjoyed the sex in the movie. All in all, i've become a fan of Eli and cant wait to see what his future holds( especially with Tarantino, whos my favorite director)
Awesone Movie. the first time I saw this movie was in the theatres and i loved what I saw. I have probabl seen this movie about 8 times since and still find joy in watching it. Great humour and Gore all in one.
A must have for your Horror collection. Very different from the average slasher/gore flick and the filming locations were very cool. Roth took me on a ride I wont forget.
First half: Porn Second half: some porn and then gore. Hostel is pretty boring for a torture movie. And in the last 5 years, every time I ask an average horror fan to think of a gory movie, they'd always answer Hostel.
The "Eye Removal" was the only memorable scene in the entire movie. And the 80 minutes of boredom before it was not worth watching for a single good scene. I may be mistaken, but why aren't the August Underground movies in this site??
i only watched this because Quentin Tarantino helped make it. i thought he directed it until Eli Roth was mentioned.
anywho, this was an awesome film. with a movie like this, you're rooting for the killer surgeons because that's what you want to do some jerk that's teasing you at school. now if you'll excuse me, i have to torture and kill Paris Hilton! *puts on apron and walks into room where Hilton's screams are heard*
It was okay. The only reason I would watch it is for the gore. The amount of nudity was unnecessary too. If it didnt have that, it wouldn't be rated R.
It wasn't chilling and wasn't scary at all. I don't get all the hype.
Gore and Guts? Bucketloads. Scare and Chills? Non-exsistent. Don't know about you, but just because you put oodles of gory scenes up on the screen doesn't mean it adds up to "Horror Movie" status. Maybe it qualifies more as a "Suspense/Thriller flick, but the acting (made me laugh),the pretentious plot (made me roll my eyes) and the dialog put me to sleep (Almost). Blood and gore is not the same as Horror Scares!! I did, however, did enjoy the beautiful half-naked women. (That is what kept me awake, by the way.) Maybe down the road after a few years I can appreciate it for what it is....Pure Camp.
Posted By: trickytreats at 4:13pm, September 21, 2009
It tooke me a while to work up the courage to see this movie and after it was done, I was glad that I had prepared myself for it. It definitely wasn't as predictable as I had expected and there was more than enough gore, although some of the scenes seemed a bit fake. I also liked the revenge factor of the movie, although it was a bit over the top. Overall a decent movie, but I wish it hadn't started this whole torture genre as I much prefer monster flicks.
Posted By: SAWFAN1123 at 1:16pm, September 16, 2009
awsome move with lots of gore
Posted By: Bostic101 at 5:58am, September 13, 2009
Will make your mind ache and your body twitch. A great film by Eli Roth. it takes time to get started but in the end turned out to be a complete massacre
Oh boy I think I saw the trailer for this before saw 2 and man I was like forget saw 2 bring this movie on NOW and I REALLY wanted to see saw 2 lol. This movie had a lot of hype leading up to it if I remember correctly. I know there was always alot of talk about Eli Roth and when cabin fever came out some people were split on it(personally i thought cabin fever was great). But he definitely brought the goods with this movie. I do think the first half is love it/hate it thing. But when stuff starts going down your like oh crap. Thats why it worked so well. I don't think this movie lived up to the hype or at least the hype I had but it was still a good horror movie and even though it had its share of blood I do think the psychological apsect worked really well too.
Eli Roth I freakin' love you! Awesome movie, I saw the second one first but loved this one more. Jay H. is wonderful, his acting is up there with any of the greats. Even though I knew what was going to happen, there was great suspense and lots of good gore :) Loved it!
Posted By: ActionJackson at 12:03pm, September 3, 2009
This Movie did for "Traveling out of the U.S" what "Jaws" did for Swimming in the Ocean! Sure it's a "Slow" Build up to its Overall Conclusion but in my opinion only adds more "Depth" to the Characters as well as the Plot! After seeing this Movie, not only did it make me think about all those "Missing Tourist" Stories we hear about on the Evening News it also, well frankly made me "Sick"! Yes, I prefer my Horror to be more along the lines of "It's only a Movie" and Entertaining and after its over I can go back into my every Day Life again, But no such Luck with this Movie! I still ask Myself if in fact such a thing goes on in this World, perhaps in some third World Country Plagued by Corruption, Poverty and Lack of Morals. If Hostel was intended to make you Think, it did a good Job on that, If it's Purpose was to Scare you, yes, once again, I'd say It did just that, and if it's sole intentions was to make you Lose Your Lunch, well, I guess depends if you have an Iron Gut or Not..Overall, I liked this Movie although, it's not one that I can just sit down and "enjoy" at any given time, I almost have to get my "Courage" up to watch it again. This Movie is "RUDE, CRUDE, and DISTURBING" and only "Adds" to the "Realism" of the depravity that is called "MAN"!!!
Eli Roth’s, Hostel, is a very smooth paced horror film with more than enough blood and guts than the average horror fan can handle. This film will have you laughing along with the characters in the beginning and terrified with them in the end. Hostel, is an incredible film that supports multiple themes including an interesting story, phenomenal mood and tone, and a very intriguing context.
Firstly, Hostel presents an awesome story about three young backpackers that travel all over Switzerland, Belgium and Amsterdam for a wild vacation full of sex, drugs and unforgettable experiences. After getting locked out of their hostel one night, they’re invited into a man's house where he tells them all of a hostel somewhere in eastern Europe where the women are all incredibly beautiful and go crazy over American men. Without question, the trio heads to Bratislava immediately. After meeting the beautiful girls they were expecting and a rowdy night of dancing, one of the backpackers, Oli, winds up missing the next morning. The two remaining backpackers, Paxton and Josh, decide to go on without him. Soon to find out, the beautiful women and the hostel they were staying at was a perfect net to a gruesome conclusion.
Not only does Hostel provide a great story, it also sets a phenomenal tone throughout the entire film. Emotionally in the beginning, Hostel makes you feel energized along with the three American Backpackers and envious of their antics. Towards the end, the film transforms your mood into a fearsome panic along with the characters. Visually, Hostel slowly fades from a very vibrant and colorful environment where you see flashy multicolored lights in dance clubs and breathtaking outdoor scenery. Then halfway through the film, the overall color slowly begins to de-saturate while the score starts to play in a lower and more violent key, setting a relaxed but at the same time, uncomfortable mood. Near the end, the imagery really begins to overflow with an incredible horrific ambiance. The film starts to blend into a very dark and grey atmosphere where the buildings and people surrounding them give the impression of being old and grubby.
Hostel can relate to a big part of cultural and current events mainly including, “The War on Terrorism”. While in the war and in a time of terror, most people feel scared. The truth of the matter is, that in these times of terror, people want to be terrified in a safe environment. People want to scream and there really isn't a place in society to go and just get it all out of your system. A horror movie like Hostel provides that safe environment where a vast amount of audiences can react to the horrifying acts in the film and relate to what is going on in the real world today.
Not to mention the horror films in the 70's, during Vietnam. Again, in times of war and terror, people are naturally scared. And if you notice, during the Clinton Administration, when times were calm, there were very few horror movies like the ones in the 70s or Hostel at all. This is not blaming members in government for the popularity of horror movies. It’s only showing how society can relate the films to these harsh times that they are currently in by getting the scare out of there system. It's almost a reaction to watching what most people see on television now days. Also, a lot of Americans think that their security is their army and their money. Most people feel like the war is never going to end and the people we’re fighting don't care about our money and they are going to hurt us. And our army that used to be so strong and so powerful now feels really disorganized to people at this time. (It's sad to think of a bunch of scared kids that just want to go home. And Hostel is definitely a reaction to that scare. Hostel is not an indictment of the war, it's just the reaction to the scare the war provides.
Ultimately, Eli Roth’s, Hostel, is beyond doubt a perfect horror film which tells the great story of the three backpackers, Paxton, Josh and Oli who travel all over Switzerland, Belgium and Amsterdam fulfilling their expectations of sex, drugs and bizarre experiences. The tone which creates the viewers to switch their sensations progressively from happy to relaxed and suddenly terrified! My favorite horror film of the new horror wave.
good movie. but didn't meet its expectations. great story, but when you think of a good torture film of course you think of lots of blood and gore. blood...check, gore...not enough.
All overreated nonsense about this movie. The gore factor is not high in this movie at all, yes there is blood but that is about it, with the exception of a few little scenes. Plot was boring and does not keep you interested, torture scenes was just a bunch of screaming men and just dissapointing. If you want to watch ireccomend skipping this movie and wating part 2, it is much better and shows more than this. HOSTEL=GARBAGE IN A DVD CASE. HOSTEL PART 2= EHH BUT BETTER THAN GARBAGE
Wow, this is what it's all about. Hostel is one hell of a ride. You know, as soon as it begins that it's clear, this is going to rock! The gory tortue, the eree atmosphere, the rather good acting and plot, makes Hostel the one to watch! This intense gore fest will make Saw look bad, honest, I highly reccomend.
Extremely overrated. Good to watch when you don't have anything better to watch. They decided not to create a truly shocking plot to make it a fully gore film but failed on showing enough gore to justify how loose the attempt of plot is.
eli roths second movie was not bad.
it focused a little too much on sex in the beginning which kind of threw me off but the twisted sick torture scenes were brilliantly handeled with great direction and dedication to what the movie is revolving around.
Eli, Eli, Eli, dam you have a sick mind... I watched this great movie several times and each time I'm pleased... Its morbid, twisted, gory, violent, and makes you think dam I don't want to stay at a Hostel ever... This movie is for anyone that loves blood and torture. Makes you never want to backpack in unfamliar places ever.. I recommend to the sick its a must see and great vision of a morbid mind....
In the tradition of the "Saw" series and the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" updates, this first entry in the "Hostel" franchise helps to solidify the resurgence of real horror after that wink-wink, nudge-nudge crap from the '90s. "Hostel" contains much extreme gore and violence, and that's always nice. However, I believe this film deserves special recognition for its realistic portrayal of children. Nowhere else have I seen the psyche of the kindergarten set more honestly examined. Worth the purchase price for that alone.
Don't let that stop you from enjoying the gore, though. A feel-good triumph for horror fans and an eye-opener for parents and teachers.
Ok so alot of people say "porn" and alot of people say "gore"(in a bad way) BUT let me say those people just did not understand this movie, this is one of the best horror (yes I call it horror) films made in a long long time, This film delivers everything a horrorfan could ever want, Eli Roth perfectly displays the perverted generation that we live in, and takes horror for what it is, a guilty pleasure, As human beings we are not supose to enjoy death, killing or anything like that so thats what makes horror a guilty pleasure because some of us do enjoy it. Eli creates perfectly (be it a little larger than life) believable charectors with great dialog (they talk how people I know talk not like walking dictionaries)
There is also plenty of tension as Paxton becomes an amazing hero and a guy worthy of routing for, it also draws emotion as (if your normal) you feel sick about the dudes doing this shit, but most of all Eli creates the fear of the unknown ("and you always fear what you ...") as backpackers disapear alot in strange countries and are never heard from again.
I'm not really in the mood to go in to all the details of what makes this film perfect but I'll say this,
To truly understand this piece of art is to love this piece of art,
I know there will be disagreements but I'm sorry:
10/10
"Insanely bad" is how I would describe this movie to anyone. The whole movie was pretty much a drag to watch. And probably had one of the worse endings I've ever seen.
I really enjoyed this film. I just wish it was gorier! People say it's sooooo gory but its not, it's no worse than saw and thats what dissapointed me, anyway. Hostel does have a little bit of gore but not too much, i love the idea of a place where people go to torture people for a lot of money. The sex for the first 15 mins or so was not needed and that spoiled it a bit but over all this was a good enjoyable film that keeps you on your seat nicely!
****
Out Of
*****
Like it or not, Hostel helped create a new genre of horror (which is already beaten to death in my opinion, pun unintended but cool).
I think this movie worked really well; in the sense that it didn't feel like a horror movie at all for the first forty minutes or so. That really assisted with the impact later scenes would have.
I can admit that it won't make anyone's top 10 horror movies list, but it's a classic to me and gets points for being the first horror movie that made me want to look away.
I really don't get the point of putting down Eli Roth. Am I a huge fan of his, a die hard for Eli, no. But do i like and respect his work and him for the fact that he isn't just making sh**ty remakes, yes. Some people call him a sell out, i for one disagree, he hasn't made a remake and im f***ing proud of that.
Now on to the movie.
The movie follows two pack packers on their journey to a so called sex crazy part of Europe, in the Czech Rebuplic if i remember correctly (i forgot, it has been a while lol), and they find a hotel, aka a hostel, to stay at while they don't know they are on a list for sick people to torture them. People bid on them, which you find out in #2, and the highest bitter tortures the people. I hope I didn't give too much away but that was also a pretty f***ing bad description XD lol.
The movie really is a pretty good horror movie, a real life type one. The actors aren't that bad, especially the ones from Europe they awesome, and the gore is good. This is hte modern explotation film, which im (i guess) glad to see in the theaters, this was pretty ballsy. It was a good film, but not the best, but still not as bad as people say just to put down Eli Roth. I gave it an 8/10 mostly because the movie deserved a 7 from me but the commentary, directors, was very informing and stuff to me and it deserves the extra point.
I saw this with some friends when it first came out, we all left the theatre drop-jawed. I love Hostel it brought extreme-gore to the mainstream movie theatres. Kudos to Eli Roth, awesome ending, great mix of comedy, gore, porn, and everything else. Well done.
This move I hate to hate, like yes I like the idea and it was cruel and all which I liked. It had so much blood and it had a cool eye removal which was awesome.
Thing is they didn't show enough of what was really going on, if I think of it, I couldn't think of anyone who died from these rich tight-wods killing people for pleasure. Like yes I saw passbys of people being tortured, but I would of liked to see a longer example of what was really going on down there, like it had no horrible mutilation or anything to me. I even have to be honest and stupid at how I hated the asian chick dying, the guy went through all that to get her own and what does she do, takes one look at her reflection with a messing eyeball and decides to kill herself. Like come on most the film was made of just how the teens were enjoying themselves and the last one's escape, it was more like a film with brief horror.
I would never recommed this move to anyone due to it's unsatisfying horror, for at most it was more like an R rated adventure film
in my eyes eli roth can do no wrong,hostel is one half porn one half snuff all awsomeness,it worked for me ,and not to mention this could totaly happen.happy vacation.
I've made a somewhat big review on this but bloody BD decided to refresh the page before I posted it so I'm gonna shorten it. Good opening credits, good premise(people paying to torture others is just frightening) and amazing effects. And that's it. It's boring in the first half (gorgeous tits and drougs don't make a film not boring), too fast in the nasty torture scenes, there are no characters we feel sorry for (ok, maybe the japanese girl. Maybe.), despite the effort of the writers to give us sad backstories...oh well, a disapointment!
Cool. From the opening credits you know it’s gonna be a gore fest. It is a modern styled backpacking story. Three guys backpacking across the world to sleep with any girl possible. It keeps you entertained with humour and the essence that something is gonna happen soon. Throughout the film people pop up that look freaky, and you want to see again. The gore is put to the extreme and it makes you cringe at some of the torture the characters are put through.
The plot is simple. Backpackers bid-on, kidnapped, and tortured. It has sex, drugs, gore, humour. What more could you want?. Things like this do apparently actually happen in Slovakia and well lets just say that this film is enough to put me off backpacking throughout Europe.
The cast was assembled well, they were believable and did a great job at using body language to help make the scene better. The characters are great. They do what anybody in their situation would do.
Overall Hostel, is a gorefested, awesomely-cool ride. My rating is 3.5/5
This movie was not the best I've seen for the script, but if you like gore, this is the movie for you ...After you sit through the first 3/4ths of the movie which is almost all pairs of tits. Then you finally get to the 30 minutes of gore that occurs during the escape. That is when the script really starts to make the movie's plot speed up and there is more action. I'd rate this movie a 6/10 overall.
Posted By: YingKIng0203 at 4:44pm, January 26, 2009
I found this movie to be somewhat good. I have to say though, the first half hour or so was quite dull. Once they got into the killing it was good but before that, it sucked. Storyline was alright. Not the worst ive seen. Death and torture scenes were quite bloody and interesting. Made me cringe. I LOVED the setting. Europe, unknown, easy to get lost, dark, strange. The actual torture factory was very raw and grimy. That part was good. Overall it was worth the watch.
Posted By: AshWilliams95 at 6:49am, January 26, 2009
As soon as I heard that this movie involved Quentin Tarantino I thought its probably going to be a gore fest sick, brutal torture movie. I was right, there was a shit load of sick torture scenes littered with grind house gore. The acting was good. The storyline was great and the dialogue was pretty good. The only bad thing about this movie was the whole thing. That's right, it may have had a pretty good build up, interesting characters and even some porn thrown in there, but it was just a steaming pile of goat shit. The torture scenes were good and very disturbing but after the build up and besides the torture scenes this movie was just awful. The effects were good and looked realistic. But 90% of the movie was a failure. The ending was pathetic and basically the whole movie was. This is just a pathetic excuse for gore and porn and is a complete waste of time. Unless your into mindless violence and pointless porn then you are going to be extremely disapointed. 2/10.
Torture porn is not scary. Not one bit. It's sick and repulsive and not the least bit entertaining. When I watch a horror film I want to feel for the characters in whatever awful situation they are in or what nightmare they face, but for the leads in Hostel I couldn't have cared less what happened to them. When the leads are a bunch of drunken mysoginistic frat boy assholes do we really care what happens to these jerks ? I know I didn't. The concept of Hostel is a frightening one and in the right hands could actually be bone chilling but Roth has done nothing but show his complete ignorance of foreign countries by portraying everyone has a murderer or villian of some sort, even the children are feral street roaming criminals. If Roth wasn't trying to show how much he can 'shock' with the overuse of gratutious effects, especially the eye and ankle sequences then Hostel could have been a gripping and tense horror experience but instead comes off as a ultra violent pointless and boring film with soft porn thrown in .A movie about frat boys made by a frat boy starring frat boys. Eli Roth needs to stop stroking his overinflated ego , keep his big mouth shut and learn to make horror films, properly. (should actually be half a skull but dropdown selection not working )
This is such a great movie. Much better than the 2nd.
Posted By: gorehound62 at 10:14am, November 15, 2008
with the exeption of the great revenge scene at the end, this movie blew big time. i think its a sad day when you judge how scary a movie was by how many times you felt your lunch coming up. sure, the idea is frightening, and so is the atmosphere, but its completely obvious that all eli roth did was try to make an absoutely repulsive torture film. he succeded. some scenes were just unnecessary( the whole deal with the asian girls eye was a little too much). one of the few times a sequel is better than the first. hostel 2 was slightly better. if you really want to see a good roth film, try cabin fever.
i have 2 say hostel and saw are the films for the 00,s it did what the likes of scream and i know what u did last summer for the 90s. it was fresh and what horror movies needed. i taught the toture scenes were well done and very squimash to look at. oh if anyone gets the chance, check out waz, i was quiet impressed eith it.
Posted By: Bloodymuffins at 3:14am, October 28, 2008
This movie was a big disappointment. The first half was pointless soft core porn and the second half was pointless "shock". Nothing was done with the premise and I didn't like any of the characters. In the end it felt like it was just a waste of my time. I would say skip it.
This Movie deserves recognition. I dont care if you're a horror snob that only appreciates stuff that only 10,000 people have ever seen, hostel has a plot beyond the gratuitous (and admittedly pointless, but welcomed) nudity and gore. I wonder how many people thought about this movie before backpacking across europe, and isnt that what makes a good horror movie> making people think about it in real life situations? Good job Eli.
Good movie. Could've done without the half hour or so of softcore porn, but atmospheric and very, very gory. Also may be an (albeit unintentionally) interesting satire of the average American's ignorance of the state of the rest of the world (as I very much doubt that Slovakia is full of inbred, murderous scumbags and roving gangs of criminal children).
Posted By: Protecious at 3:13pm, September 30, 2008
No doubt sheds blood and gore galore, filled with close ups of horrible torture, i find it hard to see the entertainment in these and the saw films, the first saw had intellegence and emotionally investment in the family it was about, the hostel movies are almost a throw back of old 80s style horror movie, where the plot, story, and characters are pretty simplistic, the movie gets very gory, very gruesome, as we all probably knew before going into it, some of the material is truly terrifying because for some morbid reason it's something that wouldnt surprise that could happen one day.
i will be 100% honest , i really am not a fan of this movie .
it seems as though they focus more on gore and nudity for a shock factor and of course to bring in box office ratings , rather then the actual plot .
maybe im just too old-school for this i dont know , but i find i have much more appreciation and respect for movies that actually give time and consideration to make the plot and story line fit the film , not just a gory soft-core porn to bring in the money .
when i watch a horror movie , it's because i want to watch a movie !
not an excuse for 2 hours of gory horror porn !
this movie is a prime example of why i dont like what horror films have recently come to .
but thats just my opinion of course .
Posted By: Shakleford at 3:42pm, September 15, 2008
When I first heard about this movie I was intreged by the premise of it. But when the time came I felt like this was more half B-rated porno and half wannabe snuff film.
I heard someone say how Hostel is like a reeses peanut butter cup "It has gore and boobs, two great things in one package." While that is true to a extent, sure it is like a reeses peanut butter cup but only if you kept it in your pocket for a month and you forget about it, when the time comes you find it, it is all watery and the choclate is all melty and a mess and leaves a horrible taste in your mouth. That is how I felt watching this movie.
If your looking for a good way to kill a afternoon or looking for decent gory special effects then go for it, if you are expecting anything more you will be serverly dissapointed.
Posted By: badboyrsl at 9:28pm, September 14, 2008
Storyline was a little ehhhh, but a good movie. lots of gore
I dont care what the haters say, This is good film making.
I purposefully avoided all media related to hostel till I was able to catch it in theaters(on opening day.) It made it an absolutely amazing experience. The sold out theater i was in gave a standing ovation when the credits rolled.
Avoiding this movie is like avoiding sex, sure you can do it, but you're a worse person for doing so.
Posted By: thedescent08 at 2:53pm, August 22, 2008
It's a true classic of modern horror IMO. A lot of people dont understand it or dont want to. But it is a great independent film (even if it hit the box big) and its a great example of making a good movie that nobody likes. I also love the lil nods and homages to other films like Miike's cameo etc. Plus KNB's FX are also great!
Posted By: Doc Clockwork at 12:38am, August 18, 2008
We spend almost the entire movie following a bunch of American douche bags trying to get laid during their trip to Amsterdam. It's like watching Eurotrip with a half hour of torture porn tacked onto the end. I watched most of it in fast forward.
While 'Hostel' is a deeply scary and atmospheric film, it puts a magnifying glass up to its gratuitous gore and sex and really is intensely flawed. Watch 'Turistas' if you want a better version of this film than the film itself.
"I saw Hostel tonight with a crowd that was very receptive to the experience. Mine was more hostile. The film opens like a teen sex comedy. We are meant to identify with three young guys, who's idea of fun is getting high and having sex with prostitutes. This first section is littered with naked women, in what might just be the least sexy presentation of naked women anywhere. One can sense director Eli Roth and his cronies giving each other high fives off-camera, much like the silhouetted threesome early on in the film, as they pay surgically enhanced women to take their clothes off.
The three men find themselves in Slovakia, and in what is referred to as an art show or an exhibit. Rich men have paid Russian gangsters to torture and ultimately murder a human being, our heroes? subjects? One by one, the men are tortured and killed in escalating graphic manners. The final man escapes, is involved in a car chase, and ultimately becomes what he was trying to escape.
This is, at its black heart, a very dumb movie. Probably, the most clever thing in the film, is the very weak parallel drawn between the legalized red light district in Amsterdam, and the illicit torture rooms in Slovakia. Everything else is just baloney. We don't really care about the three men, so the tortures that they endure aren't really effective at eliciting any sympathy, it's more that we're glad it's not happening to us. The motivations for the men that torture is never made clear, it's more a general sociopathic disconnect that's vaguely hinted at. It's also worthwhile noting that the one character that seems to be gay is singled out as the worst of the torturers, further contributing to the filmic stereotype of homosexual as homicidal.
One should also note the historical context of the film. This is an American movie, about torturing people, made at a time when America, right or wrong, is receiving flak for torturing prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere, and makes no mention of the current world situation.
It's also worth noting that the audience I watched this picture with cheered and applauded at each new horror. It all seemed so Circus Maximus." --ufemizm, imdb.com
the fisrt part of the movie is pretty much sex and drugs but then it gets pretty cool and he starts to get suspicous after both his friends went missing the end is awesome, oh ya and the dog dies HAHAHAHASH
First of all, let me say that contrary to what user reviews and the main BD.com review are stating, this is possibly one of the most intelligent horror movies out there. While foreign movies like Frontier(s) get perfect ratings because of they’re not the norm here in America, thus SEEMING superior, they lack the intelligence that this lower rated movie had.
Hostel is essentially a parable. The movie is divided into equal 45-minute halves that both parallel in every way, except they have different subjects: sex and violence. From the scenery to the events, they’re pretty much a mirror image—just reversed. I’ll talk about both.
Sex—
People complain about (or enjoy) the nudity, calling it semi-porn. Being someone who really doesn’t like nudity in films, I can say that it isn’t quite up to porn level because it simply pretends to be porn. You can decide for yourself if that justifies it as being porn or not, BUT, Hostel uses nudity for a reason. I think one of the strongest things the film has going for it was to back up the point that all naked women are the same. Porn, your wife, some whore, your daughter . . . all the same. It showed that amazingly well through the nudity. I think I was most impressed that it used the nudity for a reason, unlike other movies.
Violence—
Whoever says this is more violent than any of the Saw movies, please tell me you’re joking. It roughly is just about as violent as the first Saw, but after that the Saw franchise makes this look babyish. There are cut-off scenes, scenes that simply show NONE of the gore on screen, scenes where it doesn’t show the graphic details. In no way shape or form way this pushing gore on screen. If they took out about a minute more of it, I’d honestly say it could have gotten a hard PG-13 because it uses PG-13 strategies to try NOT to show the gore. But intelligently, it uses the violence to mirror the sex and make its point.
Overall, it had a trite, almost cute, way to wrap the entire movie up. “I got some pussy the other day, but I don’t even remember what color her tits were, man. But THIS, this I’ll remember forever.” When given the opportunity, violence replaces sex.
I’ve seen a lot of movies that pretend to be smart. No Country For Old Men was one of them. But those kinds of movies aren’t smart simply because they lack anything new to say—they repeat trite clichés. Death, love, blah, blah, blah. And though Hostel lacks any kind of a plot twist, I think the major twist was that it DID have something original to say about the correlation between sex and violence. It said something about human nature I’ve never heard before.
In the end, it feels almost like Saw’s brother. They’re utterly different but somehow linked by similar gore and their morals. I’d take this over yet another tired old man movie that thinks it’s so intelligent but just repeated a cliché, like There Will Be Blood, any day.
Stupid,Horrible,Boring,Unwatchable,Terrible etc... oooh sorry did i forgot to mention it was fuckin ass shity stupid i think i kind of did.Well its a torture porn movie what else could you expected rather than extreme and gross violence and extreme amounts of sex and nudity(which is kind of good so you can get your girlfriend horny and score but thats why we have porno)whom is worthless and stupid on a horror movie.
I really liked this movie. The beginning was a little heavy on the sex, and was pretty uncomfortable to watch at times, but from there it only gets better.
This is one of the movies in my top 10 stupid movies. It was like that semi porn crap on skinamax plus blood. I would not watch this movie again even if someone was gonna pay me.
I really enjoyed this film. I have to admit, the first time I watched it I was a little confused and even got a bit bored w/ the first half. I came into it w/ high expectations of violence and gore etc. and was a little bummed w/ all the "regular movie" type stuff that seemed to on forever. Then when the brutal stuff did start happening, it was almost too much at once. I wanted to see naked chicks again! After my first viewing my negative thoughts were centered around the two very diff. halves of the movie not complementing eachother.
However, the second time I watched it I just loved it to pieces (yikes, I sound like my Grandmother!) Knowing that my gore addiction would get fed, I focused on enjoying the first half for what it was. 1) it's just a hell of a lot of fun w/ all the T. and A. etc. 2) More importantly it sets up quite a few pay offs that happen in the second half. 3) Fucking loved the desk clerk character!
Also, the second time, knowing what horrific scenes were coming up made me appreciate the suspense in between them more.
Overall a rad and envelope-pushing film. I am thankful when filmakers set out to puch buttons and break barriers, etc. While not the best torture movie out there, it's pretty damn cool.
OK i read the reviews here to see what people were saying and man the porn thing or nudity is a problem with all of you. You signed on to watch a movie about people being killed for fun. This is unoriginal. The story of teenagers going to another country to have fun and party and then everything goes wrong not new either. The gore is not even that bad. I have to say that I enjoyed this movie. The road trip or however you want to state it, was great. going around partying and getting high and trying to get laid is great. that is what most guys do and if they are single in another country that is what is happening. It seemed like a good time. The gore was kind of cool and the torture scenes were ok. I did not find this movie scary. This movie is not porn or even related to porn other then nudity. Eli roth is not a great director but he makes good movies for what they are. Not scary but does not suck either.
Eli Roth is the worst director out there. “Gore-nography” or “torture-porn” both don’t say enough to keep people away from the crapitude that is this movie. Lots of nudity, drugs, and stupidity. Very little to no horror. Eli Roth should never make another movie.
The first time I watched this, I covered my eyes during the gory parts. The second time, I loved it. Most of friends hate this movie, but I disagree. Very creative, very terrifying. It kept me on the edge of my seat. And even to this day when I watch it, I get anxious just like the first time I watched it. Great movie.
Its a glossy, fancy Holywood movie with gore effects stolen directly from some japanese gore movies most people haven't heard about. Mix it up with an european background setting, lots of nudity and unoriginal so called shock moments of eli-"gore". Its kind of entertaining if you want to rent a scary movie and you're not used to the less known true masterfull horror shock movies like Audition... Skip this movie
sweeeeet movie, a real nice mixture of porn and gore. Really good plot and overll one of the best movies i saw ever, it wasnt confusing either, love it.
i remember watching hostel at the theatre and being in awe..never before had a scene a movie that made me feel like this before.i thought the nudity was great,but that was nothing compared to the actors...Derek Richardson blew me away his death scene was like real,his sceams looked real, it was disturbing..and i loved it!! eli roth is a master in horror movies..cabin fever was great (my favorite horror movie of all time) hostel is now my second..followed by hostel 2. i will buy both of these on blu-ray i love them so much..i could watch these movie over and over..i love seeing my friends reactions from this film..just so good.
to much nudity, not that thats a bad thing, and not enough scares though i have to admit the end "revenge" was utterly brilliant!!!!
all and all i liked this movie and we should all expect great thing from eli roth in the near future!!!
Posted By: halloweenfan at 7:09pm, February 7, 2008
Not that great but not horrible. To much nudity I can't even believe I am say that of nudity thier is to much but yeah thier is. If you are a fan of saw I would recomend this movie.
Posted By: DeathMethod at 12:55am, February 3, 2008
Every so often a movie trailer will come out that totally catches you off guard and makes you think the movie being advertised is going to be the greatest thing ever. Every time you see the trailer again the anticipation just grows and grows and you begin to picture how the film will play out in your mind. You may even search the Internet browsing stills or reading leaked tidbits about the film while not trying to spoil too much. In the end, the moment you enter the theater you have a predetermined expectancy of what you're about to witness. Nine times out of ten those expectations are inevitably let down by your own hype and the film never achieves what you wanted it to. Hostel is one of those films but in this rare case, that's what makes it so good.
Written and Directed by horror new comer Eli Roth, whose Cabin Fever scored mixed reviews from the horror community, Hostel is a gritty and spectacular fright fest that flirts with all aspects that make a horror film good. Following 2 American back backers and a Swedish guy they picked up along the way, the 3 travel to all the sites in Europe in search of well...women. That's the first thing this film gives viewers, lots and lots of beautiful naked women. For the first half of the film you don't go ten minutes without seeing topless chicks parading around like it's nothing. The group eventually hears about a "Hostel" (meaning Hotel) in a off beaten country (post communist Slovakia) where the women will sleep with anyone, especially those with American accents.
So low and behold they head off into the great unknown and sure enough when they get there women are head over heels for them. Things seem like they couldn't be better, that is until members of the group begin disappearing one by one. Soon they discover that they haven't entered paradise as they first thought, but the deepest reaches of Hell. We soon discover that the missing parties have become the bait for a much bigger ploy, one involving rich businessmen who pay gobs of money to torture the hell out of foreigners.
Hostel is set up in such a way that it's never boring and it's never overkill. That's not to say this movie isn't brutal though cause it many aspects it is. Judging from the previews I had imagined this film to be more focused on torture but Roth chooses to really develop enough of his characters through the first 40 mins that when the torture actually does occur it's that much more effective. There's also one huge difference about Hostel's characters that sets them apart from other horror films, well at least the main character. You know how in movies you always find yourself yelling at the screen at all the stupid choices the victims make that find them getting further acquainted with the end of a knife than to safety? Hostel doesn't do this. Instead, it's main character is, get this...clever. Instead of running around panicky like a rabbit he actually uses his brain to outwit situations. This was very unexpected and made Hostel have more of a story to it than just buckets of blood.
Speaking of blood, everyone wants to know how the gore is in this film. It's decent. High Tension still stands as the most horrific display of violence I've seen but Hostel manages to some "nails on the chalkboard" type moments that would make any gore hound proud. I don't wanna reveal too much but there is one scene involving an eye that is both hilarious and horrifying at the same moment. That's a feeling only a brilliant horror film could make one feel and Hostel definitely is brilliance in Horror movie making. Also, Eli manages to please both the viewers siding with the killers and the viewers who wanna see some justice. It all ends with everyone happy and you feeling like you got your moneys worth. I just heard they've announced Hostel 2 and as long as they don't rush it like they did Saw 2, Hostel may turn out to be one of the next great horror franchises.
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