Not very interesting characters with juvenile motives get tortured now and then.
And I watched it again... And again, it was "interesting" only in the fact that it seems to have been one of the forerunners of the torture porn genre. Unfortunately, the version currently streaming on TubiTV is the R-rated version, and while the "Unrated Director's Cut" is only a mere 9 seconds longer, it's the alternate ending that makes it worthwhile. Literally, only mere seconds' difference in only three different scenes so as far as the movie itself, you're not really missing anything by watching the R-rated version...but that alternate ending was so much more original and worthwhile. If you have the chance to watch the extended version (Unrated Director's Cut), I highly recommend it. And I'll stick to my earlier review that the backstory was really slow and plodding. If you're watching this just for the gore, skip ahead to the 40-minute mark; that's where it begins. But at roughly an hour and a half, it's not all that difficult to sit through the whole thing.
I rated this as an "8" - GREAT - only because of the torture scenes. A lot of the movie was just boring and uninteresting (the lead-in) and IMO overkill on the back story. And the back story was needed, yes... the affectionate little pat on the leg on the train ride, meh...doesn't seem like a big deal until later in the movie; I just felt like they wasted too much time on too much backstory. Once you get into the actual killing/torture scenes, though...as a fan of "gorror" movies, I have to give this at least an 8. To my recollection, I think this may have been the first torture-porn movie I watched and it definitely did its job in scaring/freaking the bejabbers out of me. Watching it again, however, I was pretty bored until they actually got into the brutal scenes. I guess the one scene I may never get out of my mind was the Achilles' heel scene...although I think I have since seen that done in other "gorror" movies. As a American who's never been to Europe, I couldn't tell you jack about the authenticity of the geography, language, culture, etc; but it made for a good movie to someone who doesn't know any better, while simultaneously making me far less eager to vacation in Europe. I suppose the thing that disturbed me the most about this movie is the knowledge that this kind of stuff probably DOES go on, somewhere. People with excesses of money get bored with the same old stuff, and eventually begin to explore just what sort of "excitement" their wealth will buy them, when bigger houses, faster cars, and trophy wives can't satisfy that primal rage within. I can absolutely see this sort of stuff happening in some remote region, and no one the wiser as people just disappear from life, never to be heard from again. If you're really into the torture porn stuff, this should hold your attention if you can last through the first half of the movie. It's slow getting started but has a decent conclusion. I'll probably watch it again at some point...
"We can't rail a girl that's in a coma. I think that's illegal, even in Amsterdam."
It so takes me out of a movie when the characters are suppose to be in "Amsterdam" and they are not even trying to make it look a tiny bit like the city. Even the "Dutch" language is most of the time butchered. So sad.
Anyway Eli Roth's Hostel is alright. I saw this once back in the day and all that I could remember was the guy slipping so that Paxton could escape and the cutting off the eye scene. I totally forgot that Hostel isn't that gory at all. It all relies on sound and it does that alright.
The first part is a bit slow but once Paxton tries to escape it kind of picks up. He got so lucky running into the people who trapped him and the guy that tortured his buddy. He got some sweet revenge. And boy those Slovakian kids are brutal!!! All for some chewing gum. Lovely stuff.
So yeah, it was a decent rewatch but I'm a tiny bit mad that they never get Amsterdam right in these kind of films. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
Quite a forgettable film - and I had forgotten all about the plot I only remembered the gore.
"Amsterdam, motherfucker!"
I remember when this movie came out. I had not seen anything that had torture in it before, so this shocked me as teenager. Now that I have watched it again - what a silly movie that still scares me a bit. Best part was when you realize what is going on and my man Rick Hoffman (from Suits) shows up.
The part where Paxton got tortured by the "German" Guy though, as usual, it sounded like an made up alien language. Had to rewind it 4-5 times to understand it...
It still holds up after 15 years, for being known as one of the first of it's genre it is very good.
Fair enough, I am a bit of a fan of Eli Roth but the acting, directing, cinematography etc is top notch.
highly recommended
nobody can or will do anything to help. And that scares them.
There are still parts of the world that will not be controlled by Washington, London or Brussels. It is scary.
I remember first seeing @EliRoth's HOSTEL and spotting a familiar face, Takashi Miike, exiting the 'museum'
Undeniably influential but not a film that lives up to the reputation it had been built up to in my head after only hearing about it for most of my life. Honestly less torture than I expected, and of course the gore isn’t as wild as you might think. I don’t have any problem with that- by today’s standards the original Texas Chainsaw is relatively bloodless. But I expected more of that film’s suffocating darkness and atmosphere. It’s not so much I needed the guts and gore, but more that I was expecting more of the film to be like the scene with Josh and the failed Doctor. This twisted intimate and cruel interplay between torturer and victim. Much of that is actually left off screen, and it’s more a tense escape through the hellish facility and a country where Paxton has no allies, no familiarity with any of the environment, completely alone and separated from all he knows.
There’s value to that, but even that’s not played as much as I would like. I appreciate the commentary on the othering Americans do, the crass entitlement and objectification. I appreciate Paxton’s arc and the ambiguity of the ending. It doesn’t quite congeal into something great, though, and it doesn’t either revel in how awful the trio is enough or how awful what they’re going through and how they grow or reveal themselves enough. I appreciate what it influenced, and it’s a fun enough time. But it didn't live up to the unfair expectations my memory had created around it.
6/10
Hostel
Unseen unrated Edition
Fair
For it's time but
Very Mild by today's
Standers/Quality.
With the movies that first
set the torture porn genre
into motion
The Last House On The Left*
and I Spit On Your Grave*
2 of my personal favourites
I knew back in the day I was
going to love Hostal.
I have an extensive
Sensational
Horror collection as it's
my all time second favourite
Genre and over the decades
I have Horror movies that
make Hostel look like a
Care bears movie.
I still enjoy the
Hostels as it has a nice
bit of gore in the 3rd act
but it just takes a little
to long to get to the good
bit.
Times have changed
and so has the level
of Horror and Gore
I expect/demand
from the ass kicking
Genre that is "Horror".
(Still an iconic bit though
the Josh heel slice).
Listen to Wurst Vacation after watching this
edge for the hell of it, but decent enough. funny at times. preeetty homophobic and lowkey racist
i still love the achilles heel scene so much
Quentin Tarantino Presents
A Lamer Version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake
Meh, I'm conflicted. The music is surprisingly great, and it takes itself a great deal seriously, there's a section in the final act you may get emotional at. Eli Roth has an eye for visuals, and effectively builds tension, but there's not much going on that I really cared about. If you're just looking for some gore and fun, you'll get it. Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, and Robert Rodriguez all love this kind of shit, and I do too, but man, the characters needed work. Lack of anything going on in the second act. The only amusing segments are at beginning, and last half hour. I find it hysterical, though, Roth considered this his Kill Bill, being presented in two volumes. Will I watch part two? Probably. I'm a sucker for their shit. The Green Inferno, here I come.
o sondaki tatmin duygusu beni benden aldi
I can't even... I was simply laughing my ass off. Next level geography and authenticity for sure. Slovakia has a border with my country, so I'd probably knew that there was some devastating war and the whole country turned into some Mad Max apocalypse where kids are gonna stab you with a knife on the streets because you didn't bring enough bubble gum. Vienna station has a sign saying Prague. Well, all the signs in SK are clearly written in Czech. Because... why not?
It's a miracle that those 3 guys found the hostel.
The sole purpose of this movie must be killing the tourism business of Slovakia :D
Shout by DRNKMNKYBlockedParentSpoilers2015-07-10T08:55:09Z
Very brutal and very disturbing movie about the abysses of human existence: kids are killing just to get some bubble-gums, whores sell their bodies as well as the life of their customers & the police tries to conceal everything.