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  • Hostel Part II

    Three American women traveling abroad take a weekend excursion and become pawns in a grisly game designed to entertain privileged deviants.

    Reviews

    REELZ REVIEW
    "Eli Roth returns to torture moviegoers with this sequel to last year's surprise blockbuster...."  [more]
    — Thomas Leupp

    User Comments and Video Reviews

    Please Log in or register to comment on Hostel Part II.
    • Thomas Leupp

      ReelzChannel.com, June 08, 2007


      Bijou Phillips in Hostel IIEli Roth's torture-horror sequel Hostel: Part II arrives in theaters this week, bringing along with it the predictable array of manufactured controversy. But lost in the all the debate about Hostel II's "torture porn" aesthetic is what a poorly-made film it is. Sure it's depraved, misogynist and sadistic -- adjectives that I'm sure will be used liberally in the film's marketing campaign -- but it's also a shallow, tedious, unimaginative mess.


      Last year's Hostel shocked Hollywood when it opened number one at the box office, and Roth won raves from the fanboy community for his uncompromising commitment to gore. But even Roth's most loyal fans might feel ripped off by this lame follow-up. Hostel II is essentially the same film as the first Hostel, with female protagonists substituted for male ones. In this one, three college girls studying abroad wind up in a Slovakian hostel and become the latest victims of an insidious club in which wealthy businessmen pay top dollar for the privilege of torturing and killing human beings.


      Beat by beat, Hostel II is virtually a duplicate of its predecessor. It seems like the bulk of Roth's writing duties on the second film consisted of using the "find and replace" function of his word processor, inserting female names in place of male ones. We're lulled to sleep by a long and exceedingly tedious set-up, featuring loads of unbearably inane dialogue from his three shallow protagonists, before Roth attempts to shock us awake with a trio of increasingly gory set pieces. Wasting almost an hour on such middling build-up is especially inexcusable considering that this is a sequel we're dealing with. We already know the rules; might as well get on with the action. Of course, discarding the lengthy set-ups would reveal the Hostel movies for what they truly are: high-quality, sexualized snuff films.


      Lauren German and Vera JordanovaNathan Barr's laughably intrusive score heroically attempts to add some semblance of tension in places where Roth himself is incapable of creating any. The effort is entirely in vain, as there are literally no scares in this utterly suspenseless film. Whereas Roth succeeded at least in conveying some sense of dread and discomfort in the first Hostel, all he's capable of evoking in the follow-up is an overwhelming feeling of ambivalence. When your big climax (featuring a graphic castration scene that's sure to become a favorite among the Fangoria set) induces little more than a shrug, you know you've done something wrong as a filmmaker.


      Many writers from a variety of outlets have speculated about the nature of Eli Roth's neuroses, with some going so far as to suggest that he seek psychological help.


      Sure, he could probably use a good therapist. But he also needs to go back to film school.


      ReelzChannel Rating:  1

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  • Crew

    Director Eli Roth
    Producer Mike Fleiss
    Producer Chris Briggs
    Producer Eythor Gudjonsson
    Executive Producer Boaz Yakin
    Executive Producer Scott Spiegel
    Executive Producer Quentin Tarantino

MOVIE NEWS

Tuesday, October 23

  • Eli Roth on the MPAA: "They're not bad guys."

    Roth in actionNot every filmmaker despises the MPAA, it seems. Making the press rounds in support of the DVD release of Hostel Part II, director Eli Roth stopped by the ReelzChannel studio last week for an illuminating chat in which he discussed, among other things, his true feelings about those infamous arbiters of film ratings.

    "Here's the big myth about the MPAA: They're not bad guys," the 'torture porn' auteur revealed to Errol Barnett of Dailies. "They're great and I love them. I've had such a great experience with the MPAA."

    "Nobody sees it from my perspective," Roth added. "The MPAA is like, 'Look, we get it. It's Hostel II; it's not Happy Feet II. We know that when people go to see this, they want to see the gore. We're gonna try and get as much of it through as possible, but here's areas where we know parents are gonna freak out.'"

    Apparently, "graphic severing of male genitalia" isn't one of those areas.

    Finally, someone's looking out for the children.


    Next Showing: Hostel Part II debuts on DVD today

    Exclusive Interview with Eli Roth

    The director of Hostel Part II talks to ReelzChannel.

    Posted 10/23/2007 by Thomas

    Eli Roth | Hostel Part II

  • DVD Tuesday

    Get me out of this movie!!!Hungry for some torture porn? Can't wait until Saw IV opens on Friday? Then let Eli Roth's gory opus Hostel Part II, which debuts on DVD today, be the methadone to your Saw heroin. Also arriving in stores is Kevin Costner's cerebral serial killer flick Mr. Brooks, the first movie to succesfully exploit all of the irksome qualities of inexplicably popular comedian Dane Cook.

    Our pick for this week is the decidedly less sinister Disney animated family flick Meet the Robinsons, featuring those adorably non-threatening Jonas Brothers.


    Meet the Jonas Brothers

    Thomas Leupp interviews Kevin, Joe and Nick

    Mr. Brooks - Trailer

    Starring Kevin Costner

    Hostel Part II - Trailer

    American girls will cost you this time around

    Posted 10/23/2007 by Thomas

    Kevin Costner | Eli Roth | Dane Cook | Hostel Part II | Saw IV | Meet the Robinsons | Mr. Brooks

Sunday, June 10

  • Weekend Box Office: America Skips Torture For Vegas, Baby!

    Early weekend numbers are showing that Ocean' Thirteen will be landing at number one for the weekend Box Office, proving the old Vegas adage that the house (or A-list star, in this case) always wins. Friday estimates have Ocean's leading with an estimated $12.4 million while Pirates 3 and Knocked Up placed in second and third respectively, both with just over $6 million.

    Some speculations had Eli Roth's brutal Hostel Part II competing for top honors, but after a disappointing Friday take of an estimated $3.37 million, America may well be losing its taste for the torture-driven horror genre.

    Check back on ReelzChannel.com for final numbers this Monday.


    Ocean's Boys Return

    Danny Ocean circles up the boys for a third a heist.

    Posted 06/10/2007 by Jeff

    Ocean's Thirteen | Knocked Up | Hostel Part II

Friday, June 8

Friday, May 11

  • Eli Roth branching out

    Hacktastic horror director Eli Roth, busy readying his latest snuff film torturefest Hostel: Part II for its June 8th release date, talked to Collider about his future plans:

    "I’m going to be doing a film of all fake trailers, like Thanksgiving (the fake trailer Roth contributed to Grindhouse), called Trailer Trash. I want to make a movie like Borat or Jackass or Kentucky Fried Movie that’s completely ridiculous, totally silly and absurd, that’s just all fake trailers."

    A bunch of silly fake trailers? Perhaps someone should break the news to him that it's already been done. It's called Youtube, and it's filled with the works of filmmakers far more talented than Roth.

    Poor Eli; you came so tantalizingly close to devising your first original idea. Keep trying buddy!


    Posted 05/11/2007 by Thomas

    Eli Roth | Hostel Part II

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