Eli 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.
Nathan 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: 