Hostel: Part II

by: Average Joe 1 year, 5 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 1 minute ago

Release Date:

6/8/07

Company:

Lionsgate

Series:

Hostel

 

Director Eli Roth has been hit or miss with me. Some people found his first feature film Cabin Fever to be one of the most refreshing horror films to come out in recent memory, I on the other hand would have rather been doing anything other than watching that movie. When Hostel came out I was in no rush to go out and pay to see it, however when the DVD came out I was a bit more comfortable paying the $5 to rent it, and guess what? I loved it. I thought it was original, it had humor in the right places, and of course it had some of the goriest scenes I’ve seen in the last decade.

So when it was announced that Roth would be making Hostel: Part II I was more than excited to see what he could do to top the first film. As the months rolled on more and more information was leaked about the plot, actors, locations, etc. Although I wasn’t quite sure if using a group of female tourists would work quite as well, I was still more than willing to give it a shot when it hit theaters.

Well, Hostel: Part II has hit theaters, I paid my $11.50 ($23.00 if you count paying for someone else to see it) and I can safely say that nothing about that movie worked. At all. Hostel: Part II has the potential to be good (not great) but it really seems as if Roth and Co. were in a rush to get this out just so they could please the fans of the first one. The sequel didn’t have any of the strong points from the first film, and what people would consider to be the most entertaining scene of the film was only entertaining because of how ridiculously over-the-top and disturbing it was.

I’ll be the first to say that when it comes to horror movies I fully subscribe to the “the bloodier the merrier” idea, but when it’s all there is to a movie I tend to lose interest real fast. I mean let’s face it, shock value only lasts for so long and then it doesn’t become....well, shocking anymore.

Hostel: Part II centers around a group of girls, Beth (Lauren German) is an heiress that has traveled to Europe to escape her overwhelming wealth, and hopes to find a soul mate that will like her for more than just the loads of cash she has. Whitney (Bijou Philips) is the type of girl that loves to get wasted on whatever substance she can get her hands on the quickest, and then use that as an excuse to hook up with some random guy she meets. Rounding out the trio is Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) who is shy, reserved, and overly homesick. She doesn’t drink or do drugs, and really ends up being the only one of the three that we care anything about.

After being introduced to the characters I understood the personalities of each of them, but to be honest with you I really couldn’t have cared less about any of them. For me the movie was just a race to see which of them would get killed first, and in what manner. In the first Hostel I could relate to the characters in some way so it became more enjoyable to see how each of them ended up, however in Hostel: Part II I found myself relating to no one, and thus not caring about the movie.

The difference between this film and it’s predecessor is that unlike the characters from the first film, these girls don’t end up in the Hostel with the hopes of performing some kind of debauchary (well, at least two of the girls didn’t go for that). They wind up at the Hostel after being told of the natural hot springs by their newfound friend, who mysteriously seems to pop up wherever they are, and who also was their nude model while they were learning about art.

For those of you that have seen the first film, you pretty much know what happens after the girls arrive at the Hostel. It’s pretty much the same formula as the first, with little to no change in direction. In fact, the only difference I noticed was the sub-plot involving two men who have more money than they know what to do with being alerted (along with “butchers” across the globe) of the girl’s arrival at the hostel. Once they’re notified a bidding takes place to see who will get to kill who for what price....I wonder if eBay will implement this anytime soon?

We follow the two men as they travel to Europe with the intent of performing their first kill. One is an over-the-top guy who is seemingly more than ready to “do this,” and the other is more passive and reserved about actually killing an innocent girl...at least that’s what we’re lead to believe.

Overall Hostel: Part II just didn’t have the same charm (yes I said charm) the first one did. I didn’t care anything about the characters, and save for the last brutal act in the film (ladies prepare to cheer, and men prepare to hunch over in pain) I really didn’t think there was anything super shocking about the murders. We do get taken a bit more into the “secret society” that performs these acts, but in all honesty it doesn’t really do anything to help the film. As I walked out of the movie theater I couldn’t help but feel like I had just watched a sick twist on some fairy tale....not exactly what I wanted from a movie I had hoped would shock me, and maybe even gross me out.

My opinion. Wait for DVD.