Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
disturbingly pathetic, January 7, 2008
I don't know which is worse. Wanting to see this because I thought Hostel really touched on some ideas which had rich subplots to them, which could be carried on into other films of this genre perhaps, or wondering if Eli Roth, as self centered and ego driven as he is, was hoping that perhaps he would find a bit of charisma, chemistry, cohesion, character or hmmm, I don't know, perhaps something tangible in all of this, and we are left with nothing but a purposeless redundant look at a really horrific script with dry humor that bordered on revolting and cliched nuances that deeply moved me to actually think about turning it off, which I have never done since walking out of Spaced Invaders. I didn't care one iota about the girls in the movie, in fact I was hoping they would be killed.
Eli Roth said this in an interview: "Yeah man, I'm f***ing psyched. I honestly think that no matter what other movie comes out this summer -- no matter what their budget is -- nothing will even come close to the kind of ending we have in Hostel 2. I think it's one of the most shocking endings people have ever seen in a mainstream horror film. I think this is the movie where people are going to come out of it going, 'I can't even believe someone just did that."
I can't believe it was so bad. The ending was juvenile, pompous and actually funny. If you are into gore, lots of it, (well at least in one scene which personally I turned from the screen which was a first in my movie loving life), and like movies with no depth and equally no brain, then I can see why this would be right up your alley. Eli has talent and this was no shining example of what his potential is.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a much more interesting story, but the gore falls short, April 26, 2008
Anyone who's seen the original is probably expecting even more intense violence and torture (like the quote on the case implies) but thats just not the case. dont get me wrong, overall, this movie blows the original out of the water in nearly every other aspect.
there is actually an interesting story this time around. the focus alternates between 3 american girls, and the men who paid for 2 of them.
things start of catching up with the lone survivor of the original. he's still haunted by the atrocities he faced. it doesnt take long before things move ahead(pun intended) and we meet the new items up for auction.
these girls are relatively stereotypical. theres the prissy snotty little blonde, the quiet straight-edge, and the tough heroine(shes got a little more depth, but not much)
the gore, while probably in larger quantity, just doesnt seem to pack the same punch as the original. there are some great moments though. the "bath", the director of Cannibal Holocaust chowing down on that guys leg tissue, and the end is priceless. dont just watch it for the blood, or you might get bored.
i really dont want to spoil much in the plot, as i thought there were some very surprising twists and turns. you get a decent character study for the potential killers, and the frightening thought that many people may not actually think/feel the way the act on the outside. you may be a little more careful about the way you treat people after seeing this.
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23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't live up to its potential in any way, but still lots of fun., June 10, 2007
Hostel Part II (Eli Roth,2007)
The second film in the Hostel franchise is a difficult one to review, and that's pretty obvious given that reviews of the film have been split almost right down the middle. The problem is that while it's enjoyable (assuming you like that sort of thing), this is a movie that could have been so very, very much more than it was.
After a quick, and morbidly amusing, stop in to see Paxton (Jay Hernandez), the sole survivor of the first film, we immediately get back to teenagers in peril. This time it's a trio of American girls, Beth (A Walk to Remember's Lauren German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips, recently of Havoc), and Lorna (Welcome to the Dollhouse's Heather Matarazzo). You know what's coming. An alternating storyline also focuses on Todd (Richard Burgi), who buys one of the girls as a present for his friend Stuart (Roger Bart; both guys normally do time on Desperate Housewives). And that's where the germs of brilliance that could have grown into a full-blown virus lie in this movie-- the idea of taking the same scenario from the original and turning it on its head, giving us the dirt from the perspective of the killers. And we do get some of that, but it's not the focus of the film. That would have been genius.
The strongest point of the movie is that Roth dropped the softcore angle and went for the straight gore-- which has the effect, of course, of heightening the ugliness of scenes where sexuality does play a role. The greatest of these is truly brilliant, and displaces the infamous leg-shaving scene in Cabin Fever as the best single scene Roth has yet committed to film; you'll know it when you get to it, and it would be worth the price of admission alone. It is a profoundly discomfiting piece of filmmaking, and shows that Roth, when he brings his A game, is truly capable of being on the level of the guys he idolizes (another one of whom turns up for a brief cameo in this movie; I was floored, but no one else in the audience recognized him. Don't look at the cast list before you go, and see if you catch the cameo before the end credits).
All that said, the movie is rife with inconsistencies and plot holes, but that may be by design; from the opening scene, it's obvious that Roth intended this movie as a rather vicious parody of the horror film sequel formula; if you can look at the odd lapses as satire-- and Roth's own body of work, which is usually tight as a drum, lends credence to such an interpretation-- they're forgivable. The movie also contains a surprising amount of grim humor; it's a rare thing when an otherwise straight horror film has the audience walking out of the theater laughing hysterically. If the original Hostel was Roth's take on Takashi Miike's Visitor Q, this one is Ichi the Killer. with a dose of Flower of Flesh and Blood thrown in for good measure. Roth continues his one-man quest to drag Hollywood into the same space Asian horror filmmakers have been inhabiting since the late eighties, and he's turned in a movie in service of that goal that, while not living up to its potential, remains the most fun I've had seeing a horror film on the big screen in a whole lot of years. *** ½
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