Amazon.co.uk
Hostel
Well made for the genre (the excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-torture-begins genre, that is) Hostel follows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez, Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) as they trek to Slovakia, where they're told beautiful girls will have sex with anyone with an American accent. Unfortunately, the girls will also sell young Americans to a company that offers victims to anyone who will pay to torture and murder.
To his credit, writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) takes his time setting things up, laying a realistic foundation that makes the inevitable spilling of much blood all the more gruesome. The sardonic joke, of course, is that Americans are worth the most in this brothel of blood because everyone else in the world wants to take revenge upon them. This dark humour and political subtext help set Hostel above its more brainless sadistic compatriots, like House of Wax or The Devil's Rejects. In general, though, there's something lacking; horror used to suggest some threat to the spirit--today's horror can conceive of nothing more troubling than torturing the flesh. For afficionados, Hostel features a nice cameo by Takashi Miike, director of bloody Japanese flicks like Audition and Ichi the Killer. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
And The One Star Is For Hostel 2.......2008-02-15
Director Eli Roth who made the dreadful Cabin Fever hits the jackpot with these two pieces of garbage masquerading as Horror.
In Hostel three male backpackers travelling around Europe are seduced to Slovakia on the promise of hot women only to find themselves victims of a torture factory where wealthy men and women can murder them in any way they wish for a price.
In Hostel 2 same story just substitute girls for boys with slicker production values and more backstory for the torturers, two of which are graced with a sports style montage before going into "kill mode"(I kid you not).
Decent production values are left marooned by cardboard characters,woeful performances(admittedly you care more about the girls than the boys),laughable villains(admittedly there are some I wouldn't want to meet on a dark night but isn't that the point?) and in both films we see a gang of feral children who are portrayed as something akin to a cross between the Bash Street Kids and homicidal dwarfs on speed and I never saw the Bash Street kicking round a severed head and the plot twists you could drive a bus through(on Hostel's extras there is an alternative ending that if it had been used would have sent the film into the realms of comedy).
Very gruesome in places although again Roth pulls his punches by having some of the key moments off camera,the basic failing of these Two films and emblematic of Roth's career to date is they are just Not SCARY!!!.
Until he can achieve a balance between depravity,scares and sympathetic protagonists(yes you really do have to care whether they survive or not),Roth will remain exactly where he is ...a purveyor of glossy trash for the undemanding.
Giving these films 5 stars(as a previous"film reviewer"did)is akin to saying that Vinnie Jones was the most technically gifted midfielder of his generation.Both assertions are nonsense and if you really think that these two films are at the cutting edge of horror,before you post your disagreement think about this list
Whip and the Body(Bava at his best)
Suspiria(delirious and frightening)
Halloween(the ultimate slasher film)
Hills Have Eyes(the original superbly unsettling and the remake's not bad either)
and if you don't think that the opening sequence in Wes Craven's Scream isn't hands down more frightening than anything in these two films then post away because you are an idiot.
Buckets Of Blood. Tons Of Torture. An Epic Boxset........2007-10-29
As a film reviewer, I've never really understood why so many people hate the 'Hostel' franchise. I can understand that people may find it disturbing and that it is very twisted in many ways but I can't get my head around why they are 'bad' films?
They are great films in my opnion, you know you are watching a good film when you feel shudders run down your spine, you know your watching a good film when you look around every corner to see if someone's there, you know you are watching a good film when you feel so involved in the film's element and you can't escape from it, that is what these films do fantastically.
Eli Roth has totally redeemed himself with these two diamonds after his first motion picture, 'Cabin Fever' which was without a doubt, the poorest and most terrible excuse of a 'Teen Horror' I think I have ever seen.
These two films are an essential to anyone's DVD collection and this boxset is a fantastic price. These are two ideal films to watch over this Halloween period.
Before you start thinking that I believe hours of mindless violence makes a film good(which it doesn't on any terms), if you haven't seen either of the 'Hostel' films, watch them and see for yourself.
They are an acquired in all respect but they are thoroughly enjoyable and take a step away from violence in reality for a while.
BOTH IN ONE!.......2007-07-29
After watching this,
i may never be abled to watch the third!
The gore is spectacular!
Watch at all cost!
Amazon.co.uk
Well-made for the genre -- the excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-torture-begins genre -- Hostel follows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez, Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) as they trek to Slovakia, where they're told beautiful girls will have sex with anyone with an American accent. Unfortunately, the girls will also sell young Americans to a company that offers victims to anyone who will pay to torture and murder. To his credit, writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) takes his time setting things up, laying a realistic foundation that makes the inevitable spilling of much blood all the more gruesome. The sardonic joke, of course, is that Americans are worth the most in this brothel of blood because everyone else in the world wants to take revenge upon them. This dark humor and political subtext help set Hostel above its more brainless sadistic compatriots, like House of Wax or The Devil's Rejects. In general, though, there's something lacking; horror used to suggest some threat to the spirit--today's horror can conceive of nothing more troubling than torturing the flesh. For afficionados, Hostel features a nice cameo by Takashi Miike, director of bloody Japanese flicks like Audition and Ichi the Killer. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Very watchable but falls just short of the hype.......2008-03-05
As a genre of film, horrorseems to have few places left to go other than towards more gore and depravity. Most of the classic narratives have been told, re-told and then repackaged before being re-told. Horror has been merged with other genres to create generic hybrids but by and large, to be effective as a horror film to its audience (after all horror, like comedy, is defined by its intended effect on the audience) horror films will be getting more and more gory and will seek to push the boundaries so long as there is a market for it. In addition, modern horror has evloved away from the spiritual towards more straightforward bodily pain, and in moving away from the spirit, the horror film has mirrored the movement of society away from the spirit as many commentators suggest.To those people whose reviews on these pages suggest that the film is depraved beyond words or that it sickens them, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a film whose tagline refers to it as the sickest, bloodiest and goriest film you'll ever see is going to push the limits. To these people, just one short phrase:-"Don't watch it!"
Those of us who can see beyond the real and enter willingly into the verisimilitude of film, Hostel is a truly interesting piece of work. It is not a masterpiece but it is entertaining in its own way. It evokes some emotions of disgust and a slight feeling of sickness will not be unusual, but it is only because the film is doing what it promises to do, in short, it "delivers!"
The acting is average, the story is reasonably well conceived and constructed and the direction is slick. It is not a masterpiece of horror, but is is a worthy comment on the decadence and the selfishness of the young and testament to and a reminder of the latent evil that exists all over the world today.
Mostly boring........2008-03-03
After all the hype over 'Hostel' beiing the "goriest, sickest movie you will ever see", I was looking forward to seeing this film. How disappointed I was! The first 50 minutes really tried my patience as I found it just a lot of messing about but then after that it picked up a bit, but not much. I recently watched a film that's been slated called 'Live Feed' and it was far more captivating from the outset, despite being a bit cheesy and retro for 2006. I just found 'Hostel' extremely over-hyped and have seen a lot worse. The 'Saw' quadrilogy was a lot better as far as voyeuristic torture films go. 'Hostel 2', funnily, was far more watchable and with more memorable scenes.
Movies like this turn people away from the horror genre.......2008-02-03
I have heard that this movie was bad, but I could not convince myself that this could be true given the fact that the name of Tarantino was associated with it. Well, now I believe it! I have a hard time thinking of a way in which someone could create a worse movie and it is certainly not easy. The plot is...wait, what plot? Not to mention that the acting is decidedly poor. I can almost imagine the conversation among the creators:
Creator #1: Don't you think we should do something about these actors? They are kind of bad.
Creator #2: Don't worry; we can add a lot of bloody scenes.
Creator #1: Are you sure that will be enough?
Creator #2: Yes. Just to be safe we should make it repulsive, we need to compensate for the lack of plot. I know! We should use a chainsaw. I heard that worked before.
Creator #1: Maybe you are right. Don't you think that the lack of plot is a big problem though?
Creator#2: Bah, we have several cute girls that don't mind being nude. People won't even notice if the plot is good or not.
I hope that by this point you get the idea. Stay as far away from this poor excuse of a movie as you can.
So sick we couldn't watch..........2008-02-02
This was so sick that we couldn't watch it. I guess you have to be really 'into' this type of thing - a bit like the torturer who is 'into' his victims.
A Chilling Masterpiece of Horror.......2008-01-31
With all the rubbish horrors as of late Saw,Saw 2,erm saw 3 oh yea and erm Saw 4.Theres been nothing to stand out but however Hostel does its creepingly brilliant lots of gore and bone crunching if you hate Ankle torture then this film is not for you if your fav films are.
Bambi
Barbie and the Nutcracker
The little Mermaid
Oh jesus please keep away from it.
Amazon.co.uk
Well-made for the genre -- the excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-torture-begins genre -- Hostel follows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez, Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) as they trek to Slovakia, where they're told beautiful girls will have sex with anyone with an American accent. Unfortunately, the girls will also sell young Americans to a company that offers victims to anyone who will pay to torture and murder. To his credit, writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) takes his time setting things up, laying a realistic foundation that makes the inevitable spilling of much blood all the more gruesome. The sardonic joke, of course, is that Americans are worth the most in this brothel of blood because everyone else in the world wants to take revenge upon them. This dark humor and political subtext help set Hostel above its more brainless sadistic compatriots, like House of Wax or The Devil's Rejects. In general, though, there's something lacking; horror used to suggest some threat to the spirit--today's horror can conceive of nothing more troubling than torturing the flesh. For afficionados, Hostel features a nice cameo by Takashi Miike, director of bloody Japanese flicks like Audition and Ichi the Killer. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Very watchable but falls just short of the hype.......2008-03-05
As a genre of film, horrorseems to have few places left to go other than towards more gore and depravity. Most of the classic narratives have been told, re-told and then repackaged before being re-told. Horror has been merged with other genres to create generic hybrids but by and large, to be effective as a horror film to its audience (after all horror, like comedy, is defined by its intended effect on the audience) horror films will be getting more and more gory and will seek to push the boundaries so long as there is a market for it. In addition, modern horror has evloved away from the spiritual towards more straightforward bodily pain, and in moving away from the spirit, the horror film has mirrored the movement of society away from the spirit as many commentators suggest.To those people whose reviews on these pages suggest that the film is depraved beyond words or that it sickens them, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a film whose tagline refers to it as the sickest, bloodiest and goriest film you'll ever see is going to push the limits. To these people, just one short phrase:-"Don't watch it!"
Those of us who can see beyond the real and enter willingly into the verisimilitude of film, Hostel is a truly interesting piece of work. It is not a masterpiece but it is entertaining in its own way. It evokes some emotions of disgust and a slight feeling of sickness will not be unusual, but it is only because the film is doing what it promises to do, in short, it "delivers!"
The acting is average, the story is reasonably well conceived and constructed and the direction is slick. It is not a masterpiece of horror, but is is a worthy comment on the decadence and the selfishness of the young and testament to and a reminder of the latent evil that exists all over the world today.
Mostly boring........2008-03-03
After all the hype over 'Hostel' beiing the "goriest, sickest movie you will ever see", I was looking forward to seeing this film. How disappointed I was! The first 50 minutes really tried my patience as I found it just a lot of messing about but then after that it picked up a bit, but not much. I recently watched a film that's been slated called 'Live Feed' and it was far more captivating from the outset, despite being a bit cheesy and retro for 2006. I just found 'Hostel' extremely over-hyped and have seen a lot worse. The 'Saw' quadrilogy was a lot better as far as voyeuristic torture films go. 'Hostel 2', funnily, was far more watchable and with more memorable scenes.
Movies like this turn people away from the horror genre.......2008-02-03
I have heard that this movie was bad, but I could not convince myself that this could be true given the fact that the name of Tarantino was associated with it. Well, now I believe it! I have a hard time thinking of a way in which someone could create a worse movie and it is certainly not easy. The plot is...wait, what plot? Not to mention that the acting is decidedly poor. I can almost imagine the conversation among the creators:
Creator #1: Don't you think we should do something about these actors? They are kind of bad.
Creator #2: Don't worry; we can add a lot of bloody scenes.
Creator #1: Are you sure that will be enough?
Creator #2: Yes. Just to be safe we should make it repulsive, we need to compensate for the lack of plot. I know! We should use a chainsaw. I heard that worked before.
Creator #1: Maybe you are right. Don't you think that the lack of plot is a big problem though?
Creator#2: Bah, we have several cute girls that don't mind being nude. People won't even notice if the plot is good or not.
I hope that by this point you get the idea. Stay as far away from this poor excuse of a movie as you can.
So sick we couldn't watch..........2008-02-02
This was so sick that we couldn't watch it. I guess you have to be really 'into' this type of thing - a bit like the torturer who is 'into' his victims.
A Chilling Masterpiece of Horror.......2008-01-31
With all the rubbish horrors as of late Saw,Saw 2,erm saw 3 oh yea and erm Saw 4.Theres been nothing to stand out but however Hostel does its creepingly brilliant lots of gore and bone crunching if you hate Ankle torture then this film is not for you if your fav films are.
Bambi
Barbie and the Nutcracker
The little Mermaid
Oh jesus please keep away from it.
Customer Reviews:
Hostel on PSP.......2007-08-20
Better than the sequal!
Blood, blood and blood again!
When the girl jumps into the train,
it so sick.
Watch it, today!!!
not for the faint hearted!
Psp is taken up a notch with this!
PSP owners Prepare, for the sickest film
ever made!
Hostel PSP.......2007-08-01
The hallowed tradition of the post-college European backpacking trip turns into an unimaginable nightmare for two unsuspecting American 20-somethings in Eli Roth's (CABIN FEVER) sensational second outing. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) have embarked upon a hedonistic tour of the continent, and somewhere along the way pick up travelling companion Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson). In Amsterdam the trio partakes of the pastimes most dear to frat boys everywhere: weed, prostitutes, and nightclubs. But when a fellow traveller tells these thrill-seekers about the decadent scene that awaits them in Bratislava, they find themselves unable to resist its lures; enticed by the promise of a hostel full of beautiful girls who love Americans, they set out for the remote areas of Eastern Europe. There, the sex farce to which the film's first half is devoted slowly turns ominous, as the boys hook up immediately with the gorgeous Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova), whose eagerness masks more sinister intentions. Soon, the disagreeable backpackers find themselves on the other side of the flesh trade, sold by the girls into an exclusive human trafficking operation that gives its customers the opportunity to torture and kill a helpless victim. Much of what follows consists of the squirm-inducing surgical horrors that characterise precursors such as SAW, with the implications regarding the capitalist system and the human soul becoming ever darker. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, the film amps up the gore factor as much as it can get away with, and, in the tradition of the best horror films, offers a satirical socially conscious commentary.
Worth the money and worth the wait!
PSP is gone to a higher level bringing the gore fest hostel to it!
Customer Reviews:
watch out for this HOSTEL!.......2006-05-01
I saw it on big screen and I was shocked.Normaly I like sick flicks like SAW or SEVEN and I've seen a lot of gore or violent movies and it doesn't bother me much.But after HOSTEL I had real problems to fall asleep.Not because of the ultraviolent sadistic torture,but the idea of the story made me absolutely shakey.Organized russian mafia actually sell people to rich men so they can do with them whatever they want.The plot is really simple but watch it.I guarantee this movie will take your breath away!Can't wait for the UK-DVD release.
Customer Reviews:
Watch it!.......2007-08-20
The best film of all time, the sequal
is great, but it may not beat
the oringinal!
Hostel, the gore fest!.......2007-07-29
The most disturbing film i have ever witnessed!
Saw 3 was horrific, this outdose that!
Eli Roth thought of something amazing
AND TRUE!
Part 2 is amazing, but dose it outdue this one!
The 3 hikers were fab actors and the scene were
the girl gets here eye burnt of
was horrific!
Thats just one scene there are other scenes
that are 1000000 times worse than that. (in a gory way)
The film is the most gory, bloody and twisted film, i have ever witnessed
YOU MUST SEE IT!
Hostel!!!.......2007-07-29
Has to be one of the most
horrific films of all time,
saw 3! hostel
is just as gory, just as slick
and just as twisty!
Definetley thumbs up!
Pure horror.......2006-06-17
First, concerning the previous reviews; when you buy an 18 rated "HORROR" movie, do you expect to laugh and be merry? Or do you expect to be shocked to the point of feeling the rush of adrenalin through your (severed) veins? I suspect you would be very disappointed with lack of the latter, so please, let's get real and review the movie for what it is - AN 18 RATED "HORROR".
I have seen many horror movies, including B, banned, uncut etc versions. This got me going. Don't get me wrong, I am not a sadist nor am I sick; I just enjoy being comfortably terrified and thrilled, just like the person who hunts down the biggest rollercoaster on earth. This movie achieved this to a great extent. OK, the acting isn't the best, but then you don't know who is going to be wasted next or first and I think this is good movie making when a horror is concerned. (I love the Alien movies, but you know without doubt Sigourney will last the distance!)
Also, as expected in a good horror, there is plenty of violence and gore. Of course, this is not needless; it would not be a horror without. In my opinion, it is very cleverly shot, real 'edge of your seat' stuff that really does tear at your senses. It's not often I cringe watching a horror any more (other than the ankle break in Misery!!!), but Hostel will make you cringe.
I don't want to go into the story, as you probably know this anyway. Therefore, there is not a great deal more I need to say about Hostel. If you are a horror fan - buy it and enjoy. If not - please don't buy it expecting to laugh and then write a ridiculous review.
Sleazy, cheap, conventional TRASH.......2006-05-06
The only reason that I went to see this film at the cinema was because I knew that Quentin Tarantino was involved with it. However, don't expect anything as stylish or innovative as 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Reservoir Dogs' - because Eli Roth directs, and he has done an appalling job.
The plot concerns three men who are backpacking through Europe on a hedonistic search for... (drumroll) sex and drugs. Therein lies the first of many cliches. These men consist of two Americans and one Icelander. All three are pure and utter sleazebags of the highest calibre, and from the outset, I was rubbing my hands with glee at the thought of them being maimed - I honestly hated them that much. There are plenty of ridiculously conventional women for the men to look at; of the 'FHM' variety - a veritable cornucopia of cheap tarts with bionic bodies that most women anywhere could never realistically aspire to having. Other cruleties towards women are evident; in one scene, one of the three males refers to a female prostitute as 'a beast'.
In Amsterdam, following more sleaze and perversion, the three male sluts happen to hear about a place in Eastern Europe where the Women (surprise surprise) are all over men like a rash, and are supposedly the most beautiful (and sleazy) women a man could imagine. Thus, the three tourists set off for this place, but all is not what it seems. After more sleazy sex scenes, the women lure the three men to danger - in the form of an abandoned warehouse where privileged middle-class men can go to butcher people in various violent ways.
The violence is not the problem with this film, actually, it is secondary to the complete misogyny of this film, the way in which it portrays women as nothing more than cheap, vacuous, moronic sex objects. Given the fact that Tarantino has offered challenging and powerful film roles to women such as Uma Thurman, I have to say I am surprised at his involvement with this garbage. It is a sorry day when the viewer is actually looking forward to the deaths of a film's three main protagonists.
There are a couple of reasonably violent moments, in which a man has the sensitive bit at the back of his ankles slashed, and a particularly horrid scene in which a woman's eyeball is severely damaged - more misogyny. Having said that, men are killed in this film too, but they deserve it.
The misogyny continues until the end, when a woman throws herself in front of a train. Oddly, one of the main characters in the film, who very much deserves to be killed off, walks away from his sleazy antics scot-free. It's so vile that if the plot were reversed and the three main characters were women, out having lots of sex and drugs, they would have all been killed. But this is typical of arrogant Western misogyny; propagated in particular by Americans like Eli Roth.
This film conforms to just about every single Western cultural stereotype you could possibly think of. Drugs? It's there. Sex? Lots of it - all seedy. Misogyny? This film has it by the bucketload. Violence? Yes - of the bland, asinine, Hollywood variety - shallow and unrealistic. A man walks around for a quarter of the film with no fingers, but somehow manages not to bleed to death. A woman walks around with a gaping hole where her eye used to be, but somehow avoids A) Passing out from the pain and B) Being noticed walking around with blood pouring from her eye socket and her eyeball missing. Such a thing would probably result in instant death. If Eli Roth was a halfway decent director he would have known this.
This film is not shocking for it's violence, but for it's cheap and nasty women-hating. Western Cinema has already had way too much of that, and it's about high time some restrictions were put on it. Sadly, strong female roles, devoid of ostentatious sleaze, are absent from Western cinema. This film contributes to that state of affairs.
Avoid this film. It is seedy, sleazy, sordid, arrogant, badly acted, unrealistic, stereotyped and over-hyped.
Customer Reviews:
Hostel, the gore fest!.......2007-07-29
THE MOST DISTURBING FILM EVER MADE!
GORE IS UN-DESCRIBABLE, THE BLOOD IS AMAZING!
YOU WANT HORROR. WELL HERE IT IS!
The Best Film ever!.......2007-07-29
Well-made for the genre--the excessive-skin-displayed-before-gruesome-bloody-torture-begins genre--Hostel follows two randy Americans (Jay Hernandez, Friday Night Lights, and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) and an even randier Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) as they trek to Slovakia, where they're told beautiful girls will have sex with anyone with an American accent. Unfortunately, the girls will also sell young Americans to a company that offers victims to anyone who will pay to torture and murder. To his credit, writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) takes his time setting things up, laying a realistic foundation that makes the inevitable spilling of much blood all the more gruesome. The sardonic joke, of course, is that Americans are worth the most in this brothel of blood because everyone else in the world wants to take revenge upon them. This dark humor and political subtext help set Hostel above its more brainless sadistic compatriots, like House of Wax or The Devil's Rejects. In general, though, there's something lacking; horror used to suggest some threat to the spirit--today's horror can conceive of nothing more troubling than torturing the flesh. For aficionados, Hostel features a nice cameo by Takashi Miike, director of bloody Japanese flicks like Audition and Ichi the Killer.
UK DVD:
- House Of Wax [2005]
- House On Haunted Hill [2000]
- Jeepers Creepers [2001]
- Jeepers Creepers 2 [2003]
- Land of the Dead (2005)
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [1994]
- Masters Of Horror - Series 2 Vol 2 [2006]
- Nightbreed [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Pan's Labyrinth [2006]
- Paradise Lost [2007]
UK DVD List
UK DVD