Quentin Tarantino Presents : Hostel [2005] [2006]

Amazon.co.uk Review

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. --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.

Average customer rating:

An excellent portrait of Makarova!

Natalia Makarova - Natasha
Natalia Makarova
Manufacturer: Warner Music Vision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Ballet & Dance | Musicals & Classical | Categories | DVD | Video
DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000MV82MA
Release Date: 2007-03-26

Customer Reviews:

An excellent portrait of Makarova!.......2007-03-27

I can hardly wait for this item to come out! I saw Natasha on TV last year (in Greece) and I was mesmerised. The best thing about it are the extracts from Natalia's ballet performances, and there are quite a few, each one introduced by Makarova herself. Her Juliet and Natalya Petrovna were, of course, among the most memorable, but I found many others interesting as well: her bedroom scene from Manon (with Anthony Dowell), her Carmen suite, her Broadway performance of "On Your Tows", or that etherial Proust piece... just to name a few. We also have a chance for an insight to her personality and life in her own words. The only negative with this one is that it only lasts an hour or so, and there don't seem to be any extras on the DVD. But for its price I have to say this is a very rewarding one hour. If you are a Makarova fan, or a ballet fan, this is a valuable piece for your collection. (I know I want it in mine: I placed a pre-order as soon as I found out about it!)

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