HOSTEL (2005)

This is an interesting one, I'd seen this a when it first came out and to be honest I didn't think that much of it, but that was years ago, and I'd already started to get sick of the newer style of horror that was coming out.

After having a few beers at a friends house he chucked the movie back on and I thought "Why not give it another shot?" and I'm glad I did.

Hostel was important for a few reasons, it is credited as starting off the "torture porn" genre of horror films its not to say that its particularly more extreme than many of the other films reviewed here that came before it, but it did drag the more extreme end of horror out into the mainstream where as before (from my memories) this level of gore or violence was more at the underground subculture level of horror. This I guess was due to two things the skill that the then newcomer to the horror genre Eli Roth brought to the table, and the muscle that Quentin Tarantino's production company would be able to throw behind it.

The plot itself is pretty well thought out and well written as well..... revolving around a group of university students that take a back packing holiday in Eastern Block Europe (Amsterdam, Slovakia, Romania etc...) partying, drinking and carrying on like most young backpackers would do. During their travels they meet other like minded young adults and after a night of partying one of them (Oli) goes missing and while the other stick around to see if they can figure out what happened to their friend they too are drugged and abducted into a strange organized crime ring where wealthy business men pay large sums of money to torture and kill people for little more than sport.

What follows is a litany on torture and mutilation the likes of which all but the hardcore horror fans would have yet to have been exposed to. The gore is graphic and sadistic which will keep almost any gore fiend happy, but  more importantly it is a well written and rather watchable film which holds belief for the viewer (unless of course gore upsets you) but I'd recommend it to any seasoned fan of horror or those not easily offended.

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