Finally watched Hostel today: SPOILERS:

**Dawg** · 18-Apr-2006

Okay, it has probably been gone over numerous times since it came out in the theaters, but it came out on dvd today in the states. I originally planned on going to the theater to see it. Then I planned to buy the dvd, but instead used one of my blockbuster online coupons instead.

I'm glad I didn't waste money buying it, but I'm pretty sad that I used a perfectly good coupon to rent it.

Unrated? Scarier? More twisted than the theater would show? What exactly did they show in the theater? Two seconds of an @$$ crack instead of four? WTF?!!

Okay, I'm glad they are starting to show more boobs in movies nowadays, especially horror flicks, but this is no more than old school. Dude at work made it seem like there was an all around f**k fest going on.

Two, okay everyone I gave the guy credit for making Cabin Fever and all even though everyone else seemed to hate it, but this film is nothing special. They almost make it sound like it is the $hit that needs to be seen to be believed. Here is a basic breakdown of gore: (I may miss some, but it isn't much!)

01) Severed head with a blurry headless body in background for like two seconds. WOW! I just saw that on 2001 Maniacs (another Eli Roth had something to do with movie, but not direct), in fact up to like five heads!

02) Toe about to be removed. (I guess the tension for that was decent.)

03) Drill into the skin, several places. (Ouch! The bits on the drill bit was pretty gross.)

04) Tendons cut on back of ankles, making one immobile. (Wouldn't that be Archilles Heel?)

05) Open chest autopsy.

06) Numerous people being tortured, hit with things, stabbed, etc. Moves too quick.

07) Two-three prong hook into chest. Stings!

09) Chainsaw cuts handcuffs and two fingers off on hero's hand. Now that was okay.

10) Chainsaw into leg, severs leg. Now we're getting somewhere.

11) Numerous gunshots to bad guys into head(s), etc.

12) Japanese woman with half of her face ruined and eyeball hanging out. This is one that would give you the heebie jeebies, the hero has to cut her optic nerve to remove eyeball because it is ruined anyway. Once he does, yellow puss comes out. GROSS!!

13) Two bad guys get their skulls caved in by rocks by kids! Yeah!

14) Japanese woman jumps in front of train and run over.

15) One bad guy has two fingers severed by hero and throat slit.

And that is about it. Hmmm... sounds like another basic slasher film to me. I was expecting total mayham and disgusting $hit going down. Sick I know, but I wish they wouldn't market a movie as if it were the sickest thing around when this other worse $hit has been filmed twenty, thirty years ago already and then that film (Hostel), turns out to be a stale turd. Unrated for a f**king reason!

I guess it is still up to us indie filmmakers to do it and maybe Hollywood will get off of their collective @$$e$ and actually make a scary, gory-@$$ movie for once.

HOSTEL 1 1/2 *'s

Dawg

**Danny** · 18-Apr-2006

i saw it the other day, yeah i think it sucks too.

**MinionZombie** · 18-Apr-2006

I saw it a while ago and wasn't impressed, in fact sorely disappointed - 50 minutes of 'story' (horny travellers shag foreigners) and then we get some gore - at last. The point of the film isn't explored anywhere near enough, they should have cut at least ten minutes of 'story' out and added in ten minutes of torture chamber madness, tip the balance a bit you know.

I downloaded the unrated version last night (I ain't paying for that film - I do have Cabin Fever on DVD, a flick I really enjoyed) and will watch it later. Flicked to the end to see the final kill and if memory serves there are a few extra gore shots ... I'll see if I like it any better the second time around (with a good picture). Most likely I will like it - my expectations being really low now of course - before I saw it for the first time I was really psyched about seeing it and thought it was going to be a really ballsy, gory-as-hell, uber-violent shock-fest ... but alas it wasn't.

The Hills Have Eyes remake - now THAT was freakin' violent. I was quite shocked (for a change) in the cinema at how much the MPAA let through ... I can't wait to see the unrated version of that ... I'm certainly looking forward to the making of doc on the DVD if it's anything like Aja says it will be like (i.e. they tell us HOW they made it for a change and cut out all the "oh the director is so awesome" blow job commentary).

**Danny** · 19-Apr-2006

you know ive had cabin fever on Dvd for about a year, and its still in its wrapping.

**glsjaw** · 19-Apr-2006

for the concept it wasnt to bad of a flick, and who all noticed the cameo from another director in it

**MKULTRA1138** · 19-Apr-2006

Great Takashi Miike cameo! Glad to see someone else caught that! Am I the only one that liked this movie? I saw it at the theaters and loved it. Granted its no where near my favorite horror film but it was good IMHO.

**Dawg** · 19-Apr-2006

Ichii the Killer?

I haven't seen that flick yet, but would like to.

As for Hostel, of course, Eli Roth's Cameo was near the beginning at the bar/club saying, 'Whoa dude' or whatever while dude was drinking.

And I agree, the 'Hills Have Eyes' remake was surprisingly good for a change.

Dawg

**MinionZombie** · 19-Apr-2006

"Ichi The Killer" is definately one to check out - call me unoriginal but it's my favourite Miike flick, very violent, very stylish, very crazy and very fun. I think Roth's cameo in Cabin Fever was better with his dog "Dr Mambo", funny stuff.

**MKULTRA1138** · 19-Apr-2006

I thought you guys were talking about the Takashi Miike cameo in Hostel.

**MinionZombie** · 19-Apr-2006

We were ... then Dawg asked if he was the dude who directed "Ichi The Killer" ... I answered him

**Tullaryx** · 19-Apr-2006

I thought Hostel was good enough but could've been better if Roth went really balls-out. I do think he's grown abit as a director since Cabin Fever. I think he needs to really diversify the types of horror projects he take son. If he just does gore-laden projects then it'll get old. since he considers Miike one of his influences then he should do what Miike does and just change things around. Make something less subdued but more disturbing a la Audition.

I, too, saw Miike make his cameo. As much as I love Ichi the Killer his best film in my opinion still has to be Audition. Not as over-the-top as Ichi and his Dead or Alive Trilogy but I don't know anyone who has sat through it who wasn't unnerved one way or another.

**MinionZombie** · 19-Apr-2006

I watched "Hostel" again today - the unrated version - and I have to say I liked it much more this time round. When I first saw it I was expecting it to be really violent, however pretty much everything in there you've seen before at some point (save for 'the eye'). This time around I appreciated the boobs and the banter between the characters more ("of courshe my horshe, I'm the king of the shwing" etc).

*sigh*

If only Roth had cut out 10 minutes of pre-amble and replaced it with torture factory stuff then the viewer would feel much more 'with' the protagonist as he goes about trying to escape - it would make the viewer feel there is a real necessity to escape. It felt too easy and that what he went through wasn't *that* horrifying (to us, the viewer anyway).

**Tullaryx** · 19-Apr-2006

I think Roth gets alot of flack from fans because he's like the Tarantino of the horror community. He's loud, brash, too smart for his own good in terms of horror, etc... What fans of horror don't seem to realize much is that he's one of the few young directors in horror that actually enjoys the genre. I think Roth's main problem is that he enjoys horror too much and tries to insert little homages and inside jokes about past horror movies into his own.

His next project seems to be a film adaptation of Stephen King's Cell. The book was a hit or miss with King fans, but I think it would work as a film adaptation. Probably even better as a film. The trick now is who will adapt the book into a screenplay. King's never been great as a screenwriter. Roth may not be over his horror-fanboyism stage not to get all clever and fancy with the script.