Hostel Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)January 17th, 2006
HOSTEL
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2006 David N. Butterworth
*1/2 (out of ****)
According to "Hostel," the Eastern bloc city of Bratislava is a tourist trap littered with sex-starved females who'll do anything for a little attention (American attention, especially) given that all their men are off fighting a war somewhere. That's what three backpackers are led to believe by a sleazy Dutch cokehead in Eli ("Cabin Fever") Roth's latest slasher flick. As a result this trio of eager beavers, two American friends (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) and an Icelandic dunce named Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), hop on a train to Slovakia in their continued quest to savor Europe's local delicacies. What their Amsterdam contact failed to tell our hedonistic heroes, however, is that, along with the nubile clientele (who are only too willing to bare all down at the spa), the Four Seasons-styled hostel that awaits them also houses a serial psychopath with a basement full of sharp surgical instruments. The first part of "Hostel" (presented, I should add, by Quentin Tarantino) plays like a frat boy's wet dream, with Josh, Paxton, and that Oli guy bopping all over the continent, getting stoned, drinking heavily, and having sex with the easy locals--you'd be excused for thinking you'd stumbled into "Hotpants College II" by mistake. But shortly after Oli mysteriously checks out and is then seen entering the Torture Museum, things take a decidedly gruesome turn, with both an electric drill and that old favorite a chainsaw (among other rusty garden implements) put to good, grisly use. Like the trailer says, "There is a place where all your darkest, sickest fantasies are possible... for a price." That price, if you catch "Hostel" before 6pm, is around $7.00.
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David N. Butterworth
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
