Review of Hostel (2006) by Rob — 16 Apr 2006

I did manage to sense a touch of humour in this film. It helps a lot because I do not think the writer was massively bothered about making a film with a glorious, realistic plot and a load of in-your-face morals, and more on just smuggly making a strange horror film.

It is, I must admit, difficult to argue against it being pointless, but I will try anyway. The first half of Hostel can perhaps be described as an overly-offensive teen movie, while the second half is pretty sickening and I imagine those who were disturbed would hate the film but there were a few things that I thought were pretty fascinating.

Firstly, the type of horror I thought was quite original. I noticed that the things that made this film scary were very different to the methods in most other horror films. [***SPOILERS***] It doesn't make you jump, there is nothing supernatural, it is just seeing such disturbing acts being carried out by fellow humans that is so effective, too effective for some.

There is also the question running through my mind 'What makes these people (Slovakians!) want to do this to other humans?'. It is mostly left as a mystery, though I remember one conversation with a torturer, giving you a creepy glimpse of the mindset of these people.

I also found it weird at the end of the film, how I was willing to think of it as a "happy ending" when really it was one character being put out of their misery (quickly) and lots of bad people getting hurt in nasty ways.

The film is so lacking in niceness, it's ironically pleasing. I hate to go and point out the film's humour, but I think it helps to see the funny side to how ridiculously moral-less the main charcters are, the unexplained fact that Americans are more valuable torure victims than any other.

..eh... race, and the excessive gore (I never realised someone getting ran over by a train would result in several people getting sprayed in blood). Don't get me wrong, this is not a comedy film by far, but there are times when it seems so deliberately ridiculous that you can tackle the unrealistic plot and horrible torture scenes with a pinch of salt and maybe even enjoy the film.