Review of Hostel (2006) by David L — 09 May 2014

Feels so wrong to like this as it's fundamentally about a secret torture chamber where rich people pay for the privilege of killing innocent tourists (who have been seduced by stunning looking foreign beauties).

However, it's literally torture porn at its very best and no matter how many times you have seen it, it's one of those films that is capable of making hardcore horror fans squirm every time. It takes the most sensitive parts of the body, and inflicts torture in a disturbingly realistic way.

What we witness is acted and produced so well that it becomes a frighteningly believable storyline that is enough to put anyone off Amsterdam or Slovakia for life - I'm praying this isn't a true story, and it is just the creation of someone with a very innovative albeit disturbed imagination.

What's good about it is that it doesn't just focus on one massive bloodfest from start to finish. It sets the scene, introduces the characters who are just a trio of lads looking for parties, drinks, drugs and girls (in any order), teases us a little with the odd snippet of gore as the three gradually become trapped in a web of foreign deceit, and then delivers the main dish of the torture chambers once we're in the final third.

It's not often I squirm at any scenes but that was before I witnessed a girls eye being cut out after being blowtorched for a good few mins. For this reason alone, It's a film I love to put on just to see others cringe, and would struggle to turn off even if tuning in accidentally.

Quite simply a 5-Star horror which will struggle to be bettered for shock factor!