Review of Hostel (2011) by Jan T — 15 Sep 2010

Watched this for the first time last night, and accidentally got the Italian dubbed version. However, it's a true credit to Eli Roth's visual storytelling abilities that I didn't miss a beat!

Even the plot points that hinged on dialogue came across clearly; like the two different girls saying the same thing as the ones from the beginning, when Jay Hernandez walks in on them changing, for instance. I still have no clue, what they were saying, but their body language, and the mis-en-scene (pardon the prefrenchious film-speak) did more than enough to convey the essential story information.

Extra points for taking advantage of the unreal beauty of Cesky Krumlov. I actually had a chance to stay at a hostel there, where the staff were all extremely outgoing, but it wasn't just a ploy to torture and murder us.

The tone and plot of the movie does come off as a bit dated, only five years later, now that the Brits have far surpassed us the most obnoxious tourists in Europe by a landslide. They don't even show up on the list of the most desired torturees: it goes Russians, Europeans, Americans, in exponential increments! As any European, who actually lives on the continent of Europe will tell you, being piled clumped together with the Brits like that is beyond insulting! If you share those frustrations, then I highly recommend you check out Donkey Punch. In the mean time, I'll go ahead and take a peep at the sequel, and see if it resolves any of these issues.