TITLE-Hostel Part II Unrated Director's Cut
SOURCE-Sony DVD
I think I might have reviewed this back the year it hit theaters. But not sure. And even if I did what I had back then was the workprint,which was missing some of the FX work,that had leaked a month before the film hit theaters.
Now Eli Roth is a love him or hate him director. When Cabin Fever came out all I saw was people praising him and how he was gonna save mainstream horror. Then between that film and the first Hostel started seeing more and more fans hating on Eli. Some of them could explain why they didn't like him. But lots of them would just say stupid stuff like "He uses too much product on his hair."WTF what does that have to do with his directing? It really felt like the ones that hated him and couldn't give a real reason was more they were mad that a life long horror fan was out there making movies. While they were stuck working their boring job and doing whatever they could to try to get a bit of internet fame.Me,I have enjoyed almost every Eli Roth film I have seen. Even shit like Knock Knock.
Hostel 2 starts off showing us that the one survivor of the first film lives in fear. And he ends up being the first kill we see. After that we head over to Europe where three young women are taking an art class. These three will be our leads this time. And the story is kinda a flipped version of the first film.
The three leads are played by Lauren German,Bijou Phillips and Heather Matarazzo.
For Ms German this was the first thing I saw her in. And for a bit the only thing I knew she had done until the tv show Lucifer started. She is a decent actress. But appears to pretty much stick to TV work now. Lauren plays the rich girl of the group. She is incredible wealthy and appears to pay for pretty much everything for her and her 2 friends.
Bijou Phillips is an actress I have been watching in films and TV for what feels like over half my life. For my fellow horror fans she is best known for being in the remake of Wizard of Gore and the Miramax 2005 voodoo film Venom. Both are films I have covered in previous 31 Days of Horror and both films are worth tracking down. Phillips the party girl of our lead trio. Which from various stories floating around is pretty much what Bijou was for a long time.
Heather Matarazzo is the last of our female trio. Before this film I knew her from playing DJ Conner's girlfriend on the last season of Roseanne,well last season of the original run,and her amazing early role in Welcome to the Dollhouse. But it appears most people know Heather as the sidekick from the Princess Diaries series of films. She plays the shy virginal girl of the group.
Now with this being Hostel and our leads being in Europe of course this means they will get bad info and head off to one of the places the evil group from the first film are.
The ladies are at a village's harvest festival and a man approachs Heather. He talks her into taking a boat ride with him down a nearby creek. And yep you know where this is going. She gets knocked out. The other two ladies notice she is missing and go to find her.
Heather wakes up hanging from the ceiling and fully nude. Seems someone wanted to recreate the infamous Elizabeth Bathroy stuff. Added bonus to the woman looking to kill Heather is Heather is a virgin. Yep we get to see a lady bathe in the blood of a female virgin. In what is the best kill scene in the Hostel trilogy,
Sadly after this scene most of the rest of the film is downhill. With only the twist about 8 minutes before the ending providing anything that will surprise your normal horror fan.
The gore is well done. And most of it is practical FX work. The acting ain't bad for what is pretty much a high budget gore film. But too much of it feels like Roth redoing his favorite gore scenes from movies he saw too many times as a teen.
That twist I mentioned... German is rich. She uses her money to buy her way out of dying. It's a neat twist. And one I should have called before it happened.
After this movie Eli Roth turned the franchise over to other hands. I figure lots of that has to with how this movie didn't do that great at the box office.
The first Hostel,released in 2005,cost a little under 5 million and made a bit over 80 million. Hostel II came out 2 years later.It Cost a bit over 10 million to make,but only made a tiny bit under 36 million.
Some will say that is because besides changing the genders of the lead trio there isn't that much difference between the two films. Sony and Roth claim it is because almost a month before the films US theatrical release a workprint got leaked. This workprint,which is how I saw the film for years until I got the DVD pictured up at the top,looked decent. But the final beheading effect wasn't finished. And a few music tracks got changed for the theatrical release.
I believe it was a bit of both as to why this film under performed. Plus a dash of the first film did so well cause it was the first big studio big budget gore film in decades. By the time the second film came out the whole torture porn subgenre had exploded.
No matter the reason,this film is the reason why the third film went direct to video. Had a tiny budget. And the third film feels more like a revamping of the series instead of a sequel that continues on the story from the first two films.
Hostel II is a decent gore film with an interesting cast of fairly talented young actresses. Hostel II gets a C+.
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