31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 14 Hostel Part 2 Unrated Director's Cut

 

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+.

31 Days of Horror Day 29 Knock Knock

TITLE-Knock Knock
SOURCE-Lionsgate Blu Ray

Yea I know this is a remake of of the mid 70s film Death Game AKA The Seducers. And Colleen Camp comes back for this remake. ANd yea I have seen piles of reviews of this film online. Calling it a piece of shit.

Back in late Oct 2015 I was sent a DVD rip of this film. Tossed it in planning on doing some editing while watching it. And it caught my attention enough I didn't anything edited.

Keanu Reeves is married with 2 young kids. His wife and kids leave for the weekend. And he settles in to do some work. While listening to some records Keanu fires up a bowl and hears a knock at the front door.

That's Ana De Armas on the left and Lorenza Izzo on the right

At the door is two wet and cold young women. Played by Ana De Armas,best known for her role in Blade Runner 2040,and Lorenza Izzo,the ex MS Eli Roth  and best known for her lead part in The Green Inferno. They are lost and need to borrow a phone to call someone. Reeves lets them in and well shit goes downhill from there.

Reeves tries to be nice and helpful. Calls them a Uber,which will be there in 45 minutes. Throws their wet clothes into the dryer. And even shows off his DJ skills.

Knock Knock then morphs into a 90s era ERotic Thriller,I kept waiting on Shannon Tweed to show up. The ladies are in the bathroom,Reeves comes in to bring them their clothes and let them know the Uber is there. They seduce him. And after a long night of sex Reeves passes out.

The next morning Keanu wakes up to discover the two women are still there and made a mess of his kitchen. He is gonna call the cops to get them to leave when the women reveal that they are underage.

Basically Knock Knock is a home invasion movie mixed with a 90s SKINAMAX erotic thriller.

Sure you can figure out the ending. And the womens' reasoning for doing what they are doing is kinda bunk. But there is so much right with the film. The soundtrack and score are good. Love him or hate him Eli Roth knows how to frame a shot. And does some neat things with light in Knock Knock. And yea it helps that Ana and Lorenza as stunning beauties.

This is pretty much a 3 person film. Would be neat to see it adapted to a stage play.

Ana De Armas is pretty good in her role. I had never seen her before this film. She has the right look for the part she is playing. In that looking at her you can't tell how old she is. She could be mid 20s but then she could be 15. The only real flaw in Ana in this film is sometimes cause of her accent I had trouble understanding what she was saying. IIRC Ms Armas is from Cuba. So when speaking English she does have a bit of an accent. But it isn't a big flaw. And the film has well done subtitles.

Lorenza Izzo is gonna be a big star. After seeing her in this and Green Inferno I saw proof that she is a really talented actress. Able to do comedy,drama and horror. Plus she has this great sense of timing. I hope her divorce from Eli Roth doesn't cause her to not get as many roles in English movies.

Keanu Reeves is an actor that has a very limited role he can play. In that role he is damn good. But try to put him into a role that isn'tin that limited range and you get shit like Bram Stroker's Dracula. Thankfully Reeves is great in this. But then he is just playing a older stoner music buff. Which from what I have read is really who Reeves is.

The Blu ray of course has a audio commentary. Which is fairly entertaining. You get Roth,his then wife and Colleen Camp on it. There is a handful of deleted scenes,and you can see why they weren't included in the film cause they aren't good.Plus a halfway decent making of the film.

Knock Knock gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Film 04 Cabin Fever Remake

Title-Cabin Fever
Source-VOD rip

Yep I have now watched this shitstain of a film 2 times.Still wondering why the fuck anyone thought we needed a fairly close shot for shot,word for word remake of a film that came out right at 14 years ago.

I figure if you are reading this you know the plot of the original Cabin Fever. All I noticed that was changed was a few scenes happened in different places. And small things like the pancakes kid is wearing a mask in this version. Or Paul has sex with what was Cerina Vincent in the original,this time in the kitchen instead of one of the bedrooms. Also Deputy Winston is now a woman. Yeah that is pretty much the only differences I noticed.

The gore is halfway well done. The acting is not good. And the film is just un-needed.

Cabin Fever remake gets a F+.

31 Days of Horror 2015 Day 29 Double Feature The Green Inferno/Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode

The Green Inferno
Source-VOD

Been hearing about this film since 2012. And really wanted to see it. I have seen pretty much all of the well known Italian made cannibal films. And wanted to see what a life long horror fan like Eli Roth would do with the concept.

A group of college kids go down to Peru to protest the destruction of the rain forest. They are on their way home when the tiny plane they are in crashes. And they end up captives of the local cannibal tribe.

If you have seen stuff like Cannibal Ferox or Cannibal Holocaust,imagine a version of that with a much bigger budget. Better acting and Roth's trademark moments of comedy to relieve the tension.

The FX work is damn good,well besides the CGI ants looking a bit wonky. The acting was much better than I expected. And the camera work is great. I was shocked at how colorful the film is.

Before seeing it I had read lots of non spoiler reviews that hated the film. And really hated the mid credits scene. I do not see why people hate this movie. After 4 films people should know that going into an Eli Roth film what to expect. He has a formula and it is used in this film. As for the mid credits scene,well to me it makes sense and sets up a sequel.



The Green Inferno gets a B.

Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode
Source-Digital files sent to me by the creator of the show

Forbidden Transmission was a two season public access tv show. Created by the Skeleton Farm group.Who are known for creating some of the best video mixtapes.

I had found 2 or 3 episodes almost 10 years ago. And loved them. Then met the creator of the show on a horror forum. Asked him if I could buy both seasons off him. "Hey how about I just make a torrent of every episode?" Which was fine with me. So I have had them sitting on a flash drive for a few years now.

Well after Green Inferno I wanted something short to watch. Saw there was an Halloween episode. And like all the others I have seen this was a blast. We get a few music videos. Clips from various Public Domain horror films. And even the short animated film that inspired the modern Halloween classic Trick R Treat.

Forbidden Transmission Halloween episode gets a B+.