Kill Kill Kill: Hostel Take Two
July 10th, 2007
Hostel: Part II
Director: Eli Roth; Cast: Lauren German, Roger Bart, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips; 93 min./2007; Rated R.
I have to admit I had my doubts about watching Hostel II, because of what director Eli Roth had said before the film's screening, "The amount of violence that I got into Hostel: Part II, I don't think has been allowed in an American film before." This didn't surprise me, as this is probably the only way the sickest man in cinema right now can promote his film.
Actually, I was horrified by the anticipation that I was going to see a film more violent than the first instalment of Hostel - which some believe is the most violent film ever to be made in Hollywood.
The story of this sequel is basically more of the same; the only difference is that this time the victims of the rich torturers, who pay to kill, are girls. Three female college students backpacking in Europe are lured by a beautiful European temptress who promises them safety and maybe even roman. But what they get is a living hell where they are sold to the highest bidders whose fondest wish is to kill them slowly and in any way they like. There is another difference: we follow two American men who, on the flip side of the coin, are willing to pay to join an exclusive club where a life will end at their hands.
Hostel II is certainly more clever and "watchable" than the first movie, in the sense that you don't feel you're going to puke every minute. The characters are more rounded and their actions more justified. And if Roth likes to connect his film to the aftermath of the war on Iraq and corporate power, as he did in the case of Hostel, he will be more justified to do so.
But alas! Roth goes beyond the pale with his constant serving of extreme violence. I thought what would happen if they're cut out, and the answer is nothing. But the question still persists: why does extreme and gratuitous violence sell?
Nikfarjam's Top Five
Flandres
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Tell No One
Golden Door
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