Hostel: Part II (2007)

Let me start by saying I did not like the first Hostel film. To me it was the worst sort of movie, not only over-hyped but ultimately extremely disappointing and not scary in the slightest.

Even more terrible to me was the fact that the central premise of a place where people pay to act out their sick and deprived murderous fantasies on unsuspecting victims was a great idea. A great idea writer and director Eli Roth managed to turn into a clichéd, badly written and boring horror film, that was at times laughable in its ridiculousness.
It’s safe to say therefore, that I started watching Hostel: Part II with a dubious and critical outlook, waiting for Roth to disappoint me yet again. And I was right to do so as the sequel is just as bad as the first film.

Opening with a scene which unnecessarily ties up the loose ends of the first picture (as if we cared anyway), we join art students Beth, Whitney and Lorna in Italy who are convinced by Axelle, a nude model that they are sketching, to join her on a vacation to a luxurious spa.
Yes you did read that right, and yes it is as stupid as its sounds.

After what seems like an eternity of pointless encounters with sleazy untrustworthy foreigners, some implied lesbianism and a harvest festival dance, finally the girls are captured and taken to face their nightmares in the factory-like compound where people pay to torture and kill.

Will they survive? Will they escape? Will you give a crap?

The answer to the last one is a definite ‘no’ as Roth offers us up a bunch of stereotypical characters and unoriginal plot points and takes so long to get to any sort of scares and horror, that all interest and identification is lost.
This is inexcusable especially in a sequel where we know what is coming, and as an audience doesn’t need such a giant build up to get there.

The torture scenes are graphic and nasty as we would expect from Roth, one particular scene will have any man watching wince in pain for sure. However they’re not scary or disturbing beyond the well done special effects as there is no investment in the people they are happening to – mainly due to the bad acting and aforementioned awful characters.

The only interesting and original element to this rehash of the first film comes in the characters of the two American businessman who have bought the right to kill the nubile students.
Seeing the flipside of the coin into the mind of someone who wants to commit these horrific acts is attention grabbing at first, but sadly the characters are wasted with a corny twist that nullifies any curiosity we had in them.

The films final semi-socioeconomic declaration that ‘money rules over life and death’ is trite and preposterous, and sits uneasily in a film bereft of any political standpoint until the last 10 minutes.

Ultimately this is Hostel Part 1 with female victims, pointless nudity, some unamusing dark comedy and even less inventiveness. So unless you absolutely loved the first film I would recommend that you stay well away.
To waste a good idea once is bad enough, but twice is unforgivable. Lets just hope the Hostel is finally closed after this dreadful instalment.

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Additional film information: Hostel: Part II (2007)

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