Quentin Tarantino Presents: Hostel Part II (Unseen Edition, DVD)

Hostel, hyped and pushed as the most violent, nastiest film for years hit cinema screens only last year. Eli Roth, championed by a certain Mr. Tarantino, got press coverage a plenty for his rather mediocre, run of the mill film. Still it worked, people flocked to see it, wanting to be shocked and horrified like never before, and because of that a film with no real obvious need for a sequel gets one, sort of. Hostel 2 is just more of the same; it isn't really a sequel but the same story told slightly differently. It's sequels dues are paid in the opening sequences where we are reintroduced to Paxton, the one survivor of the first film. Other than ...  Read the complete review

Hostel Part 2 (DVD) 2007, rating 18. I got this DVD the 'Unseen Edition' as one of my birthday presents and have to say was really looking forward to it as I loved the first Hostel, a mean, dark, moody and genuinely shocking film. Written and directed by Eli Roth and 'presented' by Quentin Tarantino, this film starts as a sequel to Hostel (2005), though apart from the flashback scenes at the beginning, you really do not need to have seen the first Hostel to get the gist of this. I am not going to name all the actors, as without being cruel to their talents, they are all B movie horror film actors who have done nothing really to ...  Read the complete review

Two best friends travelling around Europe decide to visit Prague. Beth is the sensible one; Whitney is the wild one, and it takes Beth's best efforts to keep Whitney under control. Whitney isn't best pleased when a third girl, Lorna, is taken under Beth's wing, but making the best of the situation, she agrees to allow the rather shy girl to travel with them into Eastern Europe. On the train, they run into some bother, but a local woman, Axelle, helps them out and they all soon make friends. It transpires that Axelle is travelling to Slovakia, where she knows of a wonderful natural spa that she intends to visit. The idea of luxuriating in the warm springs is too difficult ...  Read the complete review

I am mystified how Eli Roth managed to kick start the whole "torture porn" furore. His 2002 debut Cabin Fever was a solid and entertaining teen horror flick with a few too many silly and grizzly twists and turns by the end. Hostel had a more sombre tone but was highly watchable and even suspenseful. The gory finish was nothing genre fans had not seen before - tales of ambulances being called to cinemas notwithstanding - except perhaps done with a more realistic tone, and the concept was fairly original; the story well told. I suspect most of the vitriol aimed at Mr Roth stems more from his clever manipulation of marketing tactics than the actual content of his ...  Read the complete review

Three American girls, Beth, Lorna and Whitney are travelling across Europe and meet a beautiful artist's model, who advises them to go to a hostel in Slovakia where they can enjoy spa treatments. Intrigued, they set off, delighted to find that the model has decided to join them. All goes well at first; the hostel and surroundings are beautiful and even Lorna, who is shy and geeky, finds herself a man. But then Lorna disappears. Concerned, Beth tries to find her, but is persuaded by the others that Lorna is probably having the time of her life. Then Whitney disappears and Beth is chased by two very dangerous looking men. Before she knows it, she is fighting for her life ...  Read the complete review