Hostel (2005)

Director:

Eli Roth

Writer (WGA):

Eli Roth (written by)

Release Date:

6 January 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome To Your Worst Nightmare

Plot:

Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

Plot Keywords:

Amsterdam Netherlands | Perverse | Running | Gory | Gore

Awards:

4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jay Hernandez	...	Paxton
Derek Richardson	...	Josh
Eythor Gudjonsson	...	Oli
Barbara Nedeljakova	...	Natalya
Jan Vlasák	...	The Dutch Businessman
Jana Kaderabkova	...	Svetlana
Jennifer Lim	...	Kana
Keiko Seiko	...	Yuki
Lubomir Bukovy	...	Alex
Jana Havlickova	...	Vala
Rick Hoffman	...	The American Client
Petr Janis	...	The German Surgeon
Takashi Miike	...	Miike Takashi
Patrik Zigo	...	Bubble Gum Gang Leader (as Zigo Patrik)
Milda Jedi Havlas	...	Desk Clerk Jedi

Runtime:

94 min | Philippines:93 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Czech | German | Dutch | Slovak | Japanese | Icelandic | Russian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Germany:Not Rated (SPIO/JK) (extended version) | Japan:R-18 | Portugal:M/18 | Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | Iceland:16 | Mexico:D | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Brazil:18 | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) | Belgium:KNT | Australia:R | Hong Kong:III | Italy:VM14 | South Africa:16 | USA:R (certificate #42205) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:(Banned) (theatrical) | France:-16 (with warning) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Malaysia:18SG (unrated DVD version) | South Korea:Limited (original rating) | Hungary:18 | Germany:18 (nf) | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 (self applied) (with warning) | UK:18 | Singapore:R21 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Company:

Hostel LLC

Trivia:

Oli speaks a little Icelandic in the film. When knocking on the hotel door Oli yells "Djöfulsins" which literally means "devil", but in the context it kind of the Icelandic "fuck", also Oli says the word "snípur" which means "clit". Also when Josh calls Oli and he gets his voice mail which sounded "Hæ, þetta er Óli, legðu inn skilaboð og ég hringi í þig." which translates "Hi, this is Oli, leave a message and I'll call you back". In the subtitles on the DVD the word "snípur" is misspelled as "sneepur" to avoid people confusing it with the english word "sniper".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene with the torture of the "American" character, we can see the man inflicting the torture is visibly uncomfortable. At one point, he removes his face mask from his left ear, but the right ear remains on. Moments later, he's seen in the reflection of the mirror replacing the strap on the right ear, as it hangs from his left.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Paxton: Amsterdam, motherfucker!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hostel: Part II (2007)

Soundtrack:

Stuzkova

Somewhat stylish, but very trite and predictable!

The plot, in short: Three backpackers, two Americans and one Icelander, does Europe by train with two major goals: To get high and nail as many women as possible... In Amsterdam they accidentally learn of a hostel in Bratislava, Slovakia where sex-mad women thirst for men in general, and American men i particular. They of course decide to go there and at first it seems the rumors were true. But they soon learn that the hostel is nothing more than a front for a bizarre club, where people can pay a huge fee to get to perform unspeakable acts...

My 2 cents: The director and writer Eli Roths biggest accomplishment before Hostel is Cabin Fever (2002) - weather or not that is something good is a matter of personal judgment. That he got two Evil Dead'ers (Scott Spiegel and FX-genius Gregory Nicotero) interested in his script is not at all surprising. But how he got Quentin Tarantino to executive produce (and thereby act as "posterboy" for his flick) is, to me, a total and utter mystery.

Hostel has potential, I'm not going to take that away from it. The thought that a place exists where rich people pay money to torture and kill other people is interesting. And a story about a kidnapped person who finds himself locked in that very place, waiting for his assassin, should make for a great film! The film is wonderfully lit, specifically in the torture chamber-scenes. And the set-dressing in those scenes are marvelous. It really feels like Roth found these places - and just shot them as the were. But the lighting, set-dressing and potentially-rich story, unfortunately, ends the positive things I have to say about Hostel.

It is frustrating to see a story that could have been so exciting and horrific get so utterly fumbled up! The movie is an hour and a half long, and takes a whopping 50 minutes to get to the place that is supposed to be the scene of terror and creepiness. The nearly hour-long "intro" is spent observing the backpackers while they party, get high and watch naked ladies in Amsterdams Red Light-district. When the story finally starts to focus on whatever is wrong with the Slovakian hostel it points everything out to such an extensive degree that it feels like Roth wants to put a stupid-hat on every member in the audience. I sat, in vain, and waited for him to take the lid off, go "ta-daa!" and show me something intelligent that I had missed. But it never happens and when the lid, towards the end, slowly slides off on its own accord it turns out that the ones you suspected were bad guys were in fact...bad guys. The ones you suspected were dead...were dead. And the entire movie ends the way you suspected it would all along.

Jay Hernandez (Paxton) and Derek Richardson (Josh) doesn't do to shabby in the two leads. But Roth has stayed true to Hollywood formula and chosen picturesque before personality, and the bigger part has unfortunately been given to Hernandez - instead of Richardson who I thought were more likable, and more interesting to watch.

Spanish director Koldo Serra made El tren de la bruja in 2003. A short-film about a man who agrees to partake in an experiment and suddenly finds himself strapped to a chair in a dark room. He hears metal objects being handled and someone pacing back and forth in the room. When the light is turned on it dawns on him that he will probably be tortured to death. Serras short-film is fifteen minutes long. It was filmed in two days and is scary as hell! Hostel is both longer and has, as it first seems, more story to build on. But it still wants to base the horror in exactly the same sort of scenes as Serras short - and fails miserably! Hostel is, probably, made specifically for an American teen-audience, where drugs and naked women represent half of the movies pull. Blood and bodyparts make up the other half. If you watch this and expect anything more sophisticated than some blood and naked breasts you'll be disappointed.