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**Minor content spoilers**

Hostel part 2 (2007) + article/rant!

Dir: Eli Roth

Three girls, the rich but down to earth Beth (Lauren German), fun-time sex kitten Whitney (Bijou Phillips) and the shy and muddled Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) are travelling around Europe between art classes.
When they meet the alluring but mysterious Axelle (Vera Jordanova) the girls are persuaded to take a detour to a little Slovakian village to take in the relaxing hot springs.

Little do the girls know though that when they reach the village hostel they are already the subjects of a sickening bidding war between the rich and sadistic clients of a powerful and well connected organisation that kidnaps young, foreign, back packers to take part in the ‘entertainment’ it provides at a disused factory for those who can afford it.
The entertainment they provide is the chance for the highest bidder to torture and eventually kill the person of his choice, in any way they wish.

By the time two of the winning, would-be thrill killing, clients, the uncertain Stuart (Roger Bart) and the revved-up and arrogant Todd (Richard Burgi), arrive at the village to enjoy their first chance at murder the three girls are already in the trap that’s about to be sprung….

 

Initially (and very satisfyingly) carrying straight on from the finale of the first “Hostel” film we already see that writer/director Roth, because the mystery of what happens in the village and who is involved has now been revealed, is attempting to widen and open up the scale of his sequel.
And as “Hostel part 2” leaves the original movie’s hanging strands behind to settle down into it’s own plot the additional input of those involved in running the organisation and the two would-be killer clients adds more interest to the (once again rather overly long) build-up that was missing from the first movie.
Once again the cinematography and set design is top notch with the warehouse used as the killing pleasure park just as creepy and dark as it was the first time around.

In fact the film can’t help but be better than #1 for it’s first half purely because instead of following around some obnoxious jock scumbags you can’t wait to see tortured, we instead have some likable (and often very attractive) girls to follow who you actually care about to some degree at least.
Added to this we are now able to show more of the shadowy ‘organisation’ that arranges the killings, which not only means we have those additional characters to watch but far more interesting scenes can take place, like the worldwide bidding sequence as the girls are put up for auction, instead of the utterly pointless frat activities in Amsterdam that have nothing to do with anything in the first film.

There’s also a very nice and amusing cameo by “Cannibal Holocaust” maestro Ruggero Deodato as one of the day-tripping killers, in a sequence that delivers the most enjoyable gore in the film.
And fans of vintage Euro Trash will love the rare modern sighting of the iconic Edwige Fenech (looking absolutely stunning!) in a fun cameo as an art class teacher.

This time though Roth sadly goes in completely the opposite direction from the first film as far as throwaway female nudity goes, with only one justified in the context (and grimly serious, see below) nude scene in the film.

And unlike the first film the finale is rather low key and certainly not as frantic and enjoyably chaotic. There is also less gore and torture in general on show in the latter part of the movie.
But what we have is well handled and suitably gratuitous and is mostly pulled off with some good FX work by ‘KNB’.
The FX do fall down in one crucial scene though, where a surprisingly graphic genital removal scene loses it’s shock impact (despite the loving and surprising, close-up detail we are given) because the cock and balls look like a solid latex lump. But the casual tossing of said genitalia to some nearby dogs (“Caligula” lives) recovers some of the grotesque punch.

But where Eli Roth really delivers, as do the FX guys, is in the infamous ‘bath’ sequence.
I don’t care what people say on Internet message boards, who instantly hate Roth for simply breathing, this sequence is quite frankly the most sexually sadistic, grim, grotesque, cruel, unpleasant and realistically gory moment seen in any film for years which has got any kind of mainstream, widespread, public high profile release.
Certainly the ‘Unrated’ version on DVD (though I understand not that much was trimmed anyway for an ‘R’) is truly and delightfully uncompromising in what it shows and how it shows it.

And on a side issue, given that the BBFC in the UK have officially said that they no longer cut violence from adult films unless it is of an explicitly sexual nature it is amazing indeed to see such a sequence passed uncut for high street sale.
If a sequence involving a naked, gagged female victim hung upside down from chains above a sunken bath, as another naked woman slowly slashes the screaming victim’s body open with a scythe, and masturbates in the blood that showers down upon her nakedness, before (via truly superb and shockingly realistic FX work) slitting the girl’s throat like a slaughtered lamb on some back roads farm, to writhe in orgasmic pleasure as the blood literally sprays and gushes over her face, breasts and vagina, isn’t sexual violence I don’t know what is!
"Hostel part 2" has actually shown up both the BBFC and the MPAA as being utterly pointless and fatally inconsistent.

This one jaw droppingly exploitative sequence aside though “Hostel II” does sadly pull it’s punches a bit afterwards, plus the getting of the main girl, Beth, into the factory is needlessly overlong and drawn out and the movie lacks a really bombastic ending (though it’s fun and satisfying enough), of the kind that actually saved the original film.
But the fact that the would-be victims are actually likeable enough characters who are perfectly finely acted, that Todd and Stuart are entertaining and quite intriguing (especially Stuart, where Roger Bart is obviously having great fun) and because we are given more interesting (actually to do with the plot) events and secondary characters to watch this time means the build-up is far, far better than the first film at least.

The perfect “Hostel” film?
Well on a basic level it’s the first half of “Hostel part 2”, the ‘bath’ sequence from “Hostel part 2” and most of the final half of “Hostel part 1”.
But both films are worth a look and #2 is in fact much better than the general mob hate on the Internet (something that also wrongly swamped “House of a 1000 Corpses”) would have you believe or the relative lack of major box office would elude to.

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Additional, related, article:

The fact is Roth’s “Hostel” films (despite their numerous and sometimes looming faults) and especially Rob Zombie’s first two films - two figures of hate it seems - have delivered far more than anything in not so recent memory that has come from the likes of Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, George Romero and John Carpenter (and yes, I have been a big fan of some of them for years, and love certain films by them all).

Carpenter has delivered nothing but empty stale nothingness for about 17 years, Romero has done nothing to remotely touch the greatness of “Day of the Dead”, Hooper is basically a one (glorious) hit wonder and has done nothing of any worth at all since the flawed “TCM 2”, Craven did nothing but dross after “NOES” until the wrongly maligned “Scream” but has done nothing of worth again since.
So why all this hate for the likes of Roth and Zombie?

Anyone that knows me, knows I worship Horror and Exploitation from the late 50’s to the early 80’s and I’m basically a retro/old school type of Horror fan.
Genuine 70’s ‘Grindhouse’ cinema (including those notorious hardcore sex/horror cocktails) is in fact a genuine passion of mine.
I loathed almost all of the Horror output during the 90's and still dislike a huge amount of what we are offered today.
But even saying all that I can’t see any justification for the hate aimed at 21st century Exploitation newbies like Eli Roth and Rob Zombie.
Roth has made just 3 films, as has Zombie…give them a break (even if there was no need for a damn "Halloween" re-make).

Let’s see how Roth can improve and move on, lets see if he can distil what’s very good in his films from what’s repeatedly bad to create something really special and hopefully even more uncompromising.
Those glorious halcyon days of 70’s explicit Exploitation and extreme Horror are now gone and can never be repeated. But the future of extreme Horror and Exploitation could be in far worse hands than Eli Roth and Rob Zombie. There! I said it!

In fact with Exploitation films and extreme/ traditional Horror films also in the radically varied hands (as either directors or producers, frequently or only occasionally or even when beset by problems) of Danny Boyle, Neil Marshall, Fred Vogel, James Gunn, Edgar Wright, Greg McLean, a possibly re-newed Stuart Gordon and (hopefully) Jim Van Bebber etc, etc (plus the relaxing of what gets passed by the censors), there is still a bright future for the Horror/Exploitation genres (and "Hostel parts 1 & 2" are unashamedly Exploitation films and not really Horror movies, which also gets forgotten by too many people when they compare them to vintage, straight ahead, Horror greats)and if we can actually embrace the diamonds, even those with highly noticeable flaws, in the mounds of crud we are surrounded by and let them know their toiling is recognised, instead of simply spitting venom at them for daring to exist while laughably still exalting anything John Carpenter has touched since “They Live”, perhaps all is not lost.

Hell, I'd take a million 21st century "Hostels" and "Houses of a 1000 Corpses" over any example of 90's dross like "Shocker", "Urban Legend" or "Dr Giggles" anyday.
I'd even take them over another stinking heap, spewed from those once great and mighty genre figures, along the putrid lines of "Crocodile", "Bruiser", "Scream 2" or "Vampires".