Hostel
Hostel started of like a chick-flick, with Josh and Paxton, 2 American jocks and Oli, an Icelander whom they met in Paris backpacking in Europe, indulging in girls and drugs.
The trio met a fellow traveller in a hostel in Amsterdam who told them of a place in Slovakia where men is so scarce because of the war and the girls all flock for foreign male visitors. Especially Americans, he emphasized.
In the book The Beach by Alex Garland, the protagonist found himself looking for a utopia in the form of a paradise beach after hearing about it from a French couple backpackers in Bangkok.
It's very true. When backpacking, we usually trade stories of places that we felt is worth visiting with fellow roommates in the hostel. That's how I came across the medieval St Michel in France when I heard it from Brian and Oanh, an American and Vietnamese couple, and in Valencia, the Japanese monk Daichi took me to the best paella in town.
It's one of the fun of backpacking.
But the story of horny Slovak girls going gaga over foreign guys is way far-fetched to be taken seriously.
Our screen heroes certainly don't think so and took the train to the industrial Slovakia. During the train journey, they met an elderly man in the same compartment. "I like to use my hands (on food), nowadays people do not have relationship with their food anymore..." I told them, and we got the hint of something evil with the old guy coming up.
So, they stayed in the dodgy hostel in a small town outside Bratislava. When they opened the door to the semi-private room in the hostel, they are met with gorgeous roommates in the midst of changing. "I am going to the spa, care to join me?", they said as they left the room.
True (and fishy) enough, exotic eastern-European-girl roommates take every opportunity to go natural. I have stayed in so many of such hostels, including those of mixed-gender and never have I been into such situation!
Then the disappearing acts. First it's Ollie, followed by Josh and this is where the thrill and gore start, 45 minutes into the film.
Paxton went in search of them and found that they are participating as "exhibits" in an art show. Soon he is at the "museum" which is really a big discarded factory with many torture chambers where the "show" is and found himself facing the same prospect of being slaughtered .
For a horror film, Hostel is nice only after the chick-flick and parade of eastern European chicks in the nude. When the thrill and gore came, we forgive the film for giving such a long introduction instantly.
Though a lot of gore in Hostel happened off-screen, there is still plenty for the audience to squirm on, especially the cutting of fingers and burning of eyes with a blow torch.
As for the lacklustre cast, Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson and Eythor Gudjonsson could only do that much in a horror flick, not that they could do much anyway. I suspect they are auditioned for expression of desperate plea and throwing out when bring tortured.
Hostel is very bad publicity for Slovakia.
While the bleak industrial part and beautiful red-roofed old town with pubs playing dated music are real, the portrayal of bad (and violent) policeman, gang of street kids who robbed foreigner of "dollar" and "bubblegum" are way exaggerated and would certainly slam the country's already almost non-existent tourism industry.
Viewers discretion is certainly needed indeed for the film.
The trio met a fellow traveller in a hostel in Amsterdam who told them of a place in Slovakia where men is so scarce because of the war and the girls all flock for foreign male visitors. Especially Americans, he emphasized.
In the book The Beach by Alex Garland, the protagonist found himself looking for a utopia in the form of a paradise beach after hearing about it from a French couple backpackers in Bangkok.
It's very true. When backpacking, we usually trade stories of places that we felt is worth visiting with fellow roommates in the hostel. That's how I came across the medieval St Michel in France when I heard it from Brian and Oanh, an American and Vietnamese couple, and in Valencia, the Japanese monk Daichi took me to the best paella in town.
It's one of the fun of backpacking.
But the story of horny Slovak girls going gaga over foreign guys is way far-fetched to be taken seriously.
Our screen heroes certainly don't think so and took the train to the industrial Slovakia. During the train journey, they met an elderly man in the same compartment. "I like to use my hands (on food), nowadays people do not have relationship with their food anymore..." I told them, and we got the hint of something evil with the old guy coming up.
So, they stayed in the dodgy hostel in a small town outside Bratislava. When they opened the door to the semi-private room in the hostel, they are met with gorgeous roommates in the midst of changing. "I am going to the spa, care to join me?", they said as they left the room.
True (and fishy) enough, exotic eastern-European-girl roommates take every opportunity to go natural. I have stayed in so many of such hostels, including those of mixed-gender and never have I been into such situation!
Then the disappearing acts. First it's Ollie, followed by Josh and this is where the thrill and gore start, 45 minutes into the film.
Paxton went in search of them and found that they are participating as "exhibits" in an art show. Soon he is at the "museum" which is really a big discarded factory with many torture chambers where the "show" is and found himself facing the same prospect of being slaughtered .
For a horror film, Hostel is nice only after the chick-flick and parade of eastern European chicks in the nude. When the thrill and gore came, we forgive the film for giving such a long introduction instantly.
Though a lot of gore in Hostel happened off-screen, there is still plenty for the audience to squirm on, especially the cutting of fingers and burning of eyes with a blow torch.
As for the lacklustre cast, Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson and Eythor Gudjonsson could only do that much in a horror flick, not that they could do much anyway. I suspect they are auditioned for expression of desperate plea and throwing out when bring tortured.
Hostel is very bad publicity for Slovakia.
While the bleak industrial part and beautiful red-roofed old town with pubs playing dated music are real, the portrayal of bad (and violent) policeman, gang of street kids who robbed foreigner of "dollar" and "bubblegum" are way exaggerated and would certainly slam the country's already almost non-existent tourism industry.
Viewers discretion is certainly needed indeed for the film.