Hostel
by Eli Roth
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DVD details
Actor: Barbara Nedeljakova, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Jan Vlasák, Jay HernandezDirector: Eli Roth
Producer: Eli Roth
Writer: Eli Roth
Producer: Boaz Yakin
Producer: Chris Briggs
Producer: Daniel S. Frisch
Producer: Mike Fleiss
Producer: Philip Waley
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 94 minutes
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate Films
DVD Reviews of Hostel
DVD Review: Exploitation Film, Yes; Great Horror Film, No.
Summary: 1 Stars
After being assaulted during the late hours of the night before the new year with all the TV ad runs for this movie and reading some of the reviews on here, I finally decided to see the movie this weekend. In short, it was a very nauseating experience-not because of the gore but for the underlying pseudo-political message behind it.
Yes, the movie is "gory," to use the trite description already worn down from usage on here and is clearly an exploitation film. But it is hypocritical, as someone already has pointed out.
As the review Aramis Gutierrez below writes, this film supposedly is making some political statement about American tourists and American politics, particularly at the use of torture. That is what we are suppose to believe at least from the producers and the dim-witted audience members like "Gutierrez."
Gutierrez describes the film as a "reverse exploitation film," citing that Americans are the main consumers of Eastern European porn, in which Eastern European nations exploit their own young women sexually. This is only partly true, as most of the porn produced in Europe is actually bought by mostly European nations.
Frontline had done a piece a while back on porn in America, which accounts for the great majority of porn produced in the world. Moreover, it is not a poor little Ms. Love-ya-long-time Asian woman or some poor young Russian barely legal teenager that stars in these films. A large part is made by middle America and catered to middle America. Moreover, and this is the most important thing to keep in mind, these are adults of consulting age that have willingly gone into this "career."
In Europe, in contrast, it is true that many are forced, mislead, or sold into sexual slavery-and as rare as this is fortunately, it does happen. But it is these women's country men (and in some cases women) who do this-not America.
As for the now infamous Abu Ghraib torture case mentioned below, most of the incidents were actually acts of sexual humiliation, such as forcing naked men to pile on one another or perform mocked sexual acts. There was no torture anywhere the likes as portrayed in Hostel being undertaken. Moreover, America was not only disgusted by the Anu Ghraib incident it was ashamed and outraged, and those (arguably) primarily responsible, at least the direct physical perpetrators, were severely punished and imprisoned, including I may add a female guard who actively took part in these shameful acts.
Additionally, while American clandestine forces may torture, usually they ship off people of interest to countries to do the torture for us, such as Pakistan. The premise that an American is worthy of torture simply because he or she is an American (or wahtever country) due to their nation's secret policy is flawed and not likely to generate a sympathetic eye-for-an-eye sense of retribution. If an American or other foreignor was, say, of the same equivlent of an Al Qaeda operative, then we're talking the same equivlency--and not when the person in question being torutred is merely a tourist backpacking across the country side.
Yet all of this is besides the point, for Hostel is not making any real political statement but using some ill-generated excuse and some ill-established unarticulated apologetic for what is essentially a gratuitous 40 minute soft-porn movie, using the native female actresses of the country they are so poorly portraying in the film. Yes, this is exploitation, but it isn't the "reversal" that "Gutierrez" alleges and so much took pleasure in watching. If we are to accept the premise by "Gutierrez" that this is an exploitation film, then it is only Eli Roth and Tarantino and Americans such as "Gutierrez " who have exploited these women in delighting to see them naked on the screen. Does anyone think these actresses are going to be remembered for their pathetic acting? They were only chosen for their naked flesh and nothing more by Roth and Tarantino and everyone knows this.
The next half portion of the show is then just outright gratuitous violence, in which both an American client and various European male clients torture everyone-Americans and non-Americans and with no real particular emphasis. Yes Americans come at a higher price to torture, but what are we to make of the American client who is paying the highest price, $50,000, to torture an Asian woman? There is no hidden deep message here; the film is only meant to sicken you depending on your sensitivities.
Personally, I found the movie annoying for its flawed presentation and subjecting me to a cheap low budget porno flick and the at times almost unbearably bad acting. Even the dumb idea that literally hundreds of people are being killed off and no one seems to notice cannot be ignored for you to suspend your disbelief without sporting a grin of ill-amusement at how stupid the film truly is.
As for the gore in Hostel, this is not as gory as in say High-Tension or the Saw series, which actually have a story plot and more than passable acting capabilities. Many scenes were blurred and at the end the film suddenly shifts gears, turning into an action movie, where the most obnoxious and least likable character goes on a rampage and kills seemingly more than all the torture clients and in pretty equally violent measure.
Bottom line, this is not a film with a hidden socio-political message as is being claimed by "Gutierrez" and some others. It is quite simply an exploitation film featuring nothing more than gratuitous sex and violence for no other point that to show sex and violence. That's it. It should not even be in the horror genre but somewhere between the soft-porn category and the blood-gore category.
Lastly, as someone put it, this is truly a "garbage" film. I somewhat disagree, for a documentary film on garbage disposal would have been more entertaining. And when all is said and done, the movie proves to be actually a bit racist and inarguably xenophobic and even sexist and misognistic (particularly for the case of the female Asian) in the portrayal of foreignors being nothing more then seedy degenerares and women being nothing more than means to be exploited sexually, used as sexual lure, or horrifically tortured to death.
If there are character flaws to be found then in a supposed "American" culture mindset, it is not of an equal opprobium to be shared by all Americans. Rather, the film exposes the particular exploitive, xenophobic, sexist thinking of Roth and Tarantino and truly dumb American audience members like "Gutierrez" who think something profoundly insightful is being said and wonderfully exposed about foreign political issues.
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