Eli Roth made his name with 2003's Cabin Fever, a reworking of 70s horror slashers and then followed it up with last year's Hostel in which the gore factor was increased even further. Having been taken under the wing of Quentin Tarantino (who 'presents' this latest sequel and who chose Roth to make one of the faux trailers for his recent Death Proof), it seems that Roth's stock is very much on the rise. A shame then that his latest work shows signs of being creatively stunted.
It's difficult to ascertain who this festival of maiming and torture is aimed at. Anyone expecting Roth to provide a dose of contemporary cool horror is going to be disappointed as a succession of weak scares fail to thrill, and the reliance on simply cutting off a character's limb becomes boring very quickly.
The plot is one commonly used in straight to video horror films as a trio of American girls tour around Europe and are persuaded to go to Slovakia by a mysterious and seductive femme fatale. Needless to say they are soon kidnapped and used as bait to lure rich businessmen eager to slay them in the most graphic ways imaginable.
Without the budget this would have little going for it, but the cast do a good job of keeping a straight face, or a lopsided one when a drill is in the near vicinity. It's thoroughly predictable and all very depressing.
Hostel received a hostile reception at the US box office and it's likely that after a small flurry of interest the same thing will happen here. Audiences are receptive to new developments in their favourite genres, but unfortunately they are not going to find any here.
Paul Hurley
