Say what you will but no one does Torture porn like Eli Roth. Those Saw movies are just blatant rip offs of other movies and they suck, but Eli Roth knows what he is doing. Two years ago Hostel opened to unheard of numbers for a movie of its kind and was a movie I really enjoyed on a deeper level than the torture, although the torture was spectacular. So, it is really obvious he was going to take another stab at Hostel hoping to franchise this thing. The differences in the two movies are not subtle, although this one lacks the punch of the first one. Yes, the torture is there, but there is nothing as brutal as the Achilles slicing of the last one. However, this one does have an ass kicking chick in the lead because having guys do it again would be pointless. This movie also gives some focus to the people doing the killing as we watch the process of setting up the marks, the bidding and the mindset of the people paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to torture and kill people.
Beth, Lorna and Whitney are Americans on some sort of art over seas program and they are bored and want to take a trip. Beth is incredibly wealthy but she doesn't want to show it off so when they get invited by the incredibly sexy model, Axelle, they agree to stay in a Hostel. This is the beginning of the end for this trio of girls. See, the entire village of Slovakia is in on the business of killing. Well, they don't kill but they capture innocent young people and sell them to the highest bidder. They provide weapons, costumes and a place to torture and kill them. Their only rule is that you must kill someone before you leave. If you try and leave before finishing your job they sick the vicious dogs on you and the end result is not pretty at all. Like the first movie, we watch the trio of girls being picked off and Lorna is the first to go. She was sold to an older woman who likes to bathe in blood. Yes, and she accomplishes this with some sort of Grim Reaper like Sickle. The scene is brutal and heart pounding because even though I knew this girl was going to bleed out eventually, Roth deliberately slowed the pacing down so we were hanging on each movement of the blade down this poor girl's back.
The focus will often switch to two American men, played by Desperate Housewives alum and they get to kill Beth and Whitney. Todd and Stuart are two normal looking guys but secretly they want to kill. Todd feels excited by the prospect but Stuart is not quite sure he can do this. Do you get where this is going? The worst moment in this film is when it turns into so many other movies where the loud excited one can't go through with it. See, he puts a power saw into Whitney's face after a truly hilarious moment and he flips out, and the aforementioned dogs clean him up. Stuart though is ready to kill, mostly because Beth looks like his wife and it is obvious Stuart does not stand up for himself. Beth does a pretty good job of realizing this and submits to him, hoping to distract him. It works and the end of this film brings yet another interesting insight to who Eli Roth is what he believe about the human race. See, Beth buys her way out because money can truly buy everything. However, she has to kill before she can be let go and she slices Stuarts fake looking penis off, feeds it to the dogs and coldly says "Let him bleed to death." In true Hostel fashion she also gets back and Axelle by taking an ancient battle axe to her neck and taking hr head clean off. Again, Eli Roth proves that if given the option to just get away or to kill the one who made your life hell, human beings will always go for the kill! This is not as good as the first one because it doesn't quite have the same feeling as it. My heart didn't race nearly as much here and I didn't cringe as much, but there are still enough gore moments to satisfy my gore quotient.
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