Hostel 2

(2007) ****1/2

Let me start by saying that I am not of fan of torture porn movies and my tolerance for them has almost maxed out. I find them sick and depressing. They depict mankind as savage animals. According to them, the world is a terrible place and our natural state is chaos. My Hostel conspiracy theory maintains that The Man seeks to a) discourage Americans from traveling abroad and b) desensitize the masses to violence and torture. I lie awake at night in fear of what the average idiot has to say about Hostel 2. Actually when I think about it, it’s probably nothing more than “Yo, that shit’s fucked up”.

Having said that, Hostel 2 is a bona fide masterpiece of its genre and the most terrifying movie I viewed all month. I watched the entire film standing up, frequently pacing around nervously.

Part 2 reveals the enormous scope and inner workings of Slovakia’s infamous torture factory. Like its predecessor, we get to know the victims before they are abducted. There’s Lorna the nerd (from Welcome to the Dollhouse) Beth the rich girl and Whitney the shallow mean bitch. You try not to hate Whitney too much as you know she’s in for a helluva time. The setup is executed to perfection and the movie utilizes the anticipation of dread to maximum effect. Constant phone calls from Beth’s father establish the sense of being so very far away from home and it adds to the mountain of discomfort.

We also get to know their potential murderers. The girls are lured to Slovakia for a relaxing spa vacations by a deceivingly friendly girl named Axelle. Upon checking into the hostel, their passports are scanned and their pictures are uploaded online. A morbid bidding war begins. You see rich sickies all over the world offer what they think is fair for the right to torture and murder a young American girl. The contract is pretty straight forward. Once you sign the dotted line, you must get a tattoo of a bloodhound (the CEO’s favorite pet) and you must kill the victim you paid to kill. Anything else goes. The bidder who “wins” Whitney is an American asshole named Todd, who hears the good news on the golf course. His best friend Stuart gets Beth.

The conversations between Todd and Stuart are almost as upsetting as the actual torture sequences. Todd compares murder to losing one’s virginity in high school. Others can instinctively tell that there’s something different about you. He considers themselves the only normal ones in a fucked up world and his goal is to experience something that only few people will ever experience. [I pondered his words as I boarded a small plane to go skydiving. Just because only a small number of people experience something doesn’t mean that it necessarily should be experienced. Actually I can’t think of any higher compliment to this movie than the fact that it was in my thoughts on the plane, during the free fall and again when I landed.]

And then of course, there’s the torture. The notorious blood bath scene is forever tattooed in my brain and could very well be the most traumatizing 5 minutes I’ve ever come across in a movie. It’s taking every bit of will power on my part not to describe it in detail but I still feel a pang of queasiness when thinking about it.

So I guess I still don’t know what to make of it. To his credit, Eli Roth captured the feeling of utter despair and helplessness. Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, it’s one of those movies that I’m glad to have seen but didn’t enjoy watching, if that makes any sense.