HOSTEL

The film follows a trio of friends who are backpacking across Europe checking out all of the sites. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) is the cool motivational friend, who wants to have a good time and always knows what to say; Josh (Derek Richardson) is the geeky friend who if he could pull the rod out of his ass could get some sweet Euro-tail; and Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) is their Polish friend whom they met on the trip, who is now tagging along with them- he's a freaky, and yet fun, nut job. As they head through their various tourist spots they come across a 'pimp' who tells them of this place that's filled with hot women just aching to get boned- it's a teenagers Toys R Us, only it's FREE! Only when this trio gets there they find out they’re in for much more than lots and lots of boobies.

Hostel can be separated into two categories: Euro comedy and horror-thriller. The movie begins like a low budget spin-off of Eurotrip and then evolves into a high budget Takashi Miike film. I had a good time and laughed at a few jokes building up through the first 45 minutes, but kept asking myself "what the hell is going on?" and "why do I care?" But once you find yourself cringing (in a good way) through the second half, you understand that a lot of the early segments in the film where set-ups for extremely juicy pay-offs. There's a joke about the children in the town and how they'll kick your ass for some bubble gum, which ends up being one of the highlights of the film. I can't go into detail without ruining the movie, but this climatic sequence is not only funny, but disturbing at the same time.

But what everyone is dying to know is it really as disgusting, brutal and violent as we're being led to believe? First off, I was shocked the MPAA didn't slap this with an NC-17 rating, second off Hostel is truly special because it's not the gore that makes it good, it's the suspense. To explain Hostel's violence in one sentence I'd say it's "suspenseful, but not quite brutal," but I still found myself biting my knuckle quite a few times.

Some of the scenes shot were eerily similar to James Wan's Saw. I'm not being negative in any way, I love the way Saw was shot and I thought that the scenes in Hostel's dungeons were beautifully executed. There's a scene at a club/bar early on in the movie that was easily the worst shot of the film.

The acting in the film was at times was great. Jay Hernandez was fantastic and really carried the movie on his shoulders. He was convincing and showed his heart was in the right place throughout. The same can be said about Derek Richardson and Eythor Gudjonsson who were also tremendous in their supporting roles. But the real gold of Hostel was Jan Vlasak, who played a business man on a trip to the same place. He took the role of the main villain (even though he might not quite be the real bad guy) and creeped me out on a level only Hannibal Lector could do.