Hostel

Theatrical Release Date: 2006 01 06 (USA)

UPC: 043396141834

Studio: Sony Pictures

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content, Gore]

Summary: Cabin Fever director Eli Roth skips the humor of his freshman feature and goes straight for the jugular in this unrelenting scare-fest about a pair of libidinous American backpackers seeking cheap thrills in the European countryside. Their carefree college days close behind and the responsibility of the real world looming ever closer on the horizon, Josh (Derek Richardson) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez) strap on their backpacks and prepare for a stratospheric last hurrah of booze, babes, drugs, and debauchery halfway across the globe. It's during a visit to Amsterdam that the pair meets up with raucous Icelandic backpacker Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), and after the three globe-trotting thrill seekers catch wind of a Slovakian city whose male population has dwindled as a result of civil strife -- leaving the ladies ready and willing to accept any male companionship that might turn up at the local hostel -- the trio quickly beats a hasty retreat to the out-of-the-way oasis. Upon check-in, the trio is greeted by a bevy of beautiful locals and is quickly convinced that the hedonistic hideaway is indeed the real deal. Hazily awakening the following morning to find no trace of backpacking buddy Oli, Paxton chalks his former traveling companion's disappearance up to capriciousness and prepares for another day of debauchery, despite Josh's rapidly elevating sense of unease. Now trapped defenselessly in a foreign land without any means of escape and no way of anticipating the unimaginable hell that lies ahead, the pair is plunged into a torturous netherworld where the screams of the damned fill the air with dread and the warm rays of the sun are little more than a fading memory. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Horror

Features: Full-length movie
Widescreen presentation
DVD Picture quality

Hostel

Format: Universal Media Disc

Release Date: 04/18/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Runtime: 94 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Jason Buchanan

Cabin Fever director Eli Roth offers a finger-chopping, Achilles heel-slashing, blood-soaked, breast-filled variation on The Most Dangerous Game in this sophomore shocker that shifts the focus from goofy humor to squirmy splatter to nerve-shredding effect. To those familiar with the torture-happy films of Takashi Miike (who makes a humorous cameo as a satisfied customer) or the reprehensible horrors of the infamous Guinea Pig or All Night Long series of films, the sadistic concept that drives Hostel may be familiar and even somewhat pass? by now. Casual filmgoers looking for a simple shock are in for quite a surprise, though, when they find out just how far Roth is willing to go in order to bring these Asian atrocities to the cozy, MPAA-policed confines of the American multiplex. Make no mistake, Hostel has a mean streak a mile wide, but horror is relative, and in the end it's the ability or willingness of viewers to endure the visceral terrors of the torture subgenre that will likely make or break the film for them. The fact that Roth's central trio of horny hikers are so instantly unlikable may make their grim fate a bit easier to endure, given that the viewer is hard-pressed to connect with them on any kind of emotional level, but the gut reaction that one gets when witnessing someone handcuffed to a chair and tormented with chain saws and rusty medical instruments just might not be everyone's idea of entertainment, regardless of whether or not one can relate to the characters. In a time when the multiplex is filled with watered-down horror remakes that strip away any and all social subtexts that may have been present in the original films to simply offer a glossy, jump-scare variation on a familiar central concept, Roth deserves credit for crafting a film that, even if it isn't entirely original, truly is relevant to his generation. It's as interesting to witness the reactions that two young Americans traveling abroad have to their new surroundings as it is to see how those from other cultures react to them, and even if they are little more than sex-crazed, frat-boy caricatures of Western values, Roth is obviously attempting to make a comment on how the U.S. is viewed from an outside perspective. When all is said and done, Hostel is most definitely more interested in making audiences cringe than it is in making any sort of bold political or sociological statement, but the presence of those aspects within Hostel is testament to Roth's successful ability to utilize the genre in a similar manner as Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper (two filmmakers who obviously made a big impression on the fledgling genre specialist) did in the 1970s. Though Roth may not have quite earned the privilege to be ranked alongside those two undisputed masters as a result of his first two features, he's certainly headed in the right direction. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jana Havlickova  Actor 
Katerina Vomelova  Actor 
Nick Roe  Actor 
Kristina Kosunova  Actor 
Veronika Petrova  Actor 
Paula Wild  Actor 
Dan Frisch  Actor 
Radomil Uhlir  Actor 
Daniela Bakerova  Actor 
Miroslav Hanus  Actor 
Karel Hrosek  Actor 
Gabriel Roth  Actor 
Martin Kubacak  Actor 
Vladimir Silhavecky  Actor 
Petr Sadlacek  Actor 
Petra Kubesova  Actor 
Klara Smetanova  Actor 
Alena Chrastinova  Actor 
Miroslav Táborský  Actor 
Petr Janis  Actor 
Keiko Seiko  Actor 
Mirek Navratil  Actor 
Ota Filip  Actor 
Josef Bradna  Actor 
Petra Slavikova  Actor 
Roman Janecka  Actor 
Philip Waley  Actor 
Jan Spanbauer  Actor 
Martina Kralickova  Actor 
Christopher Allen Nelson  Actor 
Hana Dibelkova  Actor 
Zigo Patrik  Actor 
Lubos Vinicky  Actor 
Natali Tothova  Actor 
Jana Semradova  Actor 
Mugi Lhagvadorj  Actor 
Takashi Miike  Actor 
Lubomir Bukovy  Actor 
Vanessa Jungova  Actor 
Jakub Habarta  Actor 
Zina Blahusova  Actor 
Hana Vitvarova  Actor 
Milda Havlas  Actor 
Barbora Oboznenkova  Actor 
Drahoslav Herzan  Actor 
Lord David Baxa  Actor 
Katerina Cervenkova  Actor 
Katerina Henesova  Actor 
Mark Taylor  Actor 
Scott Spiegel  Executive Producer 
Quentin Tarantino  Executive Producer 
Boaz Yakin  Executive Producer 
Franco-Giacomo Carbone  Producer 
Nathan Barr  Composer (Music Score) 
Mike Fleiss  Producer 
Eli Roth  Director 
Eli Roth  Producer 
Eli Roth  Screenwriter 
Christopher Briggs  Producer 
Jay Hernandez  Actor 
Derek Richardson  Actor 
Eythor Gudjonsson  Actor 
Jan Vlasák  Actor 
Barbara Nedeljáková  Actor 
Jana Kaderabková  Actor 
Jennifer Lim  Actor 
Rick Hoffman  Actor 

Country: USA