Once the girls' are "captured" and sent to the factory, things take off very quickly. I found their character arch's believable and clever and to me, this aspect is the main thing that this sequel offers that you won't find in the original.Ĭonsidering how meticulous and calculating the pace of the first half is, what happened next is a bit surprising. If you think you know what's going to happen with the two of them by the end, you'd better check your expectations at the door because chances are Roth is going to dash them. ie real human beings that are afraid of the impulse to kill but who seem unable to control it.
Instead of a die-hard, black hearted killer with no remorse, we see these men for what they more than likely would be in real life. It's nice as a viewer in a film like this to see the director actually try and give these characters some nuance. Todd, on the other hand, is a coked up alpha male who can't wait to get to the factory and "dig in" so to speak. He has obvious ill will towards his wife that he's itching to take out on a hapless victim, but he seems to need a push from Todd every step of the way. Stuart seems skiddish about the idea at first, yet at the same time oddly fascinated. There are major contrasts between these two characters. Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives) plays "Stuart", an uptight business man who has been pushed into making the trip to Slovakia by his friend "Todd", played by Richard Burgi (24 season 1). It's at this early juncture that we are introduced to two characters that drive most of the events of the film. From early on you can tell Roth is planning on exploring the themes behind this concept a bit deeper. It's more than a bit shocking (and surprisingly comedic) to watch this go down while most of these guys are shopping with their wives or hanging with their kids at the beach. A clever scene early on shows a gaggle of business men competing on an Ebay like website for the right to torture our lead characters (whose passports are scanned and uploaded at their arrival to the hostel). which is something that we'll touch on later.Īt the same time we are seeing these girls venture through europa (while increasingly sinister things happen around them) we are also treated with a lot more insight to the kind of people who bid on the right to torture and kill another human being. What the opening act does have in common with it's predecessor is pacing. So instead of getting beaten to death with "breasts and drugs", we're seduced with the artsy side of European culture right along with these women. His camera glides through the ancient streets of Europe and lingers on artful images much longer than one might expect.
Instead what we have here is (dare I say it) a mature Eli Roth film. I was worried when I read this beforehand that much of the "rawness" that I enjoyed so much about the original would be gone this time around. Instead of hash houses and whore houses, these girls seem more interested art classes and cultural festivals. The differences between the first acts of both films are apparent from the very beginning. Overall I liked these women and was sorry to see what happens to them. She's also killed pretty awfully, which was hard for me to watch because I had unexpectedly began to care for her and her wide eyed romantic view of Europe. Heather has made a career out of playing awkward characters like this and she's a definite stand out here. The real wild card is Heather Matarazzo as Lorna, the bookish prude who seems to be holding the other two girls back early on. Bijou Phillips is suitably passable as the horny wild child, although she turns out to be little more than fodder in the end (and doesn't get naked for the first time ever). Besides being rich (which is glossed over early on) her character isn't all that fleshed out, but she does well with what she was given.
Lauren German is solid (and cute) as the lead in the film. This time around, instead of following 3 randy American guys trying to score some ass in Holland, we follow three yankee girls trying to soak up some culture while in Europe. Surprisingly, it succeeds at many things. As a sequel "Hostel: Part II" aims for something a little higher than the original. Eli Roth made one thing clear over and over while out promoting "Hostel 2", this will not be a rehash of the original "Hostel." In many ways, the man is absolutely right.
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