# Eli Roth's "Hostel" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143 "2006-01-09T13:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/1 "2006-01-09T13:10:27Z")
I went to see Eli Roth’s “Hostel” a couple of days ago; thought it would be a nice flick to take my girfriend to. I was actually looking forward to it somewhat, having heard that it was the “scariest American movie in a decade”. Saying I was hugely disappointed would be an epic understatement: the acting is bad (which was expected, but… sheesh!), the plot is just stupid (again… not unexpected but the sheer level of stupidity blew me away) and the suspense is absolutely nonexistent. There is a difference between a “Horror Movie” and a “Splatter B-movie” and “Hostel” has much more in common with “Cannibal Holocaust” than, say, “What Lies Beneath”. Strangely, a lot of potentially gory scenes were surprisingly clean to begin with but it seems that as the script progressed, the writers realised there was absolutely nothing interesting in the film and threw in an orgy of blood, bones, vomit and puss to cover the last half hour. None of which i found terribly impressive, mind you. I wasn’t expecting much from Eli Roth but what suprises me the most is why Tarantino would want his name associated with this waste of a film in any way; I suppose he may be a fan of old gore movies but if this was supposed to capture their spirit, it failed miserably, IMHO. So… anyone else seen it? Liked it, perhaps? I don’t know what more i can add here without spoiling the movie for someone else but I’d be interested to hear what you fine people thought of this …movie. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/2 "2006-01-10T01:25:30Z")
I liked it, despite myself. I knew exactly what to expect from Eli Roth. All right, there was a bit too much nudity for my liking (because they shot in Eastern Europe, according to Eli Roth), but it is what it is: An old school teen horror with juvenile comedy and LOTS of gore. I’d hate for anyone to go in thinking it’s going to be anything but. I liked Hernandez and I thought the premise was novel. I found it more gross/exciting than horrifying, but what can you do? As for Tarantino’s involvement, well, there was a dash of **Kill Bill** -style revenge at some point, so there’s that. Maybe being with Roth makes him feel young. Who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/3 "2006-01-10T03:28:05Z")
If I’d rented it not having heard anything about it I might’ve liked it a bit more. As it was, it was just way overhyped. My wife and I bought into that “scariest American movie in a decade” line too and went to see it opening night. Since the majority of the movie was crap, I’ll point out a few things I thought were good (shorter list.) Here be spoilers… -The two leads did a good job conveying fear/pain/panic in the torture scenes. They weren’t great actors but damn they knew how to scream. -Takashi Miike’s cameo was cool. Probably the only creepy part of the movie. -I liked how the victim got away for once. I’m sick to death of _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ ripoffs where EVERYONE dies and I was going to walk out of the theatre if he got recaptured after getting away. ---
**Author:** ![broken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@broken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/broken)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/4 "2006-01-10T03:43:16Z")
Wow, not exactly a “date” movie, huh? At any rate, i think the extreme amounts of nudity in the first half of the movie became a bit tiresome, but I enjoyed it once things started to pick up. I think the marketing hype of considering it the “scariest movie ever” is a bit much though, although the cringe-factor of some scenes were quite good. The gore reminded me quite a bit of Haute Tension/Switchblade Romance, where the sound effects matched the on-screen images perfectly. I was relieved to find that like his other movie, there weren’t any gimmicks/predictable plot twists near the end. Eli Roth seems a whole lot more promising at this point than someone like Wes Craven, who evidently likes to plaster his name on awful horror movies. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/5 "2006-01-10T08:58:54Z")
[ul] [li]Eli Roth is hot.[/li][li]_Cabin Fever_ was hi. Larry. Us.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/6 "2006-01-10T10:57:55Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > I was actually looking forward to it somewhat, having heard that it was the “scariest American movie in a decade”. Saying I was hugely disappointed would be an epic understatement. I have to say: About the “[warning](http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2006/01/06/1381182-sun.html)” that Quentin Tarantino has been putting about: > [@Quentin Tarantino](#): > > Be careful about the film; you might end up in a hospital at the end of the night, it’s no joke. > > We’ve actually had people pass out at screenings and they had to call the paramedics. (Which also preceeds the trailers.) This is not something that a sophisticated moviegoer (or, in this case, obsessive film-dork) would ever think was being applied to “the scariest American movie in a decade.” _Come on._ This is a reference to the celebrated promotion of William Castle’s [_The Tingler_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053363/). No _way_ is that said without a wink. You hear that, you go into the theatre expecting enough cheese to block you up for a week. You anticipate enough irony to seriously harm a child. You know that what you’re going to witness contains more corn than Uncle Jed’s midnight mash. In combination with Tarantino’s attachment, I’ve been expecting a movie lovingly stuffed full of B horror cliches. One that I’ll eventually watch on DVD, after it finds its way out of the “New Releases” section. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/7 "2006-01-10T12:33:43Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > I went to see Eli Roth’s “Hostel” a couple of days ago; thought it would be a nice flick to take my girfriend to. Is that a joke? Seriously. I mean, I can’t think of a worse flick to take a girl to. Watching naked teen age girls coupled with gore is the kind of thing you DON’T want your girlfriend to think you enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/8 "2006-01-10T13:39:13Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > _Come on._ This is a reference to the celebrated promotion of William Castle’s [_The Tingler_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053363/). No _way_ is that said without a wink. Unfortunately, it’s true. During the intial screenings at a film festival, they had to call in two ambulances. I think the more accurate :dubious: is either what the hell kind of reviewers do they have at the film festivals that shlock like this causes them shortness of breath/chest pains, _or_ were the folks faking it so they could say later “Damn! I had to be carted out in an _ambulance_ it was so creepy!” to make a big name for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/9 "2006-01-10T13:43:15Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Is that a joke? Seriously. > > I mean, I can’t think of a worse flick to take a girl to. > > Watching naked teen age girls coupled with gore is the kind of thing you DON’T want your girlfriend to think you enjoy. Unless she has the same taste in gory movies. Which might creep me out. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/10 "2006-01-10T13:46:05Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > Unfortunately, it’s true. During the intial screenings at a film festival, they had to call in two ambulances. I think the more accurate :dubious: is either what the hell kind of reviewers do they have at the film festivals that shlock like this causes them shortness of breath/chest pains, _or_ were the folks faking it so they could say later “Damn! I had to be carted out in an _ambulance_ it was so creepy!” to make a big name for themselves. Or, were they just studio plants. . . ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/11 "2006-01-10T16:43:01Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I liked how the victim got away for once. I’m sick to death of _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ ripoffs where EVERYONE dies and I was going to walk out of the theatre if he got recaptured after getting away. I actually think that the original ending was exactly like that; they changed it, obviously. > [@Broken](#): > > Wow, not exactly a “date” movie, huh? At any rate, i think the extreme amounts of nudity in the first half of the movie became a bit tiresome, but I enjoyed it once things started to pick up. Why not? Gratuitous nudity was a given… she’s a woman (albeit a fairly young one), not a child! What had started picking up when you started enjoying the nudity, by the way? 😛 > [@Trunk](#): > > Is that a joke? Seriously. > > I mean, I can’t think of a worse flick to take a girl to. > > Watching naked teen age girls coupled with gore is the kind of thing you DON’T want your girlfriend to think you enjoy. Again, what’s the deal? I am a 26-year-old man; you honestly think my girlfriend didn’t have an inkling of a suggestion of a feeling that I might enjoy gore and naked women? Although, to be fair, she was fairly shaken after the movie. I probably shouldn’t have added to that with my talk about how killing young asian women is much more fun with a bicycle chain… women–even my girlfriend–don’t seem to have much of a sense of humour for these things. > [@Bobkitty](#): > > Unfortunately, it’s true. During the intial screenings at a film festival, they had to call in two ambulances. No… friggin’… way. It’s just a movie, dude. At any rate, I think you fine people may be misunderstanding me ever so slightly (yup, the old Alde defense). I’m not saying the movie can’t be enjoyed and I am actually something of a gore-fan. I was not, in any way, grossed out by the movie nor was I offended by the awful, awful selection of plastic on display (I’ve seen my share of eastern European breasts, all of whom were considerably more pleasing, aesthetically, than those in Hostel). It’s just that I was expecting a horror movie. Horror, in the sense of “a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay”, is not what Hostel was written to induce. Being scared and being grossed-out is not the same thing; it’s like comparing Eartha Kitt to Tubgirl (if you don’t know either of these women, please don’t Google them. Just …don’t). This is actually a symptom of the modern horror movie; the gross-out factor has long ago eclipsed any suggestions of creative horror writing. Marketing a gore-flick as a horror movie is roughly as pertinent as marketing Rocco Siffredi’s True Anal Stories XXI as gentle eroticism, basically. What I did like about this movie: -The guy with the doctor’s mask and chainsaw. He actually looked like someone out of a horror movie and his mere presence was a little disturbing. -The fact that the guy who died first died first. Although it was blatantly obvious who the first victim would be from the get-go, seeing him go was a huge relief. Sorry, i thought I could muster up something of a list but that’s all I can think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/12 "2006-01-10T18:09:03Z")
i honestly NEVER expect to be scared by a “horror” movie… i laughed my way through “exorcisim of emily rose” and most of the other movies my wife and her friends seem to freak out during. Maybe i should introduce them to the guinea pig series? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/13 "2006-01-10T18:09:44Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > What I did like about this movie: > > -The guy with the doctor’s mask and chainsaw. He actually looked like someone out of a horror movie and his mere presence was a little disturbing. > > -The fact that the guy who died first died first. Although it was blatantly obvious who the first victim would be from the get-go, seeing him go was a huge relief. > > Sorry, i thought I could muster up something of a list but that’s all I can think of at the moment. Somewhere **Opal** is waiting for the phone to ring. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/14 "2006-01-11T13:55:29Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Somewhere **Opal** is waiting for the phone to ring. Crap, you’re right! I’m not entirely sure how this works… should I extend a “hi” beforehand? pope\_hentai, I was not aware of the guinea pig series but now that I am, I just think I might go a-searching for some of these movies. Looks ideal for a cozy movie night in with my gf. I wonder what kind of snacks would be appropriate, though. The first two movies I watched with my gf were Cannibal, the Musical (which I am seriously considering setting up here as a bone fide musical; translations are underway) and Eraserhead. After the Cronenberg collection and Cannibal Holocaust, I’m running out of ways to freak her out. Poor little thing… 😃 There really aren’t all that many Cannibalism-related movies on my favourites list… I’m not as Albert Fishy as I may seem. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/15 "2006-01-16T03:06:07Z")
I just saw it tonight, and it was I donno, good enough. nothing revolutionary, but sufficiently entertaining that I didn’t leave pissed or wishing I’d rented it. there were enough scenes where I was howling with discomfort to make it worth my time. though, I thought it’d be gorier than it was. for some reason I really pictured some nasty shit going on. and there was nasty shit, but I thought it was gonna be like, skinning people and ripping lips off with pliers. I also thought it’d be pretty suspenseful, but it wasn’t really at all. and holy shit, _Cisco_, I had no idea that was Takashi Miike. that’s fucking sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/16 "2006-01-16T03:50:56Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > Unfortunately, it’s true. During the intial screenings at a film festival, they had to call in two ambulances. > [@Jay Hernandez](#): > > At the Toronto Film Festival two people had to be taken out of the theatre by ambulance during the first torture scene. It is a true story. You can find the ambulance receipt out there somewhere to show some kind of proof but it really happened. Things that are asserted to be “true” in the course of a film’s promotion are not necessarily true. > [@Roger Ebert](#): > > Fargo […] is based on a true story that took place in Minnesota in 1987. It has been filmed on location, there and in North Dakota, by the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, who grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. I was wrong about _The Tingler_, though – it was another great Vincent Price movie, _The House on Haunted Hill_. Promotional material for the movie famously advised theatre owners “Park an ambulance in front of your theater,” and “Have a uniformed nurse in the lobby to distribute ‘tranquilizer’ pills.” And they did. It’s a wheeze. “You can find the ambulance receipt out there or something.” Right. Of course, we can’t find anyone complaining about them exploiting their misfortune, or anything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/17 "2006-01-16T06:42:46Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > Crap, you’re right! I’m not entirely sure how this works… should I extend a “hi” beforehand? I dunno … it’s kind of refreshing when a list is **Opal** -less. ---
**Author:** ![Trillionaire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Trillionaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trillionaire)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eli-roths-hostel/339143/18 "2006-02-27T00:31:22Z")
I saw this last night, and thought it fell well short of what it could have been. I thought the most disturbing scenes in the movie were those that gave us a glimpse into the minds of the warehouse’s “customers,” and the movie could have been a lot scarier if it had focused more on them than on the victims. On another note, does anyone know of a website that gives translations of the non-English parts of the movie? I am particularly interested to know what Jay Hernandez says (in German) to his captor while he’s in the chair.