Hostel (2006)
The Cast
Jay Hernandez .... Paxton
Derek Richardson .... Josh
Eythor Gudjonsson .... Oli
Barbara Nedeljakova .... Natalya
Jan Vlasák .... The Dutch Businessman
Jana Kaderabkova .... Svetlana
Jennifer Lim .... Kana
Keiko Seiko .... Yuki
Lubomir Bukovy .... Alex
Rick Hoffman .... The American Client
Back when I worked in a video store, I'd watch pretty much any movie we had in stock, just because I could or because I had some faint little bit of curiousity about it. That's one of the reasons I watched Cabin Fever back in the day. I'd heard things about it, mostly about the gore and the hot naked girls and because I'm a painfully lonely guy (even back then, it's true), I watched it. I'm kind of desensitized when it comes to those bloody, gore-infused horror movies, and Cabin Fever didn't really gross me out or anything. So when I saw that CF writer and director Eli Roth was behind Hostel, I kind of knew what I'd be in store for if I ever had the chance to watch the movie, but it wasn't going to be something I'd go out of my way to see. As chance would have it, the movie fell into my hands this weekend and I checked it out.
The story could best be summed up as a European horror translation for all those date-rape drug stories. Paxton (Hernandez) and Josh (Richardson) are two American backpackers that meet up with Icelander Oli (Gudjonsson) somewhere in Europe and head off to Bratislava. A Russian named Alex (Bukovy) promised them that there were women there that will throw themselves at American guys. On the train ride there, they also come across a Dutch Businessman (Vlasák) who pretty much echoes what Alex said. Staying at a hostel in Bratislava, they meet the ridiculously hot Natalya (Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Kaderabkova) who just happen to be staying in the same hostel room as the guys. Later, sex, because these are European women and everything is way more open and slutty over there.
Mysteriously, Oli never shows up the next day and the two Americans spend the day looking for their wayward friend. Suspicious things start happening, the film throws a few bloody clues your way, and then it gets really gory. I'm not going to mention anything else about the plotline because it actually works fairly well in that thriller way, even though it's a bit predictable. You have a feeling you know what's going to happen, but the movie takes a few shocking routes to get there.
I have to say that Jay Hernandez has become a far better actor than I ever thought he was capable of when I first saw him in Crazy/Beautiful all those years ago. He's a magnetic prescence on the screen for most of the film, though he kind of ends up reminding me of a fat Tony Danza when he puts on a suit near the end of the movie. The blood and gore and horror of the movie are well played by all the actors, and I have to say that the nudity in the movie isn't portrayed in a relatively shocking hot manner. It's Europe man, it's just natural for girls to be sitting around topless all the time and the film conveys that fairly well.
For the second time this weekend, I was fairly surprised by a movie I had initially dismissed as garbage. Hostel certainly isn't for everyone, and it's not going to win any major awards for anything (well maybe make-up effects), but it didn't offend me as a human being. See, I know there are sick people out there and for the most part this movie didn't glorify them in the way that movies like The Hills Have Eyes revel in. It's a fairly entertaining movie, with an alright story pushing it along.
3 / 5