By Valentina Silva

A project resulting from a conversation about “the sickest thing you could possibly find on the internet” (director Eli Roth’s own words) is likely to be disturbing, but Hostel spares no qualms in throwing every graphic detail at its audience.

Torture hasn’t been fashionable since the UN setup a convention against it in 1975, but the recent rise in its popularity is sure to be fuelled by Hostel. It’s sure to be a success at the box office with its ‘Tarantino presents’ tag, but it calls into question why we watch these movies. The graphic scenes that distinguish this niche are the very ones we don’t want to see – we bite a finger and watch through strained winces as Achilles heels are slashed and faces blowtorched - Surely we won’t see... oh... yes, we will. In showing us everything – the scream and the detail of its cause – the psychological element is undermined and the director leaves no room to play upon our own, individual, fears. This is a shock film rather than a horror story and leaves us disgusted rather than afraid, but it certainly succeeds in provoking a reaction.

Paxton and Josh (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) set off on a backpacking European adventure picking up Icelandic party-animal Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) along the way. In Amsterdam; drugs and sex top their agenda but they are lured into traveling further East by the promise and digital photos of orgies offered by a fellow traveler. The secret hostel buried far from the tourist trail and where the ‘girls love Americans’ is beyond their lusty teenage expectations: The palatial lobby leads to the room they are to share with Natalya and Svetlana (Barbara Nedeljakova and Jana Kaderabkova) who make them very welcome from their first meeting in the sauna. It’s all going well, too well, for the trio, but it transpires that budget backpackers aren’t the only thrill-seekers in the area.

Europe's not all clean fun and excitement as demonstrated in Eli Roth's Hostel. (Featured above Rick Hoffman and Jennifer Lim).
What is the ultimate thrill that money could, but shouldn’t buy?

The comedy of the film’s first half flows well, and we are whisked through what seems anotherteenmovie as beautiful women fall into the trio’s path and perfect breasts abound. There are no signs portending to the horrific scenes that lie ahead. We are drawn into the fantasy of the movie and its characters, but the charismatic personalities are peripheral; Oli, the Slovakian Urchins and even The American Client, distract us somewhat from the protagonists’ plight for survival, and without them onscreen Hernandez and Richardson struggle to hold the audience.

Having unsettled our stomachs, Roth returns to entertaining us at the film’s climax, with well-wrought memorable moments. Rick Hoffman’s performance as The American Client is wonderfully disturbing - we laugh at his nervous childish excitement as he psyches-up to take on the power-role of torturer. Ironically though, it is ourselves we simultaneously ridicule, for we too have paid to be spectators to the violence. The torture is very graphic. Nothing is sacred; from eyes to toes, no detail or limb is spared. Roth breaks new ground in presenting realistically everything we didn’t want to see.

It’s all out there, whether on the internet, in darkest Eastern Europe or in Eli Roth’s Hostel – every craving can be provided for.

Hostel is rated "R" and opens in theaters Jan 6th.