Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of Hostel

Devan Sagliani

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Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of Hostel

Last week marked the 10th anniversary of the theatrical release of Hostel by Eli Roth, one of the more controversial horror movies of all time - and a personal favorite.

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CecilT

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Great write up. Glad to see there are still some folks who appreciate this movie and see how revolutionary it was, rather than just "torture porn". (a term I can't stand)

I love the movie. My brother in law does a lot of traveling and a few years after Hostel he went to Prague. He proceeded to send me a picture of his head with the words "I go home" underneath. :)
 

Kenjitsuka

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"Roth, whose only previous work was a slasher called Cabin Fever,"
Cabin Fever was great too! Quite visceral, and with a brutally witty plot!
Just like Hostel, then.

I agree with all you said, especially that part 2 is far better.
 

Darth Rosenberg

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CecilT said:
Great write up. Glad to see there are still some folks who appreciate this movie and see how revolutionary it was, rather than just "torture porn". (a term I can't stand)
What's wrong with the term? It's easy to see how films like Saw deserve a title that implies dismissal (I've not seen Hostel, and from the sounds of it, I have no desire to), so it seems fair.
 

CecilT

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What's wrong with the term? It's easy to see how films like Saw deserve a title that implies dismissal (I've not seen Hostel, and from the sounds of it, I have no desire to), so it seems fair.[/quote]

Its a way of brushing a movie off, as if the only thing it has is gore and nothing else. They are dismissing the story and everything in the film beyond the violence. Often, these movies only have a few violent scenes that are there to punctuate the story and make it that much more visceral. It impacts the viewer because the violence is so brutal and not the "violence off screen" nonsense you get with a lot of Pg-13 movies. It makes you as the viewer, have to deal.

Also, the original Saw doesn't even have that much violence in it. Its just the few scenes that it does have are incredibly intense. People remember it being more brutal because of how it was presented. The sequels did go down a more mean spirited path but even those I wouldn't call torture porn.

To me the term is just a lazy way of describing a violent horror film. Besides, most folks that use the term would lose their minds if they ever tried to watch any entry in the Guinea pig series.
 

09philj

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CecilT said:
Great write up. Glad to see there are still some folks who appreciate this movie and see how revolutionary it was, rather than just "torture porn". (a term I can't stand)
I disagree. I'm more inclined to agree with Mark Kermode's opinon that it's inconsequential and dumb schlock. I'm not especially against inexplicable sadism as the principle source of fear in a film (IE Audition), but Hostel isn't a particularly clever or interesting example of it.