Hostel

Okay, this film got hyped beyond belief, or at least beyond what it could live up to. Now having said that, let me continue to qualify my comments by reminding you that I grew up (and that's ALOT of years now) watching horror films. I have tracked them from the innocent, to the exploitive, to the gorey, to the suspenseful, and right on up til now where nearly everything is a remake. In short, I've seen my share of horror and not much catches me off guard anymore. To its credit, Hostel is at the very least, NOT a remake. Now, it ain't totally original either, but it does manage to buck some traditional horror movie stereotypes and cliches. First? It doesn't fall back on the totally overdone and ridiculously used chick hero cliche. That alone makes it a leg up on some other horror films. By now you all should be aware of the premise, but in case your not, here's the skinny: Upper class yuppies touring Europe looking for girls stumble onto secret members only club where ultra-rich, depraved men get to act out their sado-masochistic/murderous fantasies on real live people.The hook? Our traveling hero's end up as the fodder for the afore mentioned crazy rich guys. One cliche that is increasingly overused is front and center here again in Hostel. That being the dripping walls, dank, dungeon like netherplace where all the evil stuff goes down. Think about it, how many times have we seen this setting played out in modern horror films? Somebody needs to come up with a new twist on the ol' torture chamber motif. You want some pretty intense, graphically gritty, gore? Well, Hostel serves it up pretty good, and the director is fairly judicious in letting some be left to our imagination (always the scariest way!). Much like Wolf Creek (which I liked a bit better) you just can't count on all your lead actors to make it to the end of the film. This is a pretty cool trend that I track back to Jeepers Creepers (still freaks me out that the brother gets dead in that film!!)
Now, as the film meanders passed the hook (pardon the gratuitous pun)it takes a turn into action/chase scene territory, and for several moments I felt like I was watching the Borne Identity, weird. Theres some fairly decent revenge motive payoff when our hero gets some payback on the baddies that set him up, and this sort of stuff is always fun.
But as a drop jaw horror classic, this one leaves alot on the table, I'm sure unnecessary sequels are already being scratched out somewhere in Hollywood and my guess is they'll be about as good as Saw II, which just didn't cut it. If you've got a couple of hours to kill, or watch some killing, then Hostel won't completely kill your buzz, but it ain't gonna help it much either.