Torture Horror Follow-Up Is Just Plain Torture
Looking back on older horror films, we may notice the phases that they went through. One example are the cautionary slasher films of the late 1970s and early 1980s that followed the Vietnam era. When looking at the past it is easy to draw parallels between films and their historical context. In looking at the present state of horror, however, it is not so simple. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact trend in horror cinema that will one day be written about by horror theorists ten years from now. But if I were to venture a guess, it would be the recent trend in torture horror. Forget suspense! Projects such as the Saw films and Hostel have taken terror to a different level by constructing elaborate methods of mercilessly killing people off. Obviously this subgenre has been a huge hit with the youth market, but the horror fan inside me sometimes questions this new bloody trend. How long can prolonged torture sequences really succeed with shock value? After seeing Eli Roth's Hostel II, I am hoping not for very much longer.
This sequel opens exactly where the predecessor ended. The survivor from the first film, Paxton (Jay Hernandez) makes a pointless appearance in the first few minutes to tie up loose ends. This is done more ridiculously than the opening of a Friday the 13th sequel, except without the camp. After this intro, we are taken to Rome where three female college students are catching a train to Prague for a little R and R. There is Lorna (Heather Matarazzo), the sweet and dorky one. There is Whitney (Bijou Philips), the sexually-excited one. Then there is Beth (Lauren German), the straight-laced one. I'll bet you can't guess which one is the heroine.
The three girls meet a mysterious woman on their train ride, who convinces the trio to switch trains and take in a Slovakian spa. Of course, this spa is located next to our favorite hostel. The girls check in, meet the friendly staff, and even attend a party. Little do they know that thousands of dollars have already been paid by rich men just waiting to torture and kill them. Of course this means there will be blood.
At first, Hostel II is a film that has its ups and downs. The premise initially appears to be the same as the first, except with females venturing into the house of pain. However, it is then temporarily redeemed by the advent of new characters. We meet Stuart (Roger Bart) and Todd (Richard Burgi); two wealthy American men who have come to Slovakia to sadistically torture the protagonist beauties. With the original Hostel laying the groundwork for the big "secret", the sequel cleverly asks us to empathize with the torturers and the torturees. Unfortunately, just when the film is riding high with this attention-grabbing premise, it plummets hard without redemption.
The film obviously treats its audience to scenes of torture. While watching these scenes, I sat with a sense of awe. Then I realized that Hostel II is one of the first horror films in a while to numb my sense of excitement. As an avid horror fan, I have taken pleasure in seeing people getting decapitated and ripped apart from limb to limb. These are horrific acts, and I enjoyed them guiltlessly. Yet, Hostel II did not amuse me. The torture scenes are quite serious without the campy reassurance to laugh. At the same time, they are not scary or suspenseful. They are simply sadistic and awkward. As a young girl is slashed in various places so her blood can gush down upon her attacker, the scene's stone cold seriousness is reminiscent of something out of a snuff film. Whether or not this is a good thing is really up to the viewer.
I had the pleasure of seeing the original Hostel, and thought it was a decent effort. A lot of this had to do with being amongst a theater full of college students who joyfully cheered every time a person was tortured or killed. The surreal experience of seeing people obliviously revel in the bloodshed of a film commenting on people's sick obsession with violence was both fun and frightening at the same time. Without that experience, I am not sure if I would have even held Hostel in such high regard. However, with Hostel II, I fail to even see the point. While at first I saw the original film as a clever commentary from writer/director Eli Roth, the second is clearly all about bringing more torture horror to the masses for profit. When Hostel II is trying to be scary, it is not scary. When it is trying to be funny, it isn't funny. Instead it pats itself on the back and proclaims, "Look kids, more outrageous torture scenes!" This movie is definitely bloody, but it is far from bloody fantastic.