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Created Nov 09, 2007 10:01PM PST • Edited Nov 09, 2007 10:01PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   We begin the movie with Paxton (Jay Hernandez) from the first film. He managed to escape the torture chamber. He is now hiding out at his girlfriend’s grandma’s house. Paxton has nightmares every night about what happened to him and that it really isn’t over. Soon after this, we meet up with our new protagonists, Beth (German), her flirty friend, Whitney (Phillips), and their over-protected and somewhat nerdy acquaintance, Lorna (Matarazzo). They are all art students studying in Italy. On their way to a trip to Prague, they meet up with Axelle (Vera Jordanova), a woman who modeled for their art class. She convinces the girls to join her on her spa trip to Slovakia. They have a fun time at first. Whitney is hooking up with another person staying at the hostel that they are. The three of the girls go to a festival. Two different men are talking to Beth and Lorna. However, Beth is smart enough not to get too close, unlike Lorna. Against Beth’s advice, she leaves with a guy on a boat ride. This is where things go extremely down hill. The guy Lorna was with works for the same torture-chamber that Paxton was a victim of as was the guy talking to Beth. Whitney soon is captured as well and set up for a brutal and horrifying death.
   The sub-plot with the two new torture members immediately gave me respect for Hostel Part II. The lack of this in the first movie was one of my biggest problems with it. The relationship and nature of the two friends, Todd (Bergi) and Stuart (Bart), who had recently decided to do this was very interesting. It showed how someone can be human and still go this far out of their way and commit this much to giving others pain. Todd was the only reason Stuart was even doing this. He was his friend and wanted Stuart to do it with him. Todd wanted this so he could feel power, so he could feel in control, so he could feel dangerous and have people fear him. This makes sense with his amount of wealth. Money is also viewed as a powerful thing, making others lower than you. This is the point where greed was taken too far and turned in to something completely evil. Stuart is like the nerdy kid in school that gave in to peer pressure. You can tell he really doesn’t want to do kill people. It is getting to be too much for him yet, he is too afraid to tell his friend what he really wants. He gets trapped and is soon to face horrors as his friend and their victims will.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   The acting was very well done. There were many people who went through significant transitions through out the film. Heather Matarazzo branched out through her role in the film. Her character was naive and somewhat annoying. What she ends up going through is such an intense scene that she really gives a good performance. The killers in training played by Roger Bart and Richard Burgi, contradict each other. They communicate their reasons for doing what they do and let us inside their heads even when they have different views on the situation.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Hostel Part II improved on the pacing drastically in comparision to the first film. We were introduced to the horror immediately. The opening scene is a nightmare from a victim. This tells us that running is going to be hard, the torturers will do whatever they can to win, and hope will be scarce. It also set the tone for the movie. When we met our new protagonists, we had enough time to get to know who they were without wasting too much time. They started to have fun, but were taken advantage of. Deception is a huge part of the film and was the whole reason why they were there in the first place. They trusted people that they really shouldn’t have. It teaches you not o be too trusting, because everyone has secrets. It’s amazing how Stewart had a normal conversation with Beth, as if he liked her, knowing that he was assigned to torture her. With the context of this movie I can really appreciate the circumstance. Torture chambers are one of the most horrific things in existence. I always found it shocking how anyone could actually enjoy it like in the old days when there would be public hangings or beheadings. This was entertainment to them and the torturers get a similar pleasure as those who sentenced deaths did, it gave them power and made them feared.

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Obscene 5.0

    Hostell Part II is an extremely gory movie. The torture scenes are very brutal. It falls in to the “torture porn” category. This is the first time where this title might actually fit. In the torture chamber, there is a scene where a woman is basking in a victims’ blood. It becomes something almost eroric; the torturing of one turning the woman on and in turn making her put my force in to murdering.

17. Sex Explicit 5.0

18. Violence Monstrous 5.0

19. Rudeness Vile 5.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 3.0

    There is so much killing in this community that it is everywhere. People almost expect it. There is a group of wild and beastly children who attack people. The kids help trap for the torturers. They help them, but the killers think nothing of the children. They would kill one without a second thought and death is something that is becoming normal to these young children. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grew up to be torturers themselves. There seems to be a cycle going on. The rule at the torture chamber is no one walks out of the doors without killing someone. It would be a very rare thing for someone to escape and if they do then there is no guarantee that they won’t be hunted. No matter what, they aren’t going to the police, because most likely they would have had to commit a crime or two to escape from then. The only hope is living a life in isolation and fear while others go through the same traumatic experiences as you did, but die, leaving the door open to constant future victims.

    As a sequel, Hostel Part II had to follow a certain pattern. It was logical that we meet the characters, they go on a trip, met some shady people, and is tricked in to a torture chamber. We are expecting this and we are expecting them to die horrible deaths. Eli Roth knows this and plays along with the pattern for a while. Then he changes things around a bit. I don’t want to give anything away since like the first, the ending to the film is the best part. The ending is a very good look at what is really in human nature; how one event can change everything. It shows that sometimes image isn’t everything. Sometimes if you are pushed far enough you will do anything, things you thought you never thought you could and become the opposition of who you are.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Surreal 3.0

24. Physical Surreal 3.0