Hostile

Hostel (2005)
Directed by Eli Roth, Screenplay by Eli Roth

I can't believe I'm going to defend Hostel because for the longest time I resisted seeing this film because of how I feel about the very idea of "torture porn" and because it didn't seem on face value to be much more than another misogynistic gorefest with the added bonus of xenophobia thrown in for some variety.
Curiosity, though, led me to stumble into seeing parts of Hostel, Part II and then later going back and seeing the first part to make sense of what I was seeing.
What I got was a gorefest with some misogyny and a large chunk of xenophobia thrown in. I also got a surprise, because somewhere in there was a well-made and thoughtful film. Granted, if you sit through a film once and then listen through four commentaries a certain Stockholm Syndrome (or Bratislava Syndrome) sets in. But at the very least Hostel is interesting enough to warrant some discussion and more arguments.
Somewhere in Hostel is a thought that equates paying for a person to provide pleasure (i.e. prostitution) with paying to cause pain to a person or, even, to kill a person.
And somewhere on top of that we who watch the fictionalization of these things are implicated in the business of pain entertainment.
The problem with Hostel is that it’s very difficult to critique a thing by showing the very same thing, which I suppose is the conundrum of attempting to introduce a peculiar kind of societal critique while reveling in gore. And this is the tension that animates Hostel--it exploits the desire to see sex and violence and explicit recreations of gore while it carries a criticism of the thing we're watching. Maybe the best explanation is that Eli Roth seems to want to express disgust with the idea that people would pay to torture and kill other people but considers the fictionalization of such things to be pretty cool and relatively harmless.

So here's the setup: three mooks are having adventures in Amsterdam. The two Americans are clearly doing a summer in Europe kind of thing and somewhere along the line they picked up an Icelandic Eurotrash guy to make things even wilder. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) seems to be the asshole of the bunch. Josh (Derek Richardson) is the nice guy who won't stop talking about his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him and dumped his sorry ass. And Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) is the self-styled "King of the Swing" and instigator of mad activities. Our American ambassadors of freedom and hope (and Icelandic sidekick) are already bored with the hash bars and now they're looking for fun of the female variety. First they hit up the club scene, where Josh wears a fanny pack (containing all their important documents) thus preventing him and Paxton from getting laid. Oli, meanwhile has already texted pictures of himself having sex with a girl in the club's bathroom. This is the point at which I already don't care if Oli lives or dies because while I'm sure that the drunk girl (who knows, maybe she's sober) in the bathroom consented to get rear ended by an older Icelandic man in a cramped toilet I'm pretty sure she didn't expect to have that moment memorialized in a photograph to be shared with every backpacking foreigner in Europe.
The wonder boys then get kicked out of the club because Josh ends up in a fight with a long-haired Legolas lookalike. At this point the boys begin to use the adjective "Israeli" to describe how kickass they are. This is an adjective which I can only imagine is one more Lebanese fiasco from fading out of fashion the way that "French" and "menacing" were decoupled after Waterloo.

At any rate, now they really need to get Josh laid so they head to the famous Red Light District where they do some window shopping and then Oli pays for the three of them to have some fun. Josh and Oli double team a prostitute (in tasteless, but cinematically brilliant silhouette) while Josh wanders from room to room in the brothel. He hears some loud noises and, feeling chivalrous, opens a door into a bondage room where he is told that if he plans on staying he'd better be paying. The important lesson here is that if you're in a brothel and hear someone being whipped, just keep moving. Josh ends up in a room with a hooker with a heart of gold who talks to him fairly gently and then when she's looking the other way he just leaves. At this point I regained some sympathy for Oli who paid good money for a Dutch prostitute that Josh wasted without even offering to pay him back--or even admitting that he didn't do anything. So far, the film is pretty much a standard European student tourist adventure film.
But then our boys are locked out of their hostel because they've made it back past curfew which sparks a street battle with angry Dutch neighbors. Finally, they climb their way back in through the hostel window with the help of a friendly Slav named Alex (Lubomir Bukovy). Now, this is where things start going awry, because they come back to the hostel and there's a couple doing it in the back of the room while everyone else is casually conversing. This is the equivalent of wading in water nonchalantly while sharks bump into your leg. At a certain point in life you really have to make the choice to find somewhere else to be. Me, I'd go into another room. Alex, Josh and Paxton just sit and have a conversation. Oli sits on the bunkbed next to the copulating couple. None of these people is a reasonable human being.
Then Alex suggests that if our crew is looking for some gin-y then Barcelona is played out and where they should go is to Slovakia where he knows a hostel swimming in local women. To prove his point he pulls out his digital camera and shows off a bunch of pictures of himself having sex with some attractive women. This is the point at which I would have to say, "Thank you, mole-face (I forgot to mention that Alex has a distracting mole on his face) for your help in getting back in to the hostel but I have no desire to have sex with anyone who would go near you and your ugly mole." Instead, Alex spins a yarn about how Slovakia is aching for foreign penises since all their men were killed in the war. And this is the point at which whatever respect you might have had left for these men should disappear because none of them says "which war?" Not even the Icelandic dude. This would be the part where one might suggest that a summer spent backpacking across Europe will do nothing for increasing an American's knowledge about the world. (This bit is nicely counterpointed by a moment in Hostel Part II.)
Now, there are turning points in every life. And like I said, this is the part at which a reasonable person would look at Alex's picture, then look at his mole face, then look at Oli and the randy naked couple in the bunkbed and then calmly ask how he let things get this far and then, just as calmly, pick up a brick and bash his own head in.
But not Josh, Paxton and Oli. Nope, they're on the train for Bratislava where they meet a nice Dutch businessman (Jan Vlasak) who eats some meat covered salad with his hand and then proceeds to put his hand on Josh's leg prompting a quite understandable bit of homophobic hysteria. The Dutch guy and Oli show each other pictures of their daughters. This is when we learn that A) murderers have children that they love and B) Oli is way too old to be running around Europe with a bunch of American students. I have to say that this scene is one of the things to admire about this film because the Dutch guy later does some horrible things, and when we see that we have to remember that he has a family and he's not some sort of supernatural slasher lurking in the woods waiting to kill promiscuous teenagers. And that's the thing that makes this film that much more disgusting, because it's about ordinary folks who save up money to go and murder other ordinary folks.

Anyhow, the boys arrive in Slovakia to find the place a mixture of picturesque old architecture and decrepit abandoned industrial wasteland. But then they get to the hostel, which looks more like an abandoned chateau where the smiling idiot desk clerk (Milda Havlas) greets them with too much friendliness and then sends them up to their room which they discover that their roommates are a pair of hot women who invite them to the sauna. This is where you learn the most important life lesson of this film. If something seems too good to be true, then it is too good to be true. (The corollary to this is that the worst horror you can imagine is probably not as bad as the worst thing someone else is actually doing.) And while the whole atmosphere of the sauna seems to ooze friendliness and loose behavior, sane people should always have a puritanical streak in the back of their heads that should say, "yeah, but how much is this going to cost me?" I mean, it's all good and well to believe that people somewhere in the world are more comfortable sharing their sexuality freely, but still...you have to have a peculiarly American combination of naivete and arrogance to assume that you're going to roll into nowheresville and find the world's most attractive women throwing themselves at you.

Now, we're a good way into this movie and nobody has been killed and we haven't even caught a hint of violence. (Except for the bit where Oli shows off the face he's drawn on his buttcheeks--which did violence to my eyes.)
The boys head out to the bar with their super-friendly acquaintances Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova). Oli hits it off with a girl from the hostel front desk, Vala (Jana Havlickova) and he shows everyone his swing dance moves, thus proving that his self-styled nickname actually was in fact an unimaginative and quite accurate description of his preferred method of dancing. But say what you will for Oli, at least you can believe that Vala would actually dig him in some way. I mean, you're working a crap job at a hostel in Slovakia and some Icelandic dude rolls in and can swing dance and is kind of funny (give or take) and also knows some old timey Russian tunes and has a decent singing voice. And while Paxton is an asshole, I have ceased to be surprised even in real life when a moderately attractive asshole manages to make time with an attractive woman. But the alarm bells should go out when Josh does everything he can to make sure he shouldn't be getting any and still doesn't repel his "date." He won't stop talking about his ex-girlfriend. He leaves the girl to go talk to the Dutch guy from the train and apologize for being such a homophobe and even puts his hand on the Dutch guy's knee. At this point there is no earthly way that any woman would be attracted to Josh. But Natalya and Svetlana are obviously bait--really attractive bait. There's a chilling moment during the subsequent encounter when Natalya and Svetlana just look at each other that tells you everything. Whatever pleasure they may or may not be getting is pointless. They're doing a job. Is it an exercise in misogyny to create a story where women are nothing more than bait? Maybe. But something to keep in mind is that we meet another pair of victims in the lobby of the hostel--two Asian girls. They certainly weren't lured in by the promise of desperate Natashas. I'd like to know how they ended up there. (Hostel Part II goes a long way toward explaining it.) At any rate, it shows a certain depth that it's not simply a matter of women luring men to this hostel. It's foreigners in general who are the problem.

So the dream night ends and when they wake up Oli is nowhere to be found and now the whole tone of the film moves into dark nightmare territory. Keep in mind, that at this point we're nearly halfway done with the film and still haven't seen an act of violence. Josh and Paxton go looking for Oli and end up in a museum of torture implements. Nothing bad actually happens there but they do see someone walking around in Oli's parka. Now they're creeped out. Kana (Jennifer Lim) shows the boys a texted picture of Oli and her friend Yuki (Keiko Seiko) which the guys find strange given Oli's expressed dislike of Asian girls. Paxton and Josh are freaking out and now the only thing missing is "People Are Strange" playing in the background to complete the picture. The first gruesome thing we get is a shot of Oli's detached head on a spike. And now we know what's up. The hunt is on and the quarry is on alert but still unaware of the scale of the threat.

And to make the whole place that much creepier we are treated to a bunch of little street kids demanding gum. Even the kids are menacing.

So it turns out the hostel was just a funnel to get young, relatively attractive people into the torture chambers where people pay good money (to Elite Hunting) to kill someone in elaborate ways at their own leisure. The glimpses we are shown are quite enough to establish the horror show going on there. Still, Roth leaves something to the imagination. Sure, he shows us a guy about to sever Yuki's toes, but instead of showing it he cuts over to Kana clipping her toenails. Despite the well-earned reputation for making explicit gore, Roth knows that sometimes the imagination fills in a horror show quite well enough.

Anyhow, just when you think that Josh is the most likely to survive, he disappears. Paxton is left running around town trying to track down Josh, who we next see in a torture chamber at the mercy of the Dutch guy from the train. The Dutch guy wanted to be surgeon, but he's got shaky hands so he's going to live out his dream by cutting open Josh. It's like Fantasy Island for sick sick people. Needless to say, it's too late for Josh. He's not going to make it out alive. Sorry kids, but sometimes nice guys do finish last.

Paxton, meanwhile, goes to the police who creep him out with their pointed lack of helpfulness. When he goes back to the hostel there are new girls who look like the old ones. When he finally tracks down Natalya and Svetlana they look like strung out heroin junkies--which makes sense given their day jobs. Natalya takes Paxton to the "Art Gallery" which is an abandoned warehouse/torture chamber. From here on out it's all about Paxton trying to escape, and in doing so revealing more and more about the operation of the place.

In a ludicrously violent scene Paxton loses several fingers to a guy with a chainsaw who then slips on some blood and cuts his own leg off and dies. This is how Paxton manages to escape. He hides for a while in a cart full of body parts that is taken to an incinerator by a hunchback. (You can't have an underground murder tourism operation without a helpful hunchback.) In the cart Paxton sees the remnants of Josh.

Takashi Miike, the Japanese director of films that would make you cringe, vomit and cringe again makes a cameo as a satisfied customer on his way home. (He is credited as playing himself, which I presume means that if there really was a place where you could pay to murder people Takashi Miike would pony up the yen to try it out?) And, just to reduce the xenophobic aspect of the situation, we meet another customer, a genuine American asshole with money. Paxton ends up shooting the guy. He also manages to rescue Kana, who unfortunately has had a blowtorch applied to her face and now has an eyeball dangling out which Paxton helpfully cuts off. This is by far the nastiest piece of work in the whole film. Now it's all about making good the escape. Paxton steals a car and heads into the city, where he sees Natalya, Svetlana and Alex the moleface standing in the middle of the street. He guns the car into them killing Svetlana and Alex instantly and when Natalya tries to get up she is finished off by the car that is chasing Paxton. As if this bit of revenge fantasy isn't enough Paxton then manages to find a bag of gum in the car which buys him the support of the street kids who proceed to ambush and stone the chase car, caving in the heads of the thugs with cobblestones and bricks in the process. Paxton and Kana make it all the way to the train station where Kana sees her reflection and jumps in front of a train. She does this, presumably, because she doesn't consider life worth living if she looks like that (and only has one eye, to boot). The question is: does she do this out of shock? Or is it an indication of the value she as a person places on her appearance? It's easy enough for Paxton to be shocked because his missing fingers will presumably not destroy his life.

At any rate, Paxton makes it onto the train and gets out of Slovakia only to see the Dutch guy in a train station further down the line. He follows the guy into the bathroom and proceeds to give him a swirly and cut his throat.

So, for all the legendary torture and blood in this film it was for the most part a long story about exploitation (wrapped in an exploitative package) which turns into an action escape story at the end with a big dose of revenge thrown in. While the gross parts are very gross they are put into some serious context (where all of the violence has lasting consequences) the overall effect was of a good ghastly story. It certainly wasn't the useless gratuitous film I was expecting to see. For those who think that any representation of violence breeds more violence, then maybe the problem is that making a good film where such violence is necessary to the story only opens the floodgates for more violence and constant escalation. The thing is, that while you can see that the filmmakers had fun creating the physical representations of the violence, you also have to admit that it's layered into a pretty thoughtful bit of storytelling. If every film like this was this well done then maybe this subgenre would be better. As it is, Hostel stands out as being a good film in a bad genre. As for those people who would watch such a film and really enjoy the gore and the torture--well, it's like trying to pin the blame for alcoholism down. Sure, without distillers there'd be no alcohol, but there'd still be people looking to get drunk out there. I don't enjoy torture porn, but I'm reassured by my distaste for and disgust at it. On the other hand, I can't deny that this is a good story. The contradiction there is something to think about.

Bonus Features

Commentaries
You have to be a serious cinephile to sit through 4 commentaries on any film, even if you really love it. I have to admire Eli Roth's dedication to his craft and the seriousness with which he takes his films that he bothers to put so much effort into explaining his films in so many commentaries. I know there is a school of thought that says that no film should require so much explaining--you either do it in the film or you don't. But I suppose there's something to be said for footnotes and scholia and commentary and frankly I am impressed with Roth's commentaries so I feel like I should make special mention of them as being integral to the appreciation of this film.

1. Eli Roth with Executive Producers Quentin Tarantino, Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel
In this commentary Roth explains how after the success of Cabin Fever he was at a career crossroads where he wasn't sure if he wanted to be known solely for horror films, but ultimately decided that he was okay with that to some extent because he wanted to make films he would like to see and that if that meant the industry would pigeon-hole him as "that guy" then so be it. Thus came Hostel, which Tarantino thought was Roth's opportunity to make his Miike film. I'm not sure why anybody would need to make their own Miike film, but there you have it. This commentary solidified my feelings about Quentin Tarantino (he comes off as more than a bit of an ass, personally, with somewhat distasteful appetites, but he does know a lot about films and he is quite supportive of Roth, which is very generous on his part). Roth comes off as intelligent and earnest. All in all, this is an interesting round-table on the ideas contained in the film and the origin of the project itself. It's not a bad crew to have doing commentary on other people's films, frankly.
2. Eli Roth with Barbara Nedeljakova, Eythor Gudjonsson, Editor George Folsey Jr. and Web Author Harry Knowles
Okay, this is one of those annoying talk-show style commentaries where the guests keep rotating out and Eli Roth is the host. While this gives people a chance to talk about their experiences without so much interruption as you get in a mass group commentary it ends up being disconnected from the film itself and you lose the sense of watching the film with the people doing the commentary. This is especially true with Harry Knowles who has a phone conversation with Eli Roth in this commentary. What is this, a call-in show? Important knowledge gleaned here: sniper (pronounced sneepur) is Icelandic for clitoris. Harry Knowles is brought in as a thank you for being so instrumental in creating the buzz around Cabin Fever. So if you hate Eli Roth movies you can blame Harry Knowles. This does raise the question of just how much power in shaping taste is vested in a few people like Harry Knowles who can control the bully pulpit in favor or against a given thing. At any rate, if you're going to do a talk-show commentary you should at least observe some of the forms by having an opening monologue and musical guests.
3. Eli Roth, Producer Chris Briggs & Documentarian Gabriel Roth
A pretty decent commentary. I like that Eli Roth gets his whole family involved. We learn a lot about the goings on in Central Europe and we get a sense of just how constrictive it is making a film of any size in the US with the production unions--which nearly crippled Cabin Fever. Thus, a lot of Hostel was determined by Roth wanting to make a film outside of the US and away from those pesky unions.
4. Director Commentary w/Eli Roth
This commentary is especially useful for filmmakers. It's essentially a continuation of Roth's Cabin Fever director solo commentary (which was Eli Roth's Guide to Filmmaking 101.) You can think of this one as Eli Roth's Guide to Filmmaking 102. Personally, I'm enjoying taking the Eli Roth Film Tele-course.

Hostel Dissected: Part 1
Pre-Production
There are some great shots of Prague here. (And look, the Gastrocentrum is catered by Aramark.) I don't know which I like more, the shots of Prague or the backstage shots of the effects which help demystify the violence. This is a very detailed and instructive look into the making of the film. Cesky Krumlov is a fantastic town.
Part 2
The production itself. Again, it's really great to see how the effects gags work. And we get to see Eli Roth's parents on the set. Also, there are porn stars.
Part 3
More production fun and the alternate ending and then the post-production fun begins.
Combined with the commentaries, Hostel Dissected is a great primer on the making of a film.

Kill the Car! (Multi-Angle)
By far the coolest of the special features, it allows you to use the "angle" button on your remote to cycle through 3 different camera angles of the scene where the street kids destroy the car. This can provide for hours of endless fun for the whole family.

Previews
1. When a Stranger Calls
When the stranger calls ask him to see this movie and then let me know how it was.
2. Silent Hill
If I drove into an abandoned mining town and found a copy of this movie lying around in an abandoned Woolworths then maybe I'll see it.
3. Underworld: Evolution
You can't get enough Kate Beckinsale. This is literally true.
4. The Cave
Based on the story by Plato, this film was part of the onslaught of evil cave movies from a few years back.
5. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
You'd hardly know that actually this is a courtroom drama. That scene in the classroom where everyone's face turns evil gets me every time.
6. Boogeyman
I sometimes get the suspicion that this film might have some signigicant insight into the idea of unresolved issues from childhood, but I just can't bring myself to pick up a copy of a movie called Boogeyman and watch it.
7. Ring Around the Rosie
Why is it that the mirror gag always works in horror films? I'm almost curious enough to see this one to find out what it's all about, but I have the same issue with making the effort that I have with Boogeyman.
8. The Fog
Maybe that remake of The Fog wasn't as lame as I remembered it, but then again maybe it was.