Hostel Part II (2007)

How is it that I've never reviewed this one?  Hostel was THE movie, right?   I have this awesome memory of an entire theater of people SCREAMING at the part when Pax was driving the car near the end (no spoilers, I guess?)  The original move was one of the pioneers of torture porn, and with that sub-genre in full swing, everyone was thirsty for new movies and sequels of beloved favorites.

Hostel 2 picks up where Hostel left off, with a bleeding Pax traveling on a train from Slovakia.  As the sole survivor of this whole ordeal, he's terrified of being found by Elite Hunting and hides out at a remote house with his girlfriend.  Unfortunately, his fears are well-founded.  Meanwhile, in Italy, three young women Beth (Lauren German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips), and Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) are enjoying a semester abroad, with plans for a weekend in Prague.  Whitney and Beth are close friends, while Lorna is kind of a tagalong.  They run into Axelle, a model from their drawing class, who encourages them to join her on a spa trip in Slovakia instead of staying in Prague.  

The girls end up staying at the infamous hostel, and are having a blast at the nearby harvest festival.  Unbeknownst to them, they've already been purchased by rich torturer/murderers, who are at the same festival, preparing for their imminent deaths.  The torture scenes in Hostel were so shocking (especially at the time), that its a tough one to follow up.  But in the sequel, we're treated to vampire-wannabes, alpha males with circular saws, cannibals, and wife haters with dorky glasses.  And some very realistic dick-slicing.  

This is one of these situations where there's really no way to top the original, especially because the "twist" has already been played, but this is still a good sequel.  The subject of women rather than men is a good angle, although, as a feminist always looking to smash the patriarchy, there was something extra special about seeing men victimized in the original film.