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.   

  

The Green Inferno (2013)

It's Tuesday night at Casa de Sambuca.  Scream King is working very late, so much of my evening was spent cooking naan pizzas and watching Power Rangers Jungle Fury.  My son loves Power Rangers in all its iterations, and every time you think you've seen them all, a different one pops up on your Netflix suggestions and you wonder what your life has come to.

Anyway, I've had The Green Inferno on my radar for a while, because come on, Eli Roth, man.  Inspired by movies like Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal Ferox, Green Inferno follows a group of college protestors into the Amazon, where they are fighting to protect the rainforests.  Upon arrival in Peru, the group, who assumed they'd just be hugging trees and taking some cell phone videos, see that they are in for a much more dangerous mission.  Justine (Lorena Izzo) is the daughter of a lawyer for United Nations, and quickly realizes that she may have been brought along for protection, due to her political affiliations.  After a run-in with the local militia, they believe they've made it out safely.  But small planes loaded with twenty-somethings and booze aren't always to be trusted, and as we may have expected, there be cannibals lurking in this here jungle.

Now there are no longer actually any cannibalistic tribes left in the Amazon, but regular old tribes wouldn't make for a very exciting movie, now would they?  Things happen as you would expect.  People get locked up in makeshift cages, people get killed, people get eaten for lunch, etc.  There is also this whole female genital mutilation storyline woven in, which is one of the more terrifying parts of the movie.  Additionally, they find out that Alejandro is not what he seems, and his motive is not really saving the rainforests anyway!  So he's probably the only one in this group that deserves to be eaten by cannibals.

Apparently Eli Roth used all real Amazonian tribe people in the movie as actors, and some even worked on the crew.  As for the other actors, he wouldn't even let them audition until they agreed to work in extreme conditions -- brutal heat, no bathrooms and tons of creepy crawlies.

I'm not sure what I was really expecting, but I liked this movie.  Sure, cannibals in the jungle isn't really breaking new ground in the horror genre, but the authenticity behind it really added to a pretty good storyline, some action and good old people-eating.  Although it's no classic like Hostel, Eli Roth fans should check this one out.

Hostel (2005)

I've had an Amazon Prime membership for several years now, which I use mostly for the free shipping.  A while back, they introduced the Amazon Prime Streaming Video Library, which, if you already have streaming Netflix, is actually pretty useless.  However, while browsing for some free workout videos, I was fucking delighted to find that they are streaming Hostel, which for some reason, I have never reviewed.

I remember when this movie first came out, in the early days of torture porn, when the sub-genre was all fresh and new and exciting.  Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth were a lethal combination and Hostel was the movie that everyone was talking about.  Of course, it was notorious that two people had to leave the premiere in ambulance due to being so affected by the torture scenes.

I love to travel, and I adore horror movies about wanderlust gone wrong.  I never did the whole traveling around Europe thing, and I've never stayed in a hostel, but I just love the concept of this movie.  In case you've lived on Mars for the last decade of horror, Hostel is about a couple of Americans (Josh and Paxton) and their Icelandic friend Oli, who are hanging out in Amsterdam when they hear about an area (and corresponding hostel) in Slovakia which is apparently overrun with beautiful women.  Of course, they head there immediately without question.

Upon arrival, they find the hostel is too good to be true.  They are sharing a room with two gorgeous girls, and the place comes equipped with a giant spa filled with topless women.  They party with the girls, and declare the excursion a success.  However, they can't seem to find Oli, and become increasingly worried throughout the day.  But in the end, they decide to go to the disco with the girls anyway, since they are taking off for Barcelona the next day.

But of course, by this time they realize that the hostel is literally too good to be true, and is actually a cover for a crazy operation where rich people can pay to torture and kill people.  As you would guess, to do this to an American is actually the most expensive.  The blood and gore in this flick is cringe-inducing, and holds up well, even well after torture porn wore itself out.

There are lots of feelings you get from watching horror movies, but one of my favorite ones is the "trapped in the open" vibe.  When any of the characters are wandering around looking for their friends (prior to being in the warehouse), it's not like they're locked in a physical tight space, but trapped all the same.

There are several striking/chilling moments in this movie (SPOILERS!): when Paxton speaks German in the warehouse, when the girls are in the pub with no makeup on, when the Achilles tendon gets sliced, hiding in the cart of dead bodies, and the dangling eye OMG THE EYE.  I also distinctly remember cheering in the theater when Natalya, Svetland, and Alex got their due.  In a genre where things get old in an instant, Hostel holds up well as a horror classic.  

Movie News: A bunch of people sign on for Hostel 3

Ugh, give this franchise a break, seriously.  I heard about this news today because I was doing a little thinking about Hostel.  Much like Saw, the awesomeness of the original has been pretty watered down by sequels.  I really ought to give Hostel a rewatch, but in the meantime, it looks like they're making a third one.

Eli Roth will not be involved with this abomination, but some recognizable actors have signed on.  Let's see:

-John Hensley (Matt from "Nip/Tuck")
-Brian Hallisay ("Bones")
-Sarah Habel ("Party Down")
-Kip Pardue ("The Rules of Attraction")
-Skyler Stone ("The Island")
-Thomas Kretchsmann ("King Kong")
-Chris Coy (Barry from "True Blood")

This time, the slicing and dicing will take place in Las Vegas where a bachelor party goes horribly wrong and likely ends in gratuitous torture porn and other such nonsense.  Blah.  How can they keep calling the freakin' thing "Hostel" when it no longer has anything to do with actual hostels?!

Movie News: OMG, the Thanksgiving script is being worked on as we speak!

Screw The Last Exorcism.  All I care about is Thanksgiving.   Eli Roth recently did an interview with CinemaBlend and gave us the updated scoop:

"I’ve been working on the script with my co-writer, Jeff Rendell, who plays the pilgrim in the trailer," Roth tells the site. "And it’s me imitating Jeff’s voice [for the narration]. But Jeff has been working. I said that his deal is he has to work on the script while I’m promoting The Last Exorcism, and as soon as I’m done in mid-September, he’s going to fly to California, we’re going to sit down, and bang out the script."


Woohoo!  I am so excited about this flick.  Thank goodness we have the grindhouse goodness of Machete to hold us over until then.  Also, don't forget that the Grindhouse Double Feature is being released on special edition Blu-Ray on October 5.  It has tons of special features including the making of the Thanksgiving trailer.

Cabin Fever (2002)

Strangely enough, I've never seen Cabin Fever.  I really love Eli Roth and yay, disgusting flesh-eating viruses, so it's weird that I've never gotten around to this flick.  But now it's out on Blu-Ray and that's the only excuse I really need, so let's check it out.

I feel like Cabin Fever was expressly written to be a cult-like 20-somethings movie a la I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, et al.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  This movie is rife with sex, booze, and endless cliches and that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it.  It's also chock-full of homages to horror classics, from the infamous cabin in the woods (Evil Dead) to the fact that the crew is listening to "The Road Leads to Nowhere" (The Last House on the Left).

Cabin Fever is about a group of college students who head to a remote cabin post-graduation.  There's Paul (Rider Strong) who harbors a secret crush on close friend Karen (Jordan Ladd), insatiable couple Bert (James DeBello) and Marcy (Cerina Vincent) and annoying macho tagalong Jeff (Joey Kern).  We even get a fun cameo by Mr. Roth himself.  They stop in a random general store to buy beer, and are harassed by the store's owner, as well as bitten by some strange kid.  But, the group moves on, excited to start a week of partying with no classes or distractions.

They arrive to find that the house is in good shape, but quite secluded.  Paul and Karen take off to go swimming, which Bert and Marcy lock themselves in the bedroom for some adult fun.  Jeff, in his typical fashion, takes off to shoot squirrels.  On said shooting expedition, he runs into a bloody vagrant who begs for help.  Jeff ignores him and returns to the house.  Later that evening, the group's fun is interrupted by a knock at the door.  It's the creepy guy again, looking worse for the wear.  They try to get him off the property, but instead, he bleeds all over everything, destroys the car, and takes off for places unknown.

From here, things pretty much go downhill for our happy campers.  With a non-working vehicle and no phone, there's no help to be found as Karen falls ill.  The remaining healthy friends search for nearby help, but to no avail.  They begin to turn against each other as things become bloodier...

This was a fun and gory movie, and I liked it.  Sure it had some amateur elements and you could have cut the crazy pancakes kid and some other nonsense.  But it was a good time and I'd definitely see it again.

photo source

Movie News: Eli Roth gives us a Thanksgiving update!

Eli Roth is out pimping his new flick, The Last Exorcism, which recieved a disappointing PG-13 rating.  Next up on his plate is Endangered Species, but of course, all I'm concerned with is the state of Thanksgiving.  The Bear Jew himself spills a bit on the project. 

From DreadCentral.com:

“I’ve been a little busy with finishing up The Last Exorcism, and Inglorious Basterds took up more of my time than I’d anticipated,” communicated Roth, “but my co-writer is working on the script and he’s supposed to come out this summer so that we can finish it together. We are outlining it right now, and so far in the first twelve pages we have thirty-nine kills, so we have to cut back a little! It’s a little too much! But yes, it’s an idea that doesn’t let me sleep at night, so I have to do it before I die, or my life will be a failure.”


Woohoo!  Something horror fans are actually anticipating is moving forward!  Perhaps a holiday 2011 release? (maybe that's too ambitious, but a girl can dream)


photo source

Movie News: White Meat, Dark Meat...All Will Be Carved

Thank you, Eli Roth. You have made all my wildest horror dreams come true. Thanksgiving, the much loved "fake" trailer from Grindhouse, is being made into a feature-length movie. Looks like it's not being released in a double feature with Machete as was originally suspected. Release is slated for 2011, so we've got a while to wait. Maybe they'll bump it up for the fourth Thursday in November....2010. A girl can dream, right?