Hostel

Alternate titles : None.

Tagline : "Welcome to Your Worst Nightmare."

Two American students, Josh and Paxton, are sampling the delights of Holland, whilst backpacking round Europe with an Icelandic friend, when someone advises them that if they want some real fun, they should head over to Slovakia and try one of the Hostel's there.

Notwithstanding, they duly head on over to Eastern Europe and find a nice looking Hostel in the Slovakian town of Bratislava. After checking in, they can't believe their luck. It seems virtually all the girls there are lusting after them, and they are only too happy to indulge in the party atmosphere.

They soon realise something's amiss, when their Icelandic friend Oli (Eythor Gudjonson) disappears, apparently gone off with a Japanese girl. Whilst his sudden departure proves little more than odd, the real mystery is why the Japanese girl went with him and left her friend Kana (Jennifer Limb) behind.

But then when Josh goes missing, Paxton realises something is definitely not right. Checking things out further they find the town is hiding a deadly secret, and a place where anything can be bought for a price...

Directed by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) I was quite impressed with the levels of blood and violence in this, some scenes of which will certainly make you cringe, despite retaining a sense of fear, dread and suspense. Gore fans will love it, though it doesn't do the Slovak tourist board any favours.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Over 150 gallons of fake blood were used in the making of the film.
• Director Eli Roth personally apologised to the Icelandic president for Oli's character in the film, saying that he didn't mean to make it look like all Icelandic folk were sex crazed maniacs. The president however just thought it was funny.
• The films budget was $4,500,000.
• Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike has a cameo appearance in the film. He plays the Japanese businessman that Paxton bumps into when checking out the old factory.
• The film was written, directed, shot and released all inside of 12 months
• The derilict interior of the abandoned "factory" (the slaughterhouse), was filmed in a disused wing of a functioning mental hospital in Prague. That particular wing hadn't been used for over 50 years and was where the craziest patients used to be incarcerated.
• The gang of young street kids in the film were ordinary kids from the town.
• The scene where Paxton is speaking to the German torturer he is saying (in German) "If you kill me, it'll destroy your life. Every time you close your eyes, you'll see me. I'll be in your nightmares every night, your whole life. I will ruin it.". In the dubbed German version of the film though, the torturer becomes Spanish and Paxton speaks to him in Spanish
• The part of Oli was specifically written for Eythor Gudjonsson, who was actually the publicist for the Icelandic release of Eli Roth's previous film, "Cabin Fever". Roth liked him so much he said he'd write a part for him in his next film, which he did.
• Eli Roth claims he got the idea for the film from a Thai website advertising "Murder Vacations" where people could torture and murder someone for $10,000. However, he says he has no idea whether the site was genuine or not. But, it seems highly dubious that a real site like that would exist and as no-one else on the web has been able to locate any such site since the films release, this would indicate the story was false.

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