editor
hiraethified
Since when does failing to derive pleasure from mindless, nasty, brutal graphic violence equate to a love for bland TV shite?
QUENTIN TARANTINO presents "Hostel" film (2005)
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miniGMgoit
OverWeightUnderAchiever
The tourture porn name has never really sat well with me.
The devils rejects has been called tourture porn but I didnt see much, if any porn in it>
The devils rejects has been called tourture porn but I didnt see much, if any porn in it>
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Eh, this is claimed a lot but I can't say I find it that convincing from everything I've seen. I suspect it is more just a reflection of the stereotypical dumb attitude to the rest of the world.
On the other hand, as I said, I've not actually seen Hostel.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
no
editor
hiraethified
Nah, its a parody of that dumb attitude, and it exploits that attitude in its viewers. The idea that the rest of the world hates Americans so much that they're willing to pay to torture them to death takes fear of anti-Americanism to an absurd, parodic level.
well, it has a point, you can't ignore it.
I don't like it, I'm not a fan of exploitation cinema, it's always a letdown, reading the plots is fun but the films are always rubbish. But even tho I don't like it, it's not as much as a waste of time as something like Xmen2 or DieHard4 which you forget about before it's even finished...
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
*shrug* I can see the background to the excuse, and I can see that there could maybe be a good film on those lines - I just don't believe it. The whole setup sounds crude and rubbish and poorly done, and that's why I've not watched it.
I hear that Hostel 2 is even worse, mind you.
Yeah, I certainly wouldn't watch it. I can't stand watching gore, and I can't understand anyone who does.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
All right, fair enough, it has a stronger plot than just some random film where a lot of people get tortured to death but some escape and they beat the bad guys whahey the end. It's had an influence. More than that... I don't think so. Saw, maybe, I can see that, but Hostel is a bit one-trick.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Yeah, those people are just weird
I assume they get some kind of sexual kick out of it. But then you'd think they'd be embarassed, and they're not.
I haven't seen saw. I won't stick up for either of them, not my cuppa tea at all. But it does make you go 'aaaaaaaaaaarrrgh' which like i said, is something
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I've not watched Saw either
I know the plot pretty much off by heart though. I'm just too lazy to torrent it. (Also, I know all the spoilers.)
I know the plot pretty much off by heart though. I'm just too lazy to torrent it. (Also, I know all the spoilers.)
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
I never realized Tarantino had anything to do with Hostel.
The thing about Hostel, is the gore gets to the point of ridiculousness after awhile. There's a scene where some guy and girl are running away or something, and her eyeball is hanging out on her cheek. It's ridiculous. Laughable.
It teaches you one thing, though: beware of eastern european girls bearing gifts inside their panties.
editor
hiraethified
Err, except it wasn't exclusively Americans being mutilated (a Japanese and an Icelandic woman were also gored) and it was Dutch and German businessman doing the torturing.
All of which rather puts the kabosh on your attempt to conjure up a coherent anti-American plot.
JC2: the eyeball thing was bizarre. Up until that point the gore had been horribly realistic. Maybe their budget ran out.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
I've not watched Saw either
I know the plot pretty much off by heart though. I'm just too lazy to torrent it. (Also, I know all the spoilers.)
Saw's better than Hostel. There are at least some plot twists, and some inventiveness to the sadism.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Yeah, that was the impression I got - I'd watch Saw before Hostel. The first Saw struck me as having, you know, some tense interpersonal drama in it, not just "we've made up some Dungeons & Dragons trap".
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
I've got a personal reason to watch saw III as well. A buddy of mine in Toronto, designed the dungeon for the movie.
The women are better looking in Hostel, though.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
I'm with you editor. I thought it was a very nasty film. Anyone who tells me they like it drops in my estimation a little bit. A couple of people who do like it have tried to explain to me its appeal, claiming that it's not about taking pleasure in hideous acts of violence as it appears to be - but I didn't really understand their explanations. I'm open to persuasion still but it's gonna take more than "Oh it's just a film" to balance the memory of watching it with someone who cackled with laughter as a bunch of kids were mown down....
It's not really a bunch of kids being mowed down, it's an artistic representation of a bunch of kids being mown down....
It's late and I have a lurgy, so I'm not sure why that matters, but I know I've laughed at horror films before. Usually at the ridiculousness of them.
The baddies pay more to torture Americans. How did you miss that bit, were you hiding behind the sofa?
editor
hiraethified
Gotcha. So when you said that the whole point of the film was about the world "hating Americans" and taking the "fear of anti-Americanism to an absurd, parodic level" the inclusion of Europeans, Japanese, Slovakians and Icelandics all being tortured and murdered too was just there as a big red herring and a mere diversion to The Big Plot?
Thanks phil. You've really made sense of it all now.
Some of the Slovak public and their government attacked the film for its violence, while Roth defended it as a commentary on Americans' reluctance to travel far from home and ignorance of other cultures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel_(film)#Reviews
Personally, I read it as a commentary on a world in which everything has been commodified and everything, and everyone, has a price.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel_(film)#Reviews
Personally, I read it as a commentary on a world in which everything has been commodified and everything, and everyone, has a price.
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
I saw it last night and thought that as a horror film, a genre with loads of really crap films, it was rather good. Not a great film, but better then most.
I also enjoyed Evil Dead and its various sequels, the gore and violence in them is ridiculous to the point of being comedic, which was pretty much the case with Hostel.
I agree with the comment that it was about a world in which everything is commodified. There was also a sense in which the Americans, who were pretty much sex tourists, get a taste of their own medicine.
I don't understand how anyone can feel outraged by depictions of violence that are so unreal.
The final scene in The Grifters, where a young man is fatally injured by a domestic object, and say the "squeal like a pig" scene Deliverance, are to me much more real and much more horrifying than any amount of squelchy eyeballs.
I also enjoyed Evil Dead and its various sequels, the gore and violence in them is ridiculous to the point of being comedic, which was pretty much the case with Hostel.
I agree with the comment that it was about a world in which everything is commodified. There was also a sense in which the Americans, who were pretty much sex tourists, get a taste of their own medicine.
I don't understand how anyone can feel outraged by depictions of violence that are so unreal.
The final scene in The Grifters, where a young man is fatally injured by a domestic object, and say the "squeal like a pig" scene Deliverance, are to me much more real and much more horrifying than any amount of squelchy eyeballs.
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