Hostel

Onibubba · Post by **Onibubba** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:33 pm

Jack wrote:I honestly don't know why people who aren't mentally ill like movies like this.

And hey, I even liked Begotten.

So, you saw it and are making an honest criticism of a genre, or you are just making an assumption off of a trailer or a commercial? Just curious.

It's not just one big long torture scene you know. There is a bit more to it.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:16 pm

Onibubba wrote:It's not just one big long torture scene you know. There is a bit more to it.

I respectfully disagree. I don't see any subtexts other than "wow, the dude who made this has some serious issues".

And I don't get the point. It's fake. It's not real. "Oh look. Intenstines. Only they're not. Because this is a movie." Though I think people who watch, say, Faces of Death are somewhat creepy, at least I understand it. I don't understand getting a thrill from fake torture and gore. Same way I feel about, say, the vast majority of sex scenes in movies. They're just too obviously fake.

And, in the case of people getting bits cut off, that will always be obviously fake, because it's totally illegal. At least in some fake-sex or fake-love scenes you can tell the actors at least might be actually into each other (cf. the Mickey Rourke/Lisa Bonet sex scene in Angel Heart).

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-gore. Cannibal Holocaust is a very interesting movie. Hostel isn't.

Onibubba · Post by **Onibubba** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:41 pm

Edited to say that I am giving away a few SPOILERS below, so if you have not seen the movie, you may want to skip over this post. Sorry!

First let me say that it is a just cheesey horror film, so when I start mentioning subtexts and other messages to the audience, don't take it as me trying to sell you an "art film." It is not that. It is a schlock horror movie with some decent acting and a bit more to comment on than, say, Halloween or Friday the 13th.

So what is Hostel about? Torture? No. There are 3 scenes in the movie that focus on a person being tortured, and all 3 are essential to what is going on: 1) What is happening. 2) The escape. 3) The rescue. In total, they take up maybe 10 minutes of the movie.

Hostel is about appetites and excess. How people become bored with the mundane, and even something like legal drugs and prostitution become a mecca for tourism. So people are constantly questing for the next big thrill. Our "heroes" are looking for that in the sex trade. Our villians have turned that corner already and are after even more extreme fetishes involving torture and murder.

It comments on the state of America and how we are viewed by many other countries - Loud obnoxious assholes. Ugly Americans who people would pay more money to kill than anyone else.

And yes, it is a horror movie - a gore movie. In the vein of many many others before it. It is neither the most violent, not the most disturbing film of its kind. You want something truly disturbing, watch Irreversible or Visitor Q. Both are much more significant films that I am not sure I have the stomach to view again. Really, Hostel was little more than a trifle in comparison.

mehem · Post by **mehem** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:02 pm

well put oni...

yeah jack, i think a movie where they kill real animals is a lot more interesting too...that's a hell of an arguement,saying hostel is sick because it has torture in it....but yet jay hernandez and the rest walked off the set....those animals in holocaust didn't...honestly can anyone tell me one thing,one thing in hostel that's more disturbing than god killing himself in begotten?...making jokes about mental illness or using it as an example is always a good way to state a point...if these types of films upset you i would stick w/ uwe boll...if you want the real thing and not the b.s. that faces is,ck out rozz williams' pig...but then i'm sick because i like disturbing horror and fantasy...i neeed help...

junkie christ · Post by **junkie christ** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:26 pm

not defending the movie but examples of movies that few have seen rarely swing judgement
AND heres a big thing factor about people walking off set
This movie went thru an assload of cuts to get an R rating.
The dvd is gonna be a doubledipper, obviously. one R and one that is the cut (or a reasonable version of said cut) that made people sick in theaters and walk off.
to quote QT "it bothers me that we have scenes during the torture that show the walld or something. that wasnt in the movie we made."
that said it all to me. it says the DVD second shot of unratedness is really gonna be some massively unrated shit.
all in all i still give it a 4.
i mean im a big fan of 70s cinema. i thought this movie had more in common with maybe torture version of a russ myers remake than anything.
i liked this flick for an assload of the reasons i liked devils rejects for that matter.
ill admit, theres much more sickening shit out there, but im tired of watching movies for shock shlack. this flick did a good job of making a good flick outta a thin plot, which really beats that 70s drum again.

for all those people who want a break from the crap that comes out month after month that DONT scour the net and forums looking for B movies or imports that will rock their socks, this is a damn good pick in comparison to say..... 95% of the other shit in theaters.

Coor · Post by **Coor** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:11 am

Really? Most people I've talked to have said nothing but disappointment. I might have to go and see it now...

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 6:29 pm

mehem wrote:yeah jack, i think a movie where they kill real animals is a lot more interesting too...that's a hell of an arguement,saying hostel is sick because it has torture in it....

I didn't say that. I don't think Hostel is a "sick" movie.

honestly can anyone tell me one thing,one thing in hostel that's more disturbing than god killing himself in begotten?

I never said I don't like Hostel because it is disturbing. Nothing in Hostel is even as disturbing as a Silent Hill game.

...making jokes about mental illness or using it as an example is always a good way to state a point...

I wasn't making jokes.

if these types of films upset you i would stick w/ uwe boll

I never said they upset me. I said that I literally do not understand the point of them. Your visceral, bordering-on-flaming argument here is not doing anything to enlighten me.

but then i'm sick because i like disturbing horror and fantasy...i neeed help...

Again, "disturbing" isn't bad.

Several people I know who aren't mentally ill like this movie. So obviously, they see something in it that I don't. But so far, none of them have told me what it is.

OK, Oni did a good job, but by essentially saying "It's a step up from Friday the 13th" he is actually summing up my opinion of it nicely. I just happen to think "a step up from Friday the 13th" is still not even worth watching.

mehem · Post by **mehem** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:00 pm

Jack wrote:I honestly don't know why people who aren't mentally ill like movies like this.

after reading the silent hill thread all my questions have been answered...