Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

baileygiannini Hostel stars: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson and Barbara Nedeljakova, including Jana Kaderakova and Jan Vlasak. It was directed and written by Eli Roth, the director of Inglorious Bastards, Knock Knock, Clown and also the sequel, Hostel Part: II. Hostel is very strong and graphic in all ways possible. The idea of it is amazing, but something must've went wrong during production, because the turnout of the film in the end is completely terrible. It's a flush the DVD down your toilet type of horror film. I'm shocked that the studios and the production companies decided to go through with making this movie. It's a shame that they produced the wrong horror film when another amazing one could've been made instead of this trashheaped garbage. The horror factor is nothing scary or creepy, only blood and guts. Body parts being torn and the film is mainly pure torture. Nothing to get excited about or want to see again, and again and again. So on and so forth this movie should be banned from all stores that sell DVDs and on the internet. Sites like Amazon should not have this movie in stock. The fact that this movie reminds me of human trafficking is somewhat interesting, because it does happen in real life. Having said that, there's nothing else in this movie that makes it worth a second viewing or even to watch it on Halloween. It's a load of crap with terrible dialogue and way to graphically over the top extreme violence with gore. Featuring tones of cuss words, which horror films can do without or very little of. If you own this movie, throw it out. Just know that this film is the kind that is banned in certain countries. I wish that it was never made. Eli Roth should be ashamed of himself. We want new horror that's good and creative, not the same old junk that has been coming out what seems like every year or so. Since he went to film school, I wonder at times if he really paid attention on how to make great films, or if he was just in a rush to get into the industry. If I knew what I know now, I would've never watched this film in the first place. I'm glade that I saw this piece of junk for free. It's in my Grandma's movie collection. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even paid a penny to see this. We need better horror films than this, we need scary and creepy, not gore, swearing and all of this graphic nudity and sex scenes they put in now a days. That distracts the viewers and they can't really concentrate on the storyline with nudity and sex every ten to fifteen minutes within the film. It's not worth anything. Save your money for a great film that will wow you. This film will just make horror fans feel dumb that they got tricked out of their money and want to smack themselves in the face.Overall it's a thumbs down.2 and 1/2 stars.

powermandan Eli Roth is a frontrunner in horror's underground. The only reason he is not as big or as admired as Wes Craven or John Carpenter is because Roth relies only on blood. The story is a last minute thing and the addition of nudity is immature fun, but his number one thing is blood. Three years before this he did the horror-comedy bloodbath 'Cabin Fever.' I used to like 'Cabin Fever' when I was a teenager, but then I grew up. 'Hostel' is not much of a step up...or down. The year before 'Hostel' was released, the brilliant horror movie 'Saw' was released. 'Saw' like 'Hostel' is a torture-porn gorefest. Difference is, 'Saw' has good acting and brains. Hostel's goal was not to capitalize on the success of 'Saw,' that's just Roth's style. Capitalizing on its success is just something that happened.The storyline is heavily cliched: two American friends backpack across Europe with their Icelandic friend. In Amsterdam, the trio get involved in tons of sex and drugs. The acting by everyone is bad and the orgies are not enjoyable. These people delivered their lines awfully or if there was no spark of originality or fun. Usually explicit sex and drugs amp things up. Not here! Then the movie switches gears. The Icelandic one goes missing, then the movie turns to a thriller. This gear switching gives some hope. We find out there's a crew of people that snatch up tourists and torture them. The torture is what the trilogy is known for. Unfortunately, it does not work here. The question that lingers in everyone's mind is "Why?" What on earth in the point of these people kidnapping the tourists and dissecting them? In 'Saw' it was a game and Jigsaw was basically a monster. But there is really no point in why these people perform these grotesque acts. Providing a clear answer instantly would have made this a better-liked film. And its really too bad because Roth does not dive into the horror right away. Remember in 'Halloween' when Carpenter waited before Michael Myers was clearly seen? Roth does the same thing. But too much negatives around it diminished this good quality. The final act makes this movie worth watching. Do yourselves a favour and just skip to when Jay Hernandez gets kidnapped. He tries to make an escape and its pretty exciting. Not perfect, but still much better than the rest of it. In a movie with no point and really bad acting, an enjoyable final act prevents 'Hostel' from being a piece of trash.

realfandangoforever 171031: A second rate slasher flick. Nothing really stands out to me, not even the story. Hostel II however...

LouAbbott I haven't read every review of "Hostel," but from what I have read, I don't find a reference to Quentin Tarantino, who serves as one of the executive producers. Tarantino loves switching gears mid-movie, and that's exactly what this film does. Also, Greg Nicotero, famous for his make-up expertise in some George Romeo "Living Dead" films and the hit TV show "The Walking Dead", serves as the special makeup effects designer and creator. It comes down to this: If you don't enjoy plenty of T&A for the first half of a film, and torture and some gore during its second half, don't bother. But if you do…… "Vodka and Red Bull."