Director: Eli Roth
Year: 2005
Country: USA/Czech Republic
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Torture Slasher
Plot:
In Europe to party, several US backpackers and a local guide get wind of a special club where they'll get more than they've ever bargained for when they realize the disturbing and terrifying secret behind the club's operation and try to find of getting away alive.
Review:
This was a massively disappointing effort. One of the film's main flaws is that there's way too much time spent away from its actual destination in the titular torture room, and as a result, its pacing is just way too problematic in the first half. It's at least twenty minutes before they even get wind of the idea of going to the country, there's a big search through the city to find the place, and takes another half-hour after that before any sort of on-screen torture occurs, leaving its torture scenes, which are the main body of the film, until almost an hour in. That's way too long for the film to get to its big spot, and its beginning is just boring and really hard to sit through.
The few attempts at suspense with the disappearing members don't have much in them as nothing is played up there, and that there's way too much wandering around with obviously shady characters is just eating up time that could be better spent on the real reason to see the film. There are several problems with the torture scenes in this one is that there are hardly any of them in the film. There are three that amount to a total of five minutes of screen time, which is really infuriating, and except for one sequence none of the violence is done on-screen and there are just after-effects that really narrow the violence down significantly.
The last huge flaw in the torture scenes is that there's more kills and violence away from them than there are in the scenes. The three torture scenes amount to one death and two escapes, yet there's a half-dozen away from them, and that really devalues the mystique and aura this has when one sequence easily tops anything done in the titular hostel. These here are what really holds this one back, though there's a really great sequence from time-to-time. That here is mainly due to the final half in the torture buildings as the main torture scene does have a really chilling quality to it due to the unexpected in a dark, unknown location, and the sight of watching them get tortured with being prodded, poked and sliced up or even showing fingers getting sliced off with a chainsaw isn't that bad.
What happens to the third torture victim is easily the best, which looks great and doesn't feel fake at all, which is a great scene in itself which helps to really make it quite the gruesome moment. Likewise, the last part of the film is it's best, as it's where there's a couple of big action scenes in some fine chases to get out of the facility and generates some more bloody deaths. The last big plus is that there's a nice helping of nudity from the cast, which is never a bad thing to behold. This, though, is a massively disappointing and boring film.
Overview: **.5/5
Disappointing, dull and completely overrated in the grandest sense, this one really has a few factors making it enjoyable that hold it up over a few big drawbacks that are quite prominent throughout here. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the creative crew or appreciate this era of the genre while most others out there might want to heed caution here.
Comments
Post a Comment