Hostel Part 2

I was hesitant to watch the first Hostel, thinking it may be too much like SAW which I had a real problem with. Too real. Too gross. Too twisted. I prefer my horror to be more unrealistic and less believable, so I can sleep at night. I can handle any possible nightmares of zombies and vampires and werewolves. I cannot handle nightmares of sociopaths wanting to sell my innards on the black market.

Or to kill me for the sheer joy of it. That would suck.

I did watch Hostel however and actually kind of "enjoyed" it. Correction: I did not regret watching it. The setting is a slovic country and whereas I might be 1/4 Checz, I do not foresee myself vacationing there. Especially after having watched Hostel.

So why did I watch Hostel 2? Well, because even though the first one was a bit intense, it wasn't over the top, and as I said before, I kind of "enjoyed" it.

HOLY SHIT, what was I thinking!

Ok - so Hostel 2 starts out innocently enough, in the same vein as the first, with some girls (instead of guys) taking a hiatus from life, and lured to to the same Hostel location as the first movie. However Part 2 takes everything that was even remotely vile in the first, and multiplies it tenfold (from my perspective at least. Some reviewers say they feel this one was rather tame compared to the first. I think they feel that way because they are guys and ticked that the sex factor was not as prevalent in this installment. The pervs.)

Good gawd I must have looked away from the TV screen at least 8 times! My husband kept making snide remarks about my twisted personality for watching movies of this caliber, but did he look away? No sirree! So who is more twisted? He who watches in sick fascination or ME those of us who look away because they are too normal to handle such horrors!? Of course I did pick this movie, so I guess there is some merit to what he says.....

Anyway, Hostel 2 outlines the premise of these movies a little better than the first one did. In the first Hostel I was left wondering about the killers and their tattoos, and how it came to pass that tourists were being kidnapped just to be tortured and killed. Maybe I slept through that part of the movie, I can't say. All I know is that it had holes.

In Hostel 2 however, it is made painfully obvious what these sickos were doing. They were bidding on the tourists. Bidding so that they could win the tourist, then main, torture and kill their prize however their sick sadistic perverted whacked out deformed brain saw fit.

(One of the bidders saw fit to shackle their prize/victim to a table, carve them up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey, then proceeded to eat the flesh raw while his victim watched in agonizing pain and horror. Talk about a nightmare!)

So where does the tattoos fit in? Well, apparently they are a type of brand - much like a gang has "colors" - joining the bidders to the "family." But if for any reason they don't kill their "prize" they not only don't get a tattoo, they don't become part of the family either. Instead, they suffer a fate worse than any they could imagine enacting on a tourist.....

Here in Hostel 2, we have three college chicks hook up with Axelle, the overly hot daughter of the twisted bastard who has created this kill empire which has laid victim to so many young, sex starved, drunken tourists (well, I presume she is his daughter. Perhaps she is just really into old guys. To each their own, I guess.)

So these 3 girls, completely enamored with sultry Axelle,  allow themselves to be lured to Slovakia with promises of an exotic spa, rest and relaxation, and maybe some men, booze and sex...

It always amazes me how the lure of sex and drugs and booze always make these young targets so stupid. Stupid as in throwing all caution to the wind and trusting just anyone. It kind of makes you think that maybe they get what they deserve. Don't they read the papers for Pete's sake?

So anyway, the first girl to bite the bullet is Lorna, played rather adeptly by Heather Matarazzo, who I had not seen on film since Scream 3. In Hostel 2, she plays a straight-laced geek, who has zero interest in the booze and drugs that is freely offered in the fun little world of Slovakia. It's just too bad she is interested in some guy paying attention to her.

The result is her getting hung - nude - upside down, so some sick female can slice her open with a sickle, thereby allowing poor tortured Lorna's blood to poor all over this sicko's naked body amidst candlelight and marble... it kind of gives a whole new meaning to "bloodbath" and while some may have found this scene rather sexual, I for one did not.

Eeeewwww....

Meanwhile, the two remaining girls, Beth and Whitney, are wondering what happened to their naive friend when she doesn't return. At a local gathering Axelle convinces the girls not to worry, so a now relaxing Beth ends up chatting and sharing a drink with a fellow by the name of Stuart who, unbeknownst to her, is the winning bidder of her nubile flesh..... (damn. Why are the nice guys always such freaks?)

(Admittedly this movie is a little predictable but aren't most horror films? Understandably, there has to be a presence of "B-moves" that permeate all movies of this genre or else they lose much of their credibility and enjoyability (I think I just made that word up. I like it! .)

Later, in the spa's heated pool, Beth dozes off (notice-->in the pool) and wakens (still -->in the pool!) sometime later to find herself alone and her belongings stolen. I found this part odd that she would just fall asleep in a pool of all places, with so many people around, then waken to everyone and everything gone. This is one of the few scenes of the movie that seemed a bit weak to me - most definitely a B-move; lame and making little to no sense. But as stated above, I expected it (and excused it) with this type of movie.

So after waking, Beth sets out in search of her friends, but instead of finding them, notices two thug-like men approaching her. In fear, she scales the spa walls and runs aimlessly into the nearby woods, where she is rudely greeted by the "Bubblegum Gang" - those little misfit kids from the first movie that exhibit traits every bit as vile as the death bidders. Luckily she is rescued by Axelle and her "dad" before those little imps could inflict any damaging blows!

Shortly after being "rescued" a chain of events alerts Beth that Axelle and her clan are not as innocent as she once thought and that they are in fact the reason for her friend's disappearances. She realizes this too late however, and finds herself captive at the murderous hands of none other than Stuart, the man she had drinks with just the night before.

I don't want to give away too much of the final 1/2 hour of this movie, as it is definitely the best part, but suffice it to say that it will surprise you, scare you, humor you, and utterly gross you out! (Sorry - that was a bit 80's but nothing else sounded quite right.) I can honestly say that the last 1/2 hour is definitely not for the squeamish! Offering canine carnage, detached dismemberment, and payback served up without a plate.... this movie will leave you with more than a mere impression.

Hostel 2, while not as visual with sexual acts as the first, does offer up the required boob shots, and sexual innuendos. Bear in mind this one takes the female slant (versus the male slant as with the first movie) so there may be some bias in the girls favor, however the blood and guts are definitely not girly and guaranteed to satisfy even the pickiest horror buff.

I won't promise you will enjoy the movie, but I can promise you will enjoy the gore!

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