Recently I picked up Hostel at my local movie store and decided to give it a try. I finished watching it and had very mixed feelings. First off, this film is not nearly as gory and disgusting as advertised. It is although, very graphic, and NOT for the squeamish, I just expected more out of it. The pop-up scares aren't effective and the first half of the movie is all soft-core porn. So what makes this movie a decent horror movie? The physiological scares. That is what got to me. The overwhelming feeling of being tied and up and tortured to death. Having no escape. For that was very effective and stomach curdling. The sex and nudity was all not needed, but for people looking for that kind of stuff, it's all here. The acting was pretty good. No bad performances. Hostel is a kind of movie where you'll either love it or hate it. But overall, an OK horror film. Not my favorite, but not terrible.

This type of horror fare is not my usual cup, but based on other viewers positive raves, I felt compelled to give it a try. Not without some trepidation did I purchase my ticket for what I felt would be a squeamish couple of hours. I don't know anything about director Eli Roth, but with Quentin Tarantino's name attached to the project I felt that there might be something here worth taking away.

Movie goers, save your money. This film uses the tried and true formula - college age students getting one good hedonistic fling out of their systems before real life, the gruesome depictions of mutilation and slasher gore, and the go for the gusto revenge rampage by the lead character Paxton (Jay Hernandez). I can't even say that any of the torture scenes were particularly innovative, though those faint of heart will require shielding the eyes every so often. Now based on what I've read, I'm sure the version I saw had deleted scenes for American audiences, but one's imagination is tested enough with this offering, and I can honestly say I didn't have to avert my eyes even once.

I recall reading one poster's summation stating that one would think about this film well after the movie was over. That indeed was the case, as my thirty minute ride home was entirely concerned with why I spent the time and money falling for the hype.

When I saw the movie at the flea market for a buck, I said, "What the heck, it's Tarantino." I had trouble following the movie due to a lack of confusing flashbacks (It's a joke.)

Three guys are touring Europe doing guy things. They meet a man who tells them about a Hostel in a small isolated town in Eastern Europe where there is an overabundance of pretty women who have nothing better to do than to throw themselves at anyone with a foreign accent, and they love all Americans. When they get there (note "Pulp Fiction" on TV) it is true. Women who look like models unashamedly share sleeping quarters with men, give them drugs and have sex with them.

One by one the men disappear (as do the Japanese girls) and are tortured to death, aka "Blood Sucking Freaks". Paxton (Jay Hernandez) the last of the trio demands to know where his friends are... The slaughterhouse was filmed at an actual mental hospital in Prague.

Sex, nudity, f-bomb, torture.