I absolutely adored the first HOSTEL film so when I heard about the sequel coming out, I knew I had to go and see it at the cinema. Sadly, HOSTEL: PART II is an essentially lacklustre follow up, a film that for the majority of the running time simply reprises the characters, locations, and storyline from the first film without adding much in the way of new stuff to the brew. The twist here is that the protagonists are all females, but sadly the central casting leaves something to be desired. Jay Hernandez, who played the hero, Paxton, in the first movie returns here for a short appearance – and I hate what they did with his character, considering how great he was in the original – and his performance reminds you just how sympathetic a character he was.

There aren't really any sympathetic characters here. Of the three main girls, two are stereotypes, with Bijou Phillips acting abominably as the bimbo type. Meanwhile, Heather Matarazzo is a stock nerdy girl, all big teeth and speaking intellectually, and her character quickly grates. Matarazzo goes way over the top and is only really convincing in her inevitable torture sequence. The final girl of the three is also the heroine, as played by Lauren German. German is very attractive but her character is far too tough and never really feels to be in much danger.

Here, director Eli Roth decides to blow the lid off the whole kidnap-and-torture plot, showing us how the business works through a plot strand which follows two American businessman from their initial bidding over their mobile phones to their turns as torturers. I was in two minds about this. The idea of following the torturers rather than the tortured allows for some fresh material, and certainly these two guys breathe some life into the production; it helps that both Roger Bart and Richard Burgi are very good actors here. But much of the suspense in the original film was derived from the mystery surrounding the shady goings-on and, of course, there's none of that here. Instead it's all very clinical and many scenes are played for a laugh, which lessens the impact of the horror, although there is one very good twist involving these guys.

At the end of the day this is a graphic horror film that revolves around the torture sequences. Here, they're bigger and gorier than before, mixing plenty of dark humour into the brew to keep things moving along (watch for the circular saw scene if you don't believe me). The first is undoubtedly the worst and hardest to watch, a lengthy bloodbath involving a scythe and sickle, in which a Countess Bathory-type character bathes in the blood of her victim. The torture scenes at the film's climax are pretty much lacking in excitement, especially the events surrounding Lauren German's character that are obvious in the extreme. Roth goes out of his way to target the sensitivities of his male viewers with one particular gore effect, but the result is laughable – with the inclusion of the dog – rather than wince-inducing, as the 'eye' scene was in the first. What's missing is the whole adrenaline-pumping climax that we had at the end of HOSTEL; the escape and subsequent punishment of the various baddies. Here, due to a plot twist, we get none of that, just an abrupt ending with black comedy that disappoints. Aside from one particular sequence involving Matarazzo's character, nudity is kept to a minimum this time around.

Roth can't resist throwing in plenty of in-jokes and appearances from old actors into the film. Watch out for Quentin Tarantino's head on a stick, a couple of girls from the first film appearing in a photo, and other minor recurring characters. There are also roles for Edwige Fenech, screaming heroine of many a '70s giallo flick, who still looks lovely to this day; '70s Italian action star Luc Merenda, greatly aged and pretty much unrecognisable, and finally Ruggero Deodato, director of the notorious CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, who cameos in one of the film's funniest scenes as – yep, you guessed it – a cannibal, eating Stanislav Ianevski, better known as Victor Krum in HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. Despite these fun references, HOSTEL: PART II already feels like the series has had it's time, coming across as both tired and repetitive, a real disappointment considering the freshness and power of the first film. Let's pray they don't make a third...

Paxton (Jay Hernandez) is haunted by his experiences and is hiding out with his girlfriend. However the organization tracks him down and beheads him. In Rome, heiress Beth (Lauren German),Whitney (Bijou Phillips) and depressed Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) are enticed by nude model Axelle (Vera Jordanova) to go to Slovakia. Rich American friends Todd (Richard Burgi) and Stuart (Roger Bart) win the auction to kill Beth and Lorna.

The rule of the horror sequel is to go bigger and more extreme. I don't think it achieves that in most respect. This time they're going with girls which does up the stakes in terms of horror. I'm always surprised by the use of guys in the original. I really like the literal blood bath. I think it's imaginative and wonderfully staged.

What I don't like is getting to know the killers. They are rather bland individuals. They are not compelling although they're played by two good character actors. It's not a good way for the sequel to go bigger. The only way it would work is if Eli Roth could write some amazing dialog like Tarantino. Sadly, he's not a dialog man. After the blood bath, the movie becomes boring. The other effect of focusing more on the killer is that the girls get less time. I don't really care about these girls after awhile.

There's also an over-use of the Bubble Gum Gang. The movie keeps trying to be funny. It's not campy enough to be funny in that way. It doesn't have good enough jokes to be funny in any other way. If I didn't like the blood bath so much, I might have rank this even lower.

This is a very cheesy, obnoxious, and predictable movie. Three American girls follow a young woman to Slovakia, but later find themselves being kidnapped and perhaps murdered.

This film lacked character development, motivation, and overall uniqueness. I had a huge problem with some of the scenes in the film. For example, the scene where the woman is bathing in blood; it could definitely had been shorter if they would have cut down the men lighting up the candles. Also, when Stuart (Roger Bart) first untied Beth (Lauren German) but then re-tied her again. It made absolutely no sense. In addition, I believe that the entire begin was okay where we thought Paxton (Jay Hernandez) was trapped and killed, that is until he woke up next to a young woman (who by the way serves absolutely no purpose to the movie) and got killed for good.

Another issue that I had with this movie was how predictable it was. The young American women were so naïve that of course we felt they had to be killed. Like, Lorna (Heather Matarazzo),didn't your mother ever tell you not to go alone with strangers? Again too pathetic. I say, don't waste your money, time, or effort to watch this film, you would truly be disappointed.