Bratislavan Tourist Office Information

BACKPACKERS: PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ONLY STAY IN
YHA APPROVED ACCOMMODATION
DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOSTEL

I was expecting to be disappointed by this movie. Writer/Director Eli Roth's Cabin Fever was OK but in my opinion it didn't live up to the hype that preceded it. Hostel has received even more over the top fan-boy ravings thanks to Quentin Tarantino's stamp of approval. Whilst there can be no doubt that the film's box office success has been due to QT's executive producer backing, Roth has made Hostel an entertaining place for the viewer to stay in for an hour or so.

Three backpackers, two from the U.S.A and one from Iceland, are looking for fun, drugs and sex in Amsterdam. A good place to look you might think, however they hear about even greater delights, the girls in Bratislava 'who will do anything' - not just cooking your dinner and doing the ironing! Sure enough our horny trio take the train east and head to the recommended place to stay.

As soon they arrive they find they are sharing a room with 3 gorgeous semi-naked 'babe's and they are invited by the girls to join them in the Spa. Heaven on Earth. Well it's more like Hell actually... with flesh mangling drills and chainsaws.

Hostel has been hailed as being part of the new wave of 'Gornography'. It's quite sick and gruesome at times but not on the same level as Haute Tension. Whilst I was watching and thinking that it owes a lot to films like Audition and Ichi The Killer, Takashi Miike popped up on screen in a cameo. A nice touch. In conclusion then Hostel is a good gorno flick for sadists with a very black sense of humour. I'd say two thumbs up if they weren't already severed and lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood.