Plot: What’s it about?
As I see more and more horror films, I’m starting appreciate the genre that much more. Like any genre (or any movie) there are, of course, good films and bad ones. The thing with a horror movie is that it can intentionally be bad and still be regarded as good; see “Evil Dead II”. A few years back, I watched a rather unknown movie called “Cabin Fever”. It was written and directed by Eli Roth and was set in the woods as a bunch of teens got picked off by some mysterious flesh-eating disease. It wasn’t anything too memorable, but had some of the right elements in place. A few years later, along comes “Hostel”. I never had the urge to watch it and it’s one of those movies you see in the store but don’t really think anything about. However I’m a Blu-ray (and HD DVD) freak, so pretty much anything that comes my way in HD is something I’ll want to check out; especially if it’s something I’ve never seen. “Hostel” was the latest movie I’d never seen and to experience it in HD made the experience that much more pleasurable.
“Hostel” doesn’t exactly break new ground during the first act. We meet three friends, two of them are from America and one, Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), they picked up along the way. The trio is in Amsterdam where they enjoy getting high and perusing the red light district. As Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are getting a bit complacent with things, they meet someone who tells them that the women are twice as beautiful and twice as horny for Americans. Having nothing else on their mind, they journey to a hostel where their dreams do come true. Nothing is too good to be true and it’s not long before they lose contact with Oli. They figure he has left them and the two shrug it off. Josh then disappears and then Paxton is taken to a desolate place that looks like its right out of a medieval torture chamber. Evidently, rich businessmen have paid great deals of money to get the ultimate high – they kill their hostages for the sheer pleasure of doing it and Americans fetch the highest rate. Will Josh and Paxton get out alive or are they the lastest victims of the hostel?
I have to admit that “Hostel” isn’t so much of a horror movie, but it’s pretty disturbing. It’s the kind of film that stays with you after the closing credits roll. To add more fuel to the fire, director/writer Eli Roth tells us that he got the idea for the movie by chatting with Ain’t it Cool News.com’s Harry Knowles (and Knowles is featured in a few of the featurettes as well) and evidently these places do exist and these kind of things do happen. “Hostel” isn’t for the feign of heart, there’s plenty of gore and violence (but if you can suspend your disbelief it’s not that bad) and I will say that there’s plenty of topless scenes of females as well – not that I’m complaining. “Hostel” will have you guessing what will happen next and perhaps even leave you a bit shaken but I will leave you with this: if ever a mob of kids ask you for bubble gum, give it to them.
Video: How does it look?
“Hostel” comes to the next generation format in a very nice-looking 2.40:1 HD AVC transfer. There’s a lot to be said for the way “Hostel” looks as the movie starts and ends. The beginning of the film is bright and colorful, full of reds and yellows. The guys are having fun and loving life. As the film gets more and more morbid, so does the color palette. The reds are now pink, grey and blacks are dominate and as the film enters the final act, it’s mostly dark and dingy. The transfer looks amazing and having never seen the film before, I can say that I have no basis for comparison though I noticed no edge enhancement in the least, black levels were solid and, most importantly, during the opening scenes all of the female flesh exposed was crystal clear. There are a few instances in which the image was a bit soft, but nothing that left me disappointed. For those expecting a great visual experience, “Hostel” delivers the goods.
Audio: How does it sound?
Sony has started adding Dolby TrueHD audio tracks to their Blu-ray releases and I think it’s a good thing. I have a hard time deciding as to which I like more: the TrueHD or the PCM uncompressed track but so long as it sounds good, I don’t really have a preference. “Hostel” has its share of assorted sound effects, most notably in the later scenes where there’s running, torture and a few chainsaws involved. Dialogue is very clean and natural and the surrounds are almost constantly humming along. There’s not a whole lot else to say here, the movie sounds nearly as good as it looks and Sony has once again delivered the goods with a very robust 48kHz/16 bit audio track. Kudos!
Supplements: What are the extras?
One of the first things I do when I get a new DVD (HD DVD or Blu-ray) is to turn the box over and look at the special features. I was quite impressed to see such a list of supplements with this new disc, so I jumped right in. First off there are four, count ‘em, four audio commentaries. I’ll be honest here; I only listened to two of them and parts of the other two. The first track is arguably the best as Eli Roth is solo, but he’s got a lot to say. He’s the writer and director of the movie, gives us insight into how the film came to be and details of the casting and shoot of the movie. Other tracks feature Roth as well along with Quentin Tarantino and Harry Knowles among others. Fans of the movie will love everything included on the other tracks. The rest of the supplements are pretty interesting as well, led by the flagship “Hostel Dissected”, an hour-long documentary broken up into three parts (they can be played as a whole as well). We get a very in-depth look at the shoot, the casting and set design as well. There are some other more minor featurettes that deal with set design and the making of the score and a very grotesque, yet oddly interesting feature that deals with the FX of torture. There are also nine deleted scenes which total about twenty minutes and the oft-used “multi-angle” featurette entitled “Kill the Car” in which we see the kids go bezerk on a car from three different angles. Interesting. Lastly we have some still galleries and trailers for some other Sony films.
