Hostel Part II

Reviewed by Drav3n

Format: Blu-ray

Release: October 23, 2007

Rated: Unrated

Runtime: 95 Minutes

The Movie:

With the huge success of Eli Roth's Hostel, Lionsgate was hoping they had another horror movie they could turn into a franchise. Eli Roth returned to write and direct the sequel for this movie, while Quentin Tarantino returned to produce.

The 2007 sequel centers around three American college women, Beth, Whitney and Lorna, who are studying in Rome. They are convinced by their class's nude model to skip going on their trip to Praque and go to this luxurious spa in this small Slovakian village that she is taking a trip to. They decide to go along on the trip with her but little do they know that they are being sold as the next group of victims in the murder-for-profit business.

Hostel Part II consist of a whole new cast, although Paxton (Jay Hernandez) is in the beginning. After him and his girlfriend have an argument during the night, it ends up with him losing his head over breakfast. The new additions to the cast are Bijou Philips (Bully, Havoc), Heather Matarazzo (Roseanne), and Lauren German (A Walk to Remember).

For some unknown reason Lionsgate thought it would be a smart idea to release this movie into theaters during the summer, hoping it would become one of the summer blockbusters. It opened on the same weekend as Ocean's Thirteen, and had to compete with Pirates of the Caribbean 3, SpiderMan 3, and Shrek 3, and in the next week, it had to compete with the sequel to the Fantastic Four . It ended up opening at #6, barely making an impact. While it still made a profit for Lionsgate, it was still considered to be a box office bomb, and there's a good chance that when/if Hostel 3 comes out, it will probably just be released as a direct-to-dvd release.

Now originally when I saw this, I didn't like it. After re-watching it, I'm not sure why. I actually enjoyed the sequel more than I enjoyed the first one. This is just my opinion, but if Eli Roth could have released part two as the first and vice-versa, I think the reception for these films might have been a lot more positive. Even though there still isn't much of a story to these films, they do explain more of the "Elite Hunting," and what they are about and how their "business" works. Everything that happens in the early parts of the movie, and all the characters that they encounter have a purpose this time around. And the return of the Bubblegum Gang was nice, even if they didn't have as prominent of a role in part two, as they did in part one.

Adding tag-lines like "It's only a movie," and "The most shocking ending in horror movie history," didn't help this either. We know it's just a movie. We saw part one and were reminded that was just a movie. If you want to see "the most shocking ending," go watch the movie Oldboy. Now that's an ending you would never see coming!

But again, this is a solid horror movie. The torture scenes are even better than part one, and even more creative this time around. I've said it during my review for Cabin Fever and for Hostel, and I'll say it again here; Eli Roth has a terrific vision for horror films and it's clearly shown in this movie as well. See if you can find Eli Roth's cameo appearance in this movie too.

Presentation:

I was actually surprised with this blu-ray's presentation. Considering how good the first Hostel looked on blu-ray, I was expecting this to look just as good or even better. Normally it's the newer movie that looks better than the previous installment, but not in this case. The image is really underwhelming. Some scenes look good, but then you have alot of scenes that look dull and gritty (and not in a good way). Skin tones look darker than they should. Outdoor scenes taking place during the day have a washed-out look to them. Night scenes suffer from overpowering blacks. While the image does remain sharp throughout the film, overall, it's a very hit-or-miss transfer. And not sure who to point the blame on here. Was it a bad transfer from Lionsgate, or was it the way it was filmed by Roth?

Audio:

On this version you are given an English PCM 5.1 audio track, and an English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track. I'm not sure why they choose to go with the PCM track over the TrueHD that was used on the first Hostel, but luckily the sound is still just as good as the first, possibly even better. The audio and music comes through very clear, and the sound effects and the torture sounds come through sounding really strong.

Bonus Material:

• Audio Commentary - Featuring Eli Roth
• Audio Commentary - Featuring Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Gabe Roth
• Audio Commentary - Featuring Eli Roth and actors Richard Burgi, Laura German, and Vera Jordanova
• Hostel Part II: The Next Level (1080i, Runtime 26:28)
• The Art of KNB Effects (1080i, Runtime 6:02) - A short feature that shows the making of the gore
• Production Design (1080i, Runtime 6:43) - Shows how some of the locations were created.
• Legacy of Torture (1080i, Runtime 23:45) - A very interesting feature that takes you on a tour of the history of torture devices. And Eli Roth's father, discusses some history on torture also.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p) - There are 10 in total with a short text introduction for each scene.
• "The Treatment" radio interview with Eli Roth (Runtime 26:25)
• Blood and Guts Gag Reel (1080p, Runtime 3:29) - Basically a blooper reel, with some of them being during the torture scenes.
• Surveillance Cameras (1080i, Runtime 7:18) - You can choose between 8 cameras and watch what's happening in each "room."
• Trailers (1080p) - Resident Evil: Extinction, Tekkonkinkreet, and Vacancy

Bottom Line:

Hostel Part II is alot better than the first movie. There's actually more of a story to this one than the previous one. The presentation is acceptable and the audio is great. A great amount of special features as well make this worth it. Unless you can get this movie at a good price, I'd have to say that this movie is a rental at best.