Hostel: Part II  ★★★½

What happened to Eli Roth?

The American director made such an auspicious debut with 2002’s Cabin Fever and then reinforced this promise with the critical and commercial success of the Hostel films.

But since 2007 he has struggled to make anywhere near the same impact, his last three films being Knock, Knock, the 2018 Death Wish remake with Bruce Willis and The House With a Clock in its Walls.

Hostel, released in 2005, is a brutal and exploitative thriller that, for better or worse, helped introduce the horror sub-genre known as torture porn which continued for the next decade or so.

It told the story of three young American backpackers lured with the promise of drugs and sex to a secret location in eastern Europe where others pay for the privilege of torturing people to death.

I love Hostel and have reviewed it previously. For 2007’s Hostel: Part II, Roth didn’t just repeat the exact formula, which he could easily have done.

Well, he kind of just repeated the formula, but this time with three women lured into the same predicament by the promise of relaxation and potential exotic romance.

He also flipped the original story around to also look at the mechanics of the torture business, the organisation running it and the type of people who would take part.

Despite running for just over 90 minutes, writer and director Roth packs a considerable amount into the film, both in terms of plot and character, as well as the necessary strong quotient of blood and gore.

The film takes up the story shortly after the end of the first film, with the organisation taking revenge. I won’t spoil the ending of the first film by revealing details.

We then separately follow two sets of characters: backpackers Beth, Whitney and Lorna, as they are slowly enticed by the mysterious Axelle into joining her on a trip to the natural spas of hidden Slovakia; and businessmen Todd and Stewart as they prepare themselves for the opportunity of a lifetime, to torture and murder with impunity.

To explain too much of the story will reduce enjoyment of the film as the second half in particular contains a number of clever twists and turns.

So let’s concentrate instead on the gory highlights, like the woman with the scythe scene. I mean who thinks of this stuff?

Likewise, the buzz saw scene, the man vs wild dog scene, the nose biting scene and, of course, the final moments with Beth facing off against her torturer.

You might think this is all pretty nasty and pointless, but Roth shows considerable skill to make all his characters engaging and balancing the light and dark elements of the script, right up until the final scene with the village boys playing soccer.

I must have seen this film a half dozen times…and it always makes me gasp and laugh in equal measure.