Lately the press has been having a heyday attacking what they're calling "torture porn" and Eli Roth is the main target for these (often narrow minded) diatribes. I'm not going to deny that over the years the genre has been pushing it for the amount of violence and depravity thrown on the screen, but calling out a select group of films (Roth's work and the Saw movies) to go after the entire horror genre is just silly.

If anything, Hostel Part II is actually a tamer movie than the first. I'm of the belief that the only reason it's gathering so much venom for the critical masses is simply because the main character's genders have switched from male to female. Which is almost amusing when you consider that a good portion of slasher movies from the 80's had mainly female protagonists.

Roth's sequel actually picks-up where the original ended as Paxton (Jay Fernandez) has escaped from the "torture warehouse" and garnered revenge on those that put him there in the first place. Taking a cue from most 80's slasher sequels though, Roth soon bumps him off in order to show that those behind the "pay to play" illicit business aren't messing around.

Into the picture comes Beth (Lauren German), Lorna (Heather Matarazzo), and Whitney (Bijou Phillips) three American college students who decide to take time-out from their art studies in Rome to go on a trip to Prague. They end-up hooking up with Axelle (Vera Jordanova) who had recently posed nude for their class. She convinces them to go to Slovakia with her in order to check out the local hot springs and to have fun partying and meeting the opposite sex. She also mentions a renaissance fair to convince the geeky Lorna to come along.

Now, if you've seen the first movie then you know it's a recipe for disaster but Roth does attempt to add some more depth to the proceedings by giving us a look at how the "torture business" works and also introduces us to American businessmen Stuart (Roger Bart) and Todd (Richard Burgi) who have won the bidding to get a chance to do whatever they want to two of the girls. It's a welcome subplot and does help eliminate the feeling of "rehashing" that comes over you for most of the first third of the movie. It also gives Roth the chance to try and use the characters to work in a message (be it a slight one) about just how messed up human nature and society can get - which proves there is a conscience behind it all and it's not all about the gross out.

Roth gets uniformly strong performances from his cast with the stand-outs being Matarazzo (who's been playing odd, nerdy looking characters since her debut in 1995's Welcome To The Dollhouse) and Bart. Bart's character is forced to do a, pretty predictable, about face later in the movie, but the actor pulls it off convincingly enough.

As for the "set pieces" a lot of the audience expects, they're not nearly as brash as the original film's, and while a lot of people have been crowing about a certain moment in the finale, the only reason such a scene hits home for people is because of what part of the anatomy it involves - sort of like why the "eye" scene from the first worked. But Roth does show some restraint here, even cutting away to make one demise occur off camera. Suffice it to say, though, that if you have a low tolerance for this sort of thing you'll still have a rough time. In fact, I found the people in the theatre laughing during these scenes much more disturbing than anything Roth has put up on the screen.

Hostel Part II isn't quite the movie the original is. It's too familiar to have the surprise element of the first and Roth's script does have a few moments that feel pointless (mainly involving the gang of young street kids) and some logic lapses. There's also a final scene that feels tacked-on merely to satisfy the audience. But for what it is, it's a pretty decent follow-up. Roth hasn't made any steps forward as a writer-director with this, but he hasn't taken much of a step backwards either - he just needs to resist making a third entry in this series (though judging from the film's opening weekend, it might not happen anyway). (Chris Hartley, 6/13/07)

Directed By: Eli Roth.
Written By: Eli Roth.

Starring: Lauren German, Roger Bart, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips.