I’ve seen a lot of horror movies. And I mean a lot.
I’ve watched some of the best horror movies in the world, some of the worst, and everything in-between. I’ve viewed the best A24 horror movies, the best horror movies on Netflix – there’s literally an endless supply of them that I have seen.
But, the one horror movie I hadn't seen until recently was Hostel. Not because I didn’t want to – I literally never knew it even existed. I was informed about it by a YouTube video that I was casually listening to one day while cleaning, and from how the commentator talked about it, I decided to give the movie a shot. How horrible could it be?
I was wrong. Very wrong. And now, I’m going to dig into my thoughts about Hostel, the violent horror film that came out in 2005.
It Doesn’t Start Out Horrifying – It’s More Of A Slow-Burn
From the title, in my mind, I thought we were going to be entering into a hostel that was truly terrifying from the start. I’ve never personally traveled across Europe (even though I really want to), but I’ve heard horror stories about hostels from my brother, who has gone across the pond. I’ve heard they can be very good or very bad, and considering this is a horror movie literally called Hostel, it wasn’t that much of a jump to think that the movie was going to be terrifying.
Truth be told, though, it doesn’t feel like that at all, at least at first. If anything, this movie is the epitome of slow-burn horror. It takes forever for something to happen, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At first, this movie almost feels like a coming of age movie.
Two Americans decide to travel to Amsterdam in order for one of them to get over their ex and “find themselves” in Europe. While the opening minutes of the movie lets you know exactly what kind of film this is going to be – with drug usage and sex right out the gate as story points – it’s not what I would call horror. More like a dry comedy.
It’s really what happens not that long after that makes this movie start to turn into a film that I most certainly will not be watching again.
But When It Turns, It Turns Bad Really Quick
Let me tell you, I am so used to modern day horror. I’m not used to modern-day stuff where they slowly drag out what is going to happen so that you’re on the edge of your seat. It’s either a psychological torment from the very start of the film, or a slow gradual incline of scary stuff as the film goes on. There’s no in-between.
This movie had the sharpest turn into horror. All of a sudden, things start to feel not too safe anymore in this new hostel that the guys have traveled to, and things go wrong with their European friend that they have stumbled across. He goes missing, and while they do spend time trying to look for him, it turns out, he’s not really available to be found anymore – because he is very much dead.
I won’t get into specifics as to how we find this out, but it’s pretty shocking from the moment we see it happen. From there, the horror levels only go up more and more. Which brings me to my next point.
The Gore In This Is On Another Level Of Disgusting
Keep in mind, I’m not really a big fan of gory horror movies, just because most of the time it’s either really gross or just not done right. I’m used to gore – I’m a fan of zombie movies and TV shows for a reason – but it’s not my personal go-to when it comes to the horror genre. I just watched an Evil Dead movie for the first time, so I’m not a huge blood and guts fan.
However, the gore in this movie really feels like it’s on another level of absolute disgusting-ness. It’s not Evil Dead levels of blood and guts, but the shots we are given are absolutely brutal and horrifying to the eyes. In fact, the type of gore in this movie almost felt too realistic, if that makes sense.
Many times, when I see gory deaths in movies such as the Saw franchise, or even Evil Dead, they feel very over the top and never super realistic, so they don’t bother me nearly as much as they likely should. However, Hostel took that to a different level with its gory moments.
It’s not overtly gory, but realistically gory. The maiming and torturing that happens throughout the film feels as if it could very much happen in real life, as well as the fallout from it. It’s a horrifying thing to think of – which is what makes the gore that much more scary. Honestly, it’s well-done, but I will not be watching it again.
There’s A Surprising Amount Of Action In This Horror Movie
Horror movies tend to have a nice climax towards the end where the protagonist is taking on the monster and taking them down, but in Hostel, it didn’t feel like the end of a horror movie – it felt more like the end of an action movie.
The entire point of this organization in the film is that it’s run by many people. It’s not like Paxton, the main character, could find the person running this whole horror show that he unfortunately found himself in the middle of. For him, he just needs to get out. The end of this film felt almost like the climax to an action movie, the protagonist escaping the bad guys in an epic chase.
There aren’t any major choreographed fights like in the John Wick franchise or any of that, but an epic car chase that ends with some pretty brutal deaths, some great callbacks to the beginning of the film, and a reasonable explanation about how it ends up. Without spoiling anything to those who haven’t seen it, it was a lot of fun, and a great way to end the craziness of this movie.
I Think The Alternate Ending Is Better
Alright, first off – if you haven’t seen Hostel, stop reading here and check it out, because I’m going to talk about the ending.
If you have, I need to admit, the ending wasn’t my favorite. I mean, I totally understand why Paxton chased after that Dutch businessman after everything that happened, but after I decided to watch the Director’s Cut of the movie for the alternate ending, I liked that idea a whole lot better.
While the death of the Dutch businessman was a suitable way for Paxton to end one particular cycle of violence, Paxton kidnapping the daughter could have opened the door to an even better story. Not only is the girl unsafe with Paxton, he could have threatened the Dutch businessman to do whatever he wanted – maybe even find a way to bring down the whole organization, if he could.
There were a lot of routes that this alternate ending could have gone, and it’s a shame it didn’t turn out that way. But I suppose the Dutch businessman’s death was brutal enough for me.
Will I ever watch the next two Hostel movies? No, probably not. I think this was enough Hostel for me for the rest of my life, if we’re being honest. However, I can admit that Eli Roth directed something that was out of this world crazy – and if you haven’t had the chance to see it, it’s worth a visit. Just never go back there again once you’re done.
