| | | Quentin Tarantino Presents Eli Roth's...
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, English, Spanish, Subtitled, French, Dubbed & Subtitled
Presented by genre master Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2) and directed by Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever), Hostel Part II is the shocking and gruesome sequel of the underground torture ring where rich businessmen pay to torture and murder their victims. The second installment to this terrifying franchise centers around three young American women, Beth (Lauren German, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Whitney (Bijou Phillips, Bully), and Lorna (Heather Matarazzo, Welcome to the Dollhouse), who are studying in Rome. They are lured into a hostel by a beautiful young woman who sells them in as the next victims of a murder-for-profit business.
"...a vastly superior sequel to a film already considered something of a classic by genre aficionados..." Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
"Roth has managed the rare feat of actually improving on the original." Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
"An authentic real-world creep show -- better, if anything, than its predecessor." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"...[a] twist-filled sequel...smart and satisfying...outgrosses the original "Hostel" in the blood-and-guts department." Peter Debruge, Variety
"...a real crowd-pleaser." Scott Tobias, The Onion A.V. Club
Editor's Note
With only one film under his belt and the endorsement of Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth became a virtual horror brand with HOSTEL (2005), a yarn about a group of thrill-seeking American college dudes backpacking through Europe, only to be seduced into a Slovakian money-for-torture ring where they become the prey. The sequel begins right where that film left off, filling us in on the whereabouts of lone survivor Paxton (Jay Hernandez)---but before long, we see that gender roles are reversed and we are traveling with sensible Beth (Lauren German), hedonistic Whitney (Bijou Phillips), and virginal Lorna (Heather Matarazzo). After tussling with a gaggle of shifty men on a train, they meet Axelle (Vera Jordanova), a gorgeous woman who persuades them to follow her to a rejuvenating spa in Slovakia.As the trio checks into the same infamous hostel, Roth shows us the inner workings of the previously mysterious torture club. Once the girls are put up on the auction block, online bidding begins among the club's members--who are revealed to be prominent international businesspeople. After Beth and Whitney are won by type-A American corporate jerk Todd (Richard Burgi), who believes that killing someone will give him power, and his reluctant associate, Stuart (Roger Bart), the film shifts to the preparations for their inaugural slayings within the bloody walls of the warehouse. For those who embraced HOSTEL's abrupt tonal shifts and very realistic gore, Roth serves up amplified doses of both in his follow-up. Astute horror fans will find a few amusing in-jokes among the carnage, but beware---things get incredibly strong, and Roth's charnelhouse chic intends to offend. In fact, HOSTEL II may stand as the most glaring example of the MPAA's bias in favor of violence over sexuality when it comes the boundary between R and NC-17.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Dubbed: French | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 10/28/2008 |
| Running Time: 95 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 19199 | | UPC: 00043396191990 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Bijou Phillips | | Heather Matarazzo | | Lauren German | | Roger Bart | | Brad E. Wilhite - Editor | | Daniel Newton - Art Director | | David Baxa - Art Director | | Eli Roth - Director | | Eli Roth - Writer | | Eli Roth - Producer | | George Folsey, Jr. - Editor | | Milan Chadima - Cinematographer | | Nathan Barr - Original Music By | | Quentin Tarantino - Executive Producer | | Robb Wilson King - Production Designer |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"[An] authentic real-world creep show....Roth is ruled by B-movie reflexes, but what lifts him out of the gross-out ghetto is his Maileresque fascination with the killer inside." -- Grade: B 06/22/2007 p.52Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Writer/director Eli Roth uses colour, composition, camera movement and music to bring a terrible poetry to events..." 07/01/2007 p.42 Empire
3 stars out of 5 -- "It's a more confident movie....Roth designs sequences and camera moves here that show a tremendous evolution from the first film." 12/01/2007 p.217 ReelViews 5 of 10
"There has been a degree of controversy surrounding the violence in Hostel Part II, with critics in some corners arguing that it amounts to ""torture porn."" While I'll be the first to admit that Hostel Part II isn't a good film, it's a horror movie, so criticizing it for amping up the levels of gore and violence seems pointless...Hostel Part II isn't any more shocking than dozens of its predecessors, so it's surprising that it has been singled out. Maybe that's because movie-goers have become so used to neutered PG-13 ghost stories that something with an edge possesses the capability to shock...Hostel Part II provides pretty much everything Hostel offered but with a little less tongue-in-cheek sense of fun. It's a darker motion picture with the middle third dulling the audience's senses through boredom." - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 10 of 10
"Eli Roth's Hostel was one of the best horror films of recent years, a brutal rollercoaster ride by a writer-director who exhibited both the intellect of a film studies professor and the enthusiasm of a teenage fan. The combination serves Roth well again with Hostel: Part II, a smart, stylish, and extremely violent follow-up that shatters the limits of the R rating like its characters transgress the boundaries of conventional morality. Roth follows the model of the greatest sequel of all time, The Godfather Part II, by creating a parallel structure in which two separate storylines complement and comment upon one another...Hostel: Part II has something that most bigger-budgeted and more heavily promoted sequels don't: the ambition to not only repeat the experience of its predecessor, but to expand and improve upon it." - Jim Hemphill
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