Hostel: Part II

Considering its gruesome and graphic advertising campaign and the mind-numbing body count of its predecessor, no one will go into Hostel: Part II expecting a fun European romp. You get what you pay for, a slice-and-dice horror picture with nothing more on its mind than topping everything else out there for pure sick human degradation. Last time it was a bunch of arrogant guys wandering through Europe who stumbled into a chamber of terror and took it up the groin. This time the gender has been switched and the girls get equal opportunity to experience this bloodbath (literally). The basic premise is the same. The world’s wealthy (mostly white men) spend mucho bucks in order to live out their S&M murderous fantasies as they descend on a house of horror, where they “purchase” the opportunity to maim and slowly kill the human prey of their choice. Three girls (Bijou Phillips, Lauren German, and Heather Matarazzo) looking for a good time soon become their intended victims, but these “gentlemen” might just get more than they bargained for. Suffice it to say, the penultimate scene offers a grisly result that will have every male in the audience squirming in their seat. With generous doses of nudity and depravity, this Hostel—handsomely filmed in a picaresque town near Prague—rises above its low-rent competitors with remarkable makeup and prosthetic effects that make it all seem too believable for weaker stomachs. If this sounds like your cup of crud—and you know who you are—you probably won’t be disappointed.