Hostel

Year:  2006
Director:  Eli Roth
Screenplay:  Eli Roth
Starring:  Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Barbara Nedeljakova, Jan Vlasak, Rick Hoffman, Jennifer Lim
Running Time:  93 minutes
Genre:  Horror

American college students Paxton (Hernandez) and Josh (Richardson) are travelling across Europe with their Icelandic friend Oli (Gudjonsson) on the hunt for drugs, sex and wild times.  Arriving in Amsterdam they hear a story about a hostel in Slovakia which is full of beautiful, willing women who love Americans.  Needless to say, the none too bright trio are soon on their way.  At first glance the hostel is everything they could have wished for, particularly when they are greeted by the beautiful Natalya (Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova).  However, when Oli disappears, Paxton and Josh soon discovers that the hostel has a dark secret.  It's run by an organisation which lures tourists and then kidnaps them, whereupon a wealthy international clientele pay for the opportunity to torture the victims to death.

The film opens with the credits playing over a scene which hints at the horrors to come, where an unseen, janitor cheerfully whistles while hosing down the blood and gore from one of the torture chambers.  From there the first part of the film almost plays like a bawdy teen comedy, as our three fairly unlikable "heroes" get stoned, drink, and visit prostitutes.  It comes into it's own later on, after Oli disappears and the net tightens around Josh and Paxton.  The relatable fear comes from being a stranger in a strange land and very far from home.  When Josh worries about Oli, Paxton reminds him that they really know nothing at all about him.  Of course this is the central fear of what could be called "tourist terror" where people venture out of their safe environments and come to harm.  The film does have a point to make about the ignorance of some tourists, when Paxton, Josh and Oli first hear about the hostel they are told that their are no men "because of the war", when in fact there hasn't been a war in Slovakia since 1945.  It also has a point about the horrors of rampant capitalism where life itself is just a commodity to be bought and sold, and where anything is available to whoever has the money.  A kind of connection is made between Paxton, Josh and Oli's treatment of prostitutes early in the film and what will later happen to them (when Paxton and Oli try to persuade Josh to hire a prostitute he replies "going into a room with someone and paying to do whatever you want to her is not my idea of a turn on".)
The film was hugely controversial on it's release for it's graphic violence and explicit gore, leading it to be referred to as "torture porn".  Certainly it is not for those of a nervous disposition, but it is quite a good horror movie and at times genuinely chilling.