I was a bit shocked at the movie; sure it had a few gory parts in it, but most of the really gruesome violence was suggested and the camera typically cut away (no pun intended) at the very last second. During most of the movie, I had to wonder if the people that told me how bloody the flick was just looked away and missed the part where the camera changed views. For example, there is a part early in the movie when a girl has been captured and is firmly bound to a chair. Meanwhile, her captor places one of her toes in the business end of some chain cutters. Just before he clamps down, the camera switches to looking at the girl's back as you hear a blood-curdling crunch.
That's not to say all of the violence shows up off-screen though. There were a couple of scenes that really tested my will (like the Japanese girl's eye towards the end), but I was able to force myself not to look away each time. Writer and Director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) is definitely taking a cue from classic horror films that don't actually show you the violence. Instead, he lets your mind fill in the blanks and has you imagine the worst possible visuals. After all, who knows what freaks you out more than you?
The story of Hostel is okay. Three guys touring Europe are told about a place to stay for a few nights. What's so special about this place? Lets just say that the co-ed living quarters offer a bit more night-time fun than the other places on the block. Soon the tourists start disappearing and it is up to our main characters to escape the murder-filled town alive.
Hostel has a few special features. Besides the commentaries (there are several of these, including one with Roth and Executive Producer Quentin Tarantino), there is also a three part behind-the-scenes featurette called "Hostel Dissected". The featurettes are good to watch if you don't really have anything else to do, but don't put off sleep or anything interesting to watch them.
If you are a slasher/horror fan, then Hostel is a somewhat intense movie that you might be interested in picking up. Though most of its violence appears out of the camera frame, what does show up isn't necessarily for the weak-of-stomach.
