Originally Posted by
Letti
What do you think about this movie?
I am not interested in horror movies very much I hardly ever watch them... but this one. The idea in it is so great.
I like the idea as well.
The concept of a sanctimonious psychopath who uses various forms of torture in order to force people into accepting his twisted notion of do-gooderism is intriguing. My problem with the movie-and I'll admit that I only saw one of the film's sequels, but I'm assuming it was nearly identical to the original movie-is the poor execution. Poor casting, no thematic development-it's basically the same idea on spin cycle-and no genuine conflict.
I thought Hostel was far superior for a number of reasons. It had not only one but several compelling plot points. The premise of the film, i.e. that there could be a secret torture chamber, catering to Western sadists and which is countenanced by the local authorities, located in an EU nation :eye roll: is beyond stupid, but the underlying themes of the film are interesting.
1. That the profusion of degrading, atomizing pornography accessible through modern channels has desensitized our society-or at least a large portion of it-to the point where we need to seek pleasure in something that literally turns our fellow man into a piece of meat-this also conjures up the unresolved questions of Europe's relationship to The Holocaust, and makes you search deeper for an explanation as to how/why so many individuals would be able to dehumanize another race so completely and utterly without resort to their own conscience. Does this imply that the thing we call a "conscience" is not biologically innate? Or that it does not exist at all? If so, what does that say about us as a species?
2. The utter credulity-some would describe it as ignorance-of Western, but in particular American, tourists. The idea that Americans have such a deluded view of how human nature operates-because we are so isolated from the depredations and horrors that are ubiquitous throughout most of the world-that we expose ourself to those very threats whenever we encounter the baser, more feral aspects of life. This reminds me of a store-owner near me whose sister relayed an anecdote about a crime that happened in her home county in China, where a businessman had his organs stolen from him when he went to use a restroom. We usually think of naive, stupid Americans in this role, e.g. Rachel Corrie, Lori Beronson, etc.,but the theme of Hostel could be applied just as easily to any prosperous, overly civilized Western country, e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the countries of Western and Central Europe, etc...
I think the casting, direction, and most of the technical aspects of Hostel outshine Saw, which is why I think it's a much better film in addition to the aforementioned reasons.
That sucked.
The only thing I can't stand is boring. It doesn't have to be particularly good though.
