Hostel Part II by Director Eli Roth is brilliant. Not for the rampant nudity, European allure, or for the shocking bloody gore that was so rampant in the first Hostel film. While it could use a lot of help stylistically in terms of mise-en-scene and editing, the narrative of this film is compelling if you stop seeing it as just an über-grotesque horror movie.
So what is Hostel Part II (2007) about? A trio of attractive female college students from the U.S. wish to have fun in Europe, but instead become victims of a pay-to-kill company called Elite Hunting. Wrong. How about this: Three Americans bring their spoiled ways of American dominance to Europe only to find that rich hunters pay top dollar to brutally torture and kill them. And... EUROPE rocks.
Let's see. We have the typical horror genre pairing of two sexually promiscuous, attractive girls with an innocent, smart girl who doesn't quite fit in. The smart girl, not strong enough to do her own thing, falls in with the other two girls in power who wish to act recklessly abroad without care or responsibility (sound familiar?). Unlike the horror genre of the past seen in films like Halloween, however, the smart non-promiscuous girl does not live. The two lewd girls – both from wealthy families and who enjoy recreational drugs, drinking, men and partying – represent the 21st century American who is so inwardly focused on demonstrating power, having many possessions, and being number one, fails to think outwardly and to consider not just how his actions affect others, but how his actions affect others' perceptions of him. Face it. Americans are selfish.
So these three American girls end up in Europe drinking its vodka, bathing in its hot springs, painting its beauty, and using its men all rather selfishly. And what happens to them? Their European equivalent – an also very attractive, albeit more refined and cultured, model-esque woman named Axelle (a very masculine, strong name that implies the dominance European females have in not being subservient to their men; in contrast, Lorna, Beth and Whitney are all very feminine names) – lures them to Slovakia. To that damn hostel. Which now, by the way, is a very high-tech operation with scanners, online/mobile bidding, pagers, luxury suites, make-up artists, and car service. Accolades to Roth for evolving his basic plot point beyond what we saw in the first Hostel film to keep it fresh, interesting and more challenging for our characters. This basic plot line not only shows the willingness of Americans to abandon their own desires and ability to lead in following the good-looking European, but it also reminds us just how blind Americans can become in the face of acquiring things. Anything. Whole countries. The opposite sex. Couture. Spas.
Why has this country become so absorbed in itself to the point of using other countries, people, and cultures to make itself feel strong and dominant. Number one. The best. Hostel Part II's plot itself is centered on two American men who, feeling weak and insecure, turn to the Elite Hunting company to feel good about themselves again vis-a-vis a blatant display of machismo in torturing and killing weak and defenseless women. Maybe the truth of it is that we're scrambling, arms flailing, to get a hold of anything so we do not drown into second place. Number two. And trust me, we don't want to "try harder" as number two. Americans, for the most part, are a bit lazy (and not like the French). So in the face of a very demoralizing time period – 2007 – that is marked by a fighting winless war in the middle east, unchecked inflation, a cowboy president, and the utter neglect of things that could truly make our country excel (by improvements in education, transportation infrastructure, scientific discoveries, etc.), what happens to us self-involved, insecure Americans? Europeans kill us. But not before torturing the hell out of us with steak knives, power saws, cheese slicers, etc. Even when we try to get away from it and escape the European punishment of our unchecked, selfish behavior, we really can't escape. We're once again put in our places. Or, as Hostel illustrates for us, our heads are put on display in a hidden trophy room within a dashing European's mansion.
Interesting thoughts culled from the film:
• The man who leads Lorna to her doom is named Roman. This could be a reference to Roman Polanski, who is now living in exile in Europe after the Americans forced him out of the country.
• Sasha, an executive with Elite Hunting, executes one of the children of the "Bubblegum Gang" after they interfered with his kidnapping of Beth. This could be representative of the European failure to let their children just be -- that is, to be children as opposed to being "little adults."
• Americans rush too much and are clumsy, as is evident by Todd's eager over-excitement and his subsequent ruining of Whitney's face with a power saw once he has her in his chamber. Oops.
• Not all of the Elite Hunting company's clientele is male: Lorna, the first of the three to die, falls victim to a sadistic woman named Mrs. Bathory who slowly slices her with a long – and appropriately phallic – scythe, which hints at the European acceptance of females on a equal level to men. Whereas in America, Stuart's wife is seen playing the classically feminine role of wife and mother. Contrast this to MRS. Bathory, who herself is also married, yet is not taking on a feminine gender role.
• Death. The two girls who end up dead are: 1) an unattractive dork and 2) an over-sexed Barbie doll while the one who lives is intelligent, subdued and quiet (more European).
• Europeans are way too into soccer. Seriously. After Beth has the "Bubble Gum" gang kids decapitate Axelle, the kids take to playing an impromptu game of soccer with her head. Anyway, it's a very humorous touch from Roth.
