It's more than a bit shocking (and surprisingly comedic) to watch this go down while most of these guys are shopping with their wives or hanging with their kids at the beach. A clever scene early on shows a gaggle of business men competing on an Ebay like website for the right to torture our lead characters (whose passports are scanned and uploaded at their arrival to the hostel). which is something that we'll touch on later.Īt the same time we are seeing these girls venture through europa (while increasingly sinister things happen around them) we are also treated with a lot more insight to the kind of people who bid on the right to torture and kill another human being. What the opening act does have in common with it's predecessor is pacing. So instead of getting beaten to death with 'breasts and drugs', we're seduced with the artsy side of European culture right along with these women. His camera glides through the ancient streets of Europe and lingers on artful images much longer than one might expect. Instead what we have here is (dare I say it) a mature Eli Roth film. I was worried when I read this beforehand that much of the 'rawness' that I enjoyed so much about the original would be gone this time around. Instead of hash houses and whore houses, these girls seem more interested art classes and cultural festivals. The differences between the first acts of both films are apparent from the very beginning. Overall I liked these women and was sorry to see what happens to them. She's also killed pretty awfully, which was hard for me to watch because I had unexpectedly began to care for her and her wide eyed romantic view of Europe. Heather has made a career out of playing awkward characters like this and she's a definite stand out here. The real wild card is Heather Matarazzo as Lorna, the bookish prude who seems to be holding the other two girls back early on.

Bijou Phillips is suitably passable as the horny wild child, although she turns out to be little more than fodder in the end (and doesn't get naked for the first time ever). Besides being rich (which is glossed over early on) her character isn't all that fleshed out, but she does well with what she was given. Lauren German is solid (and cute) as the lead in the film. This time around, instead of following 3 randy American guys trying to score some ass in Holland, we follow three yankee girls trying to soak up some culture while in Europe. Surprisingly, it succeeds at many things. As a sequel 'Hostel: Part II' aims for something a little higher than the original.

Eli Roth made one thing clear over and over while out promoting 'Hostel 2', this will not be a rehash of the original 'Hostel.' In many ways, the man is absolutely right.

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