7/01/2018

Hostel: Part II (2007) - Roth's return to Eastern Europe is a wicked horror blast



+ Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Exploitation Movie of the Year + Best Comeback Actress of the Year: Heather Matarazzo 

Heather Matarazzo is caught upside down in an undeniably terrifying state of helplessness on this appropriately nasty poster for Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II

3 young women are lured to take a detour on their European interrail vacation from Rome to Slovakia, where they become victims of a clandestine society of upper class torture and murder patrons.

Hostel: Part II is written and directed by great Bostonian filmmaker Eli Roth (Cabin Fever (2002)), a sequel to his thrilling Hostel (2005), in which three male tourists experience the same type of grueling reception in Eastern Europe. Part II tops the wicked first film as an evil, grim and staggering work of exploitation horror.
Although the film by no definition of the word could be said to have a star cast, it does have a super cast: Stand-outs are Heather Matarazzo (Scream 3 (2000)), SPOILER whose death by scythe must rate as among the sickest movie death scenes in recent history, - unforgettably sadistic, - and Richard Burgi (Fatal Instinct (2014)) as a grotesque businessman. Horror fans will also appreciate Italian master filmmaker Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust (1980)) in a cameo as an Italian cannibal, naturally.
Hostel: Part II is a refreshingly inhumane, hardcore gore horror classic.

Related posts:

Eli RothThe Last Exorcism Part 2 (2013) or, The Not So Last Chicken Exorcism (co-producer)
Aftershock (2012) - Extreme tastelessness in one of 2012's worst films (co-writer/co-producer/co-star) 
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Inglourious Basterds (2009) - The Movies take revenge on Nazi scum (co-star)
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Cabin Fever (2002) - Eli Roth's awesome skin-rash-inspired breakthrough (co-writer/co-producer/director)








Watch a terrific teaser for the film, introduced by Eli Roth SPOILER from the set of Matarazzo's death scene here

Cost: 10.2 mil. $
Box office: 35.6 mil. $ 
= Box office success (3.49 times the cost)
[Hostel: Part II premiered 7 June (Australia, Argentina and Slovakia) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in Iceland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, including Prague, and Monaco from November 2006 - January 2007. SPOILER Bijou Phillips (Black Limousine (2010)) has explained that her scalping death scene required around 45 camera setups, and that her experience on the film made her lose interest for doing more horror. SPOILER Matarazzo completed the shooting of her upside down nude death scene without a stand-in, hanging for 5 minute intervals during the two days the scene was shot. The film opened and peaked #6 to an 8.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (less than half of the first film's #1 19.5 mil. $ opening), grossing 17.6 mil. $ (49.4 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.5 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Germany with 2.1 mil. $ (5.9 %). The release encountered resistance of many types: Its meat-themed poster above was removed from US theaters after complaints. It was released cut in Germany, Singapore and Malaysia and banned outright in New Zealand. In UK's House of Commons in 2007, having stills from the film was cited as illegal, an offense of 'extreme pornography'. Worst for the film; a pirate version of it leaked online days before the release and was downloaded millions of times, which Roth blamed for the less impressive box office, compared to the first film's 80.5 mil. $ world gross. Roth returned with short Stolz der Nation (2009), featured a clip of in Inglorious Basterds (2009), which Roth also co-starred in, and with an episode of Hemlock Grove (2013, TV-series), which he also executive produced (2013-15), before he returned theatrically with The Green Inferno (2013). Hostel: Part III (2011) by Scott Spiegel was the much inferior straight-to-DVD so far last film in the Hostel franchise. Hostel: Part II is rotten at 44 % with a 5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hostel: Part II?

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