From the man that brought us the largely reviled, although somewhat misunderstood “Cabin Fever”, comes “Hostel”; a brutal tale of torture and betrayal. The film follows the story of 3 backpackers that head to a small Slovakian town in search of the fabled sexual fiends that a friend described to them back in Amsterdam. The young travellers check into the local hostel and embark on a weekend of hedonistic pleasure-seeking, only to discover that some things are too good to be true.

Backed by the international film superstar Quentin Tarantino, this horror flick already has its formula for box office success, but with a large audience comes an intensive regime of scrutiny. Each pin dropped will be picked up and shown for all to see, so there’s really no margin for error. The nature of today’s audiences means that “Hostel” with either be declared a modern horror classic and be allowed to sit alongside such films as “Dawn of the Dead” and “Saw” or will be flushed together with the crappiest of the bunch (House of the Dead, anyone?). The problem is, Hostel is a confusing film to conclusively summarize because it has a number of conflicting pro’s and cons.

Sleeping on the job…

The actual plot behind “Hostel” is a prime example of what could confuse your deductive senses; the film starts with an immensely shallow and simple tone, with the travellers being lured to the Slovakian town in search of an attractive horde of nymphomaniacs. But manages to take a dark and rather interesting turn as we discover what lies beyond this heavenly façade.

For the majority of the film “Hostel” remains visually dull and generic, with the usual gritty horror feel to it and the low-key lighting peeking around every corner. However, there are moments of vivid clarity in which you sit mesmerized as the rest of the sequence unfolds; several of these are based around some very savage, but strangely satisfying, imagery.

Go on, you know you want to.

Mr Roth has certainly outdone himself in terms of the calibre of carnage, with some scenes that will make the body parts in question, tingle with that familiar nervous sensation. The latter part of the film is a lesson in old school blood and guts, but disappointingly the first act features no [gore-related] violence whatsoever, which leaves you feeling slightly annoyed at Amsterdam for not being as interesting as small town Slovakia and of course, at Mr Roth for not writing in an early blood drenched sequence.

“Hostel” revisits the nasty roots of the horror genre, reminding us that the recent wave of psychological films are either too tame or just too abysmal to satisfy our carnal longings. But despite the ruthless display of violence and nubile young women, it will certainly fail to captivate a lot audiences due to the poorly structured first half of the storyline. See “Hostel” with an open mind and you will leave the cinema feeling fulfilled and ready to trawl through your back catalogue of horror films, enter with expectations of the best and goriest horror film of recent years and leave disappointed.

A definitive judgement of “Hostel” is difficult to arrive at because it seems to be a double edged blade, however if we discard some of the technical flaws and the supposed sexism of the first half hour, it can be seen in a very positive light. “Hostel” seems destined to satisfy the hardcore horror audiences but is likely to have it’s reputation undeservedly marred by industry and public snobs alike - a hypocrisy fuelled injustice.

7/10