Now, six years later, a third entry in the Hostel series has been released. Roth is no longer involved. The film has not seen a theatrical release, instead given a low key debut on home video to little fanfare. So the question is, what’s happened to the Hostel series?Hostel Even before seeing the film and knowing the extent of the violence and gore, I questioned the wisdom in that decision. The kid didn’t seem too bothered, though, using the cinema as an adventure playground for the duration of the runtime. I was already a fan of writer director Eli Roth by this point, having been very taken with his debut film Cabin Fever, and was very impressed by Hostel. It’s certainly very different to Cabin Fever, but showed a similar reverence to the horror genre. Hostel tells the tale of two young Americans travelling through Europe who end up being lured into the possession of Elite Hunting, a company who sell them on as murder victims to the cruel and curious. It’s presented to us as a believable set-up – small, out of the way and grimy. The strength of Roth’s script, littered with interesting touches, such as the Bubblegum Gang, combined with the movie’s excellent execution (it’s extremely well shot) meant that Hostel was a real stand-out at an interesting time for the horror genre. Extreme horror, crudely dubbed ‘torture porn’ by critics and would-be censors, was proving popular at the box office, and with Saw II having grossed just shy of $150m just a few months before Hostel’s success, a Hostel sequel seemed inevitable. But, despite some similarities, Hostel is actually quite different from Saw. The script is more intelligent, and it has Roth’s distinctive voice. So while writers can be working on Saw 4 while Saw 3 is still being finished, Hostel’s script would need to be guided by Roth and would likely take longer to write. So when Hostel: Part II was released only 18 months later, again written and directed by Roth, there was cause for concern. Still, I’d enjoyed the first one so much, and had faith that Hostel: Part II would be a suitable continuation to the series. Hostel: Part II Perhaps it’s telling that my memory of seeing the first Hostel is so vivid, but that I can’t remember a thing about seeing Hostel: Part II. I couldn’t tell you when I saw it in relation to its release, and I couldn’t tell you where I saw it. What I can remember is how disappointed I felt. Hostel: Part II expands the Elite Hunting organisation shown in the first movie to a level that almost implies a global conspiracy. The group shown in the first film seemed smaller – operating in an abandoned warehouse in a small town where people are exploited and the local authorities are paid off. Here, we’re a shown a mansion with a secret room just to display the decapitated heads of the owner’s enemies. Knowing that the audience will be familiar with the Hostel format, the sequel plays with its expectations. This is fine when it works, which is infrequently, but it often takes the form of out-of-character behavior from the film’s protagonists and antagonists. With one of the ‘killers’, his change is so dramatic that it comes across as cartoonish, and others aren’t far behind. Problems are scattered throughout the film, which is frustrating, but things really start to unravel in the final 20 minutes. Baffling plot twists abound as characters attempt to borrow each other’s personality traits in the name of keeping the audience guessing. I’d also mention the recap at the beginning (something that used to be commonplace in horror sequels which I’d love to see make a comeback), the strong cast and the wonderful cameo from Cannibal Holocaust director Ruggero Deodato. Perhaps more surprising than the problems with Hostel: Part II was the film’s poor performance at the box office. Arguably too little money had been spent on the film for it to be considered a flop, but it would be fair to say that it performed massively below expectations, grossing just $35.6m worldwide – less than half of Hostel’s haul. One of the earliest movies to find its way onto the Internet prior to its release, albeit as a work-print cut of the film, Hostel: Part II was heavily bootlegged, which many felt was a major contributor to the film’s financial troubles. Even now, it’s difficult to know whether that was the case and to what extent its effects were felt. It’s impossible to know how many of the downloads would have represented ticket sales, just as you can’t measure the effects of early word-of-mouth reviews of an unfinished version of the film. Another possible explanation, and for me the most likely, was the strange decision to release the film in June. Releasing such a grim, bleak horror film against the summer’s blockbusters seems a bizarre decision, and left the film competing for business against the likes of Shrek The Third, Ocean’s Thirteen and Spider-Man 3. A potentially lucrative horror franchise was suddenly not the safe bet it had once appeared. Eli Roth has not directed a film since, and is very unlikely to return to the series. Although the budgets for the previous two films were modest, it’s unlikely that such money would ever be invested in a Hostel movie again. That said, the films do still have a fan base, and with a built-in audience, further Hostel films were inevitable. So now, four and a half years later, Hostel: Part III has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. Still, for at least the first hour, Hostel: Part III is not such a bad film. As patronising as this may sound, being released the way it has means that those watching it are unlikely to be burdened by high expectations. This leaves it free to just have fun with the Hostel concept, and it does so by subverting the series tropes (something it does more successfully than Hostel: Part II) and with some cool additions to Elite Hunting’s operations. Relocating to Las Vegas, the plot starts with a group of guys heading off for a debauched stag weekend, The Hangover-style, before we end up in familiar territory, hunting for missing friends and falling afoul of murder-merchants Elite Hunting. Hostel: Part III does nothing to undo the damage done to the series by the previous film, but it doesn’t cause much damage to what’s left. Fans of the previous films should certainly consider checking it out, although I would advise them to approach this one as the likely start of a new, less ambitious direction for the series.So now what? Assuming that Hostel: Part III is a success, I see no harm in continuing the franchise on as a straight-to-video series. As the American Pie series has shown, continued success in the straight-to-video market can jumpstart a franchise theatrically. A few more of these Hostel sequels, and we may yet see the series return to big the screen, where we can hopefully get a sequel worthy of the first film.
