Barnes & Noble

This gruesome shudder show takes cinematic horror to new depths with its startlingly realistic gore effects and uncompromising depiction of willful depravity. Backpacking across Europe, American students Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) meet up with fellow thrill seeker Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson) in Amsterdam and, after hearing of hedonistic pleasures to be found in the titular Slovakian hostel, head southeast. The hype is true, it initially seems, as the inn seems to overflow with promiscuous young beauties eager to please tourists. But the submissive ladies are just a ruse designed to lull travelers into a false sense of security: The most perverse human traffickers imaginable, in fact, have other plans for the pleasure-seeking young men. What happens next seems strategically devised to out-saw Saw. Writer-director Eli Roth -- inspired to write the film after hearing rumors of a similar establishment in Thailand -- transfers his action to Eastern Europe, remarkably with the cooperation of the Czech Republic, which provided shooting locations. Are local entrepreneurs there actually abducting Westerners for use in rich men’s snuff games? They probably didn’t discuss that with the local film commission. But the profoundly unsettling and deeply cautionary Hostel will certainly serve the interests of parents eager to chasten their children, especially ones eager to explore depraved sexual underworlds. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Cabin Fever director Eli Roth skips the humor of his freshman feature and goes straight for the jugular in this unrelenting scare-fest about a pair of libidinous American backpackers seeking cheap thrills in the European countryside. Their carefree college days close behind and the responsibility of the real world looming ever closer on the horizon, Josh (Derek Richardson) and Paxton (Jay Hernandez) strap on their backpacks and prepare for a stratospheric last hurrah of booze, babes, drugs, and debauchery halfway across the globe. It's during a visit to Amsterdam that the pair meets up with raucous Icelandic backpacker Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), and after the three globe-trotting thrill seekers catch wind of a Slovakian city whose male population has dwindled as a result of civil strife -- leaving the ladies ready and willing to accept any male companionship that might turn up at the local hostel -- the trio quickly beats a hasty retreat to the out-of-the-way oasis. Upon check-in, the trio is greeted by a bevy of beautiful locals and is quickly convinced that the hedonistic hideaway is indeed the real deal. Hazily awakening the following morning to find no trace of backpacking buddy Oli, Paxton chalks his former traveling companion's disappearance up to capriciousness and prepares for another day of debauchery, despite Josh's rapidly elevating sense of unease. Now trapped defenselessly in a foreign land without any means of escape and no way of anticipating the unimaginable hell that lies ahead, the pair is plunged into a torturous netherworld where the screams of the damned fill the air with dread and the warm rays of the sun are little more than a fading memory. Jason Buchanan

Product Details

• UPC: 043396141834
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français
• Time: 1:34:00
• Sales Rank: 49,564

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Hostel/Mothman Prophecies

Features: