Hostel: Part II is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by Eli Roth, and the sequel to his 2005 film Hostel.
The movie stars Lauren German, Roger Bart, Heather Matarazzo and Bijou Phillips. Director Eli Roth, his brother Gabriel, and co-producer Dan Fisner make cameo appearances as heads on sticks.
Italian director Ruggero Deodato (Last Cannibal World; Cannibal Holocaust) makes an appearance and cult actress Edwige Fenech (The Case of the Bloody Iris) also has a small role as an Art professor.
Plot:
While studying art in Rome for the summer, three young American women, Beth (Lauren German), Lorna (Heather Matarazzo) and Whitney (Bijou Phillips) are lured away to a Slovakian hostel by the beautiful Eastern European model from their life drawing class.
What they find there is a living hell as they are forced into servitude by an exclusive club that sells them off to the highest bidder, a sick and depraved psychopath who tortures them and gets his kicks from watching the young women die a slow and painful death…
The film was released on June 8, 2007, in the United States. Like its predecessor, the film is set in Slovakia and focuses on a facility in which rich clients pay to torture and kill kidnapped victims. Hostel: Part II performed poorly at the box office totalling just $17 million by the end of its theatrical run whereas the original made $19 million in its opening weekend alone.
A less contentious direct-to-DVD release set in Las Vegas, Hostel: Part III followed in late 2011.
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Reviews:
“Roth is way ahead of the game, giving us only one major drawn out damsel in distress sequence. The rest of the time, events happen off screen, or within a unique twist on the aggressor/victim paradigm. Indeed, all of Hostel Part II is about bucking trends. Don’t listen to the message boards that lament that this is more of the same thing. It’s not.” Pop Matters
“While the film suffers from many of the same flaws as its predecessor – poor character development, predictability and playing to clichés this second film is more entertaining than the one that came before it. It moves at a much faster pace and three women victims in the picture are slightly more likeable than the male victims in the original were.” Ian Jane, Rock! Shock! Pop!
“Nasty business indeed, and frankly, it makes the film difficult to enjoy.” DVD Verdict
” …a mostly conventional but better sequel featuring much less annoying women as both victims and killers, with similar minimal gore but plenty of psychological nastiness, and with a neat payoff at the end after an hour of dull unsurprising horror.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
Cast and characters:
Lauren German … Beth
Roger Bart … Stuart
Heather Matarazzo … Lorna
Bijou Phillips … Whitney
Richard Burgi … Todd
Vera Jordanova … Axelle
Jay Hernandez … Paxton
Jordan Ladd … Stephanie
Milan Knazko … Sasha
Edwige Fenech … Art Class Professor
Stanislav Yanevski … Miroslav
Patrik Zigo … Bubblegum Gang Leader
Zuzana Geislerová … Inya
Ivan Furak … Big Guard
Monika Malácová … Mrs Bathory
