From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hostel
Hostel film poster
Directed by	Eli Roth
Produced by	Eli Roth Chris Briggs Mike Fleiss Quentin Tarantino(executive)
Written by	Eli Roth Quentin Tarantino(uncredited rewrite)
Starring	Jay Hernandez Derek Richardson Eythor Gudjonsson Barbara Nedeljáková
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films Screen Gems
Release date(s)	September 17, 2005 (premiere) November 12, 2005 (premiere) January 6, 2006 February 23, 2006 April 27, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 30, 2006 March 30, 2006
Running time	107 min.
Country	USA
Language	English Czech example (info) German example (info) Icelandic example (info) Japanese examp. (info) Dutch example (info) Russian example (info) Slovak example (info) Spanish example (info) (example help)
Budget	$4.5 million
Followed by	Hostel: Part II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Ratings
Argentina:	18
Australia:	R18
Austria:	16
Belgium:	KNT
Brazil:	18
Canada:	18A
Finland:	18
France:	16
Germany:	18
Hong Kong:	III
Hungary:	18
Iceland:	16
Ireland:	18
Italy:	VM14
Malaysia:	Banned
Mexico:	D
Netherlands:	16
New Zealand:	R18
Norway:	18 (20)
Philippines:	R18
Portugal:	M/18
Singapore:	R21 (cut)
South Africa:	16
South Korea:	18
Spain:	18
Sweden:	15
Switzerland:	18
United Kingdom:	18
United States:	R
Uruguay:	18

Hostel is a 2005 American horror film written and directed by Eli Roth, starring Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson and Barbara Nedeljáková. The movie is rated "R" in the United States for its infamous scenes of torture and violence, strong sexual content, language, and drug use. Due to the graphic nature of this film, its showing has been restricted in certain countries, primarily those with strict censorship policies. The sequel, Hostel: Part II, was released on June 8, 2007.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Box office 4.2 Reviews 4.3 Slovakia controversy 5 Trivia 6 Sequel 7 References 8 External links

In Amsterdam, backpackers Paxton (Jay Hernandez), Josh (Derek Richardson) and Icelandic Óli (Eyþór Guðjónsson) meet Alexei (Lubomir Bukovy), a Russian man who tells them about a Slovak hostel filled with American-loving, promiscuous women. Needing little convincing otherwise, the trio boards a train to Slovakia, where they meet a Dutch businessman (Jan Vlasák) long enough to be unnerved by his bizarre behavior. Upon arriving in Slovakia, the trio checks into the local hostel and discover themselves sharing a room with Natalya (Barbara Nedeljáková) and Svetlana (Jana Kadeřábková), two attractive, single women who entice the backpackers to a spa and sleep with them.

The next morning, Óli is missing. A young Japanese backpacker named Kana (Jennifer Lim) also reports that her friend Yuki has disappeared. An SMS photo sent from Yuki's phone shows Yuki and Óli beneath a smokestack of an abandoned factory, the word Sayonara written beneath it. As Josh and Paxton search for Óli, they receive an SMS message from Óli, containing his picture and the words "I go home" beneath it. Paxton and Josh decide to leave Bratislava with Kana the following day. Later that night, while partying with Natalya and Svetlana, Paxton and Josh succumb to the effects of alcohol. Josh returns to the hostel while Paxton passes out in the disco's storage room.

Josh wakes up handcuffed to a chair in a dungeon-like room and surrounded by power tools and weapons. The Dutch businessman enters in a leather apron and gloves and begins torturing Josh by drilling him in his thighs and his pecs above the nipples. Despite Josh's pleas for his release, the businessman slices Josh's Achilles Tendon, allowing him to attempt an unsuccessful escape before murdering him.

Across town, Paxton wakes up and returns to the hostel to find both Josh and Kana missing. In his room are a different pair of beautiful women inviting him to a spa, similar to Natalya's and Svetlana's offer from before. When the local police force (Miroslav Táborský) proves unhelpful, Paxton locates Natalya and Svetlana at a non-tourist bar and demands to be taken to his friends. Natalya and Paxton drive to a factory on the outskirts of the town and walk inside. There, he sees the Dutch Business man standing over Josh's dead body, disecting Josh and looking at his internal organs. Paxton is then ambushed by two thugs and dragged down a hallway, witnessing other backpackers being tortured in adjacent cells by various "clients" before he is restrained in his own cell. Later, a German client (Petr Janiš) appears and begins to torture Paxton, sawing off two of his fingers and part of his handcuffs before slipping on the slick floor and seriously wounding himself. Paxton breaks free, shoots the client with a nearby gun and conceals himself in the client's outfit.

Paxton escapes to the upper levels of the building into a locker room, where he can see police officers conspiring with the men outside. He disguises himself in the clothes of the previous client when he discovers a business card for Elite Hunting, now revealed as a secret, worldwide, murder-for-profit organization. An American businessman (Rick Hoffman) arrives and believing Paxton to be another client, discusses his victim and the techniques to kill her, leaving behind a firearm before exiting. Paxton steals the firearm and escapes to the courtyard when he hears a woman scream. Unable to ignore it, he returns to the factory and kills the American, now in the middle of torturing Kana. Paxton and Kana flee the factory in a stolen car and drive to the railway station, where they kill several thugs, Natalya, and Světlana. Arriving at the station, they see that the policemen and factory guards are waiting for them. Kana notices her disfigured reflection and unable to live with her hideous scars throws herself into the path of an incoming train, distracting the guards and allowing Paxton to escape aboard another train. Once aboard, Paxton hears the familiar voice of Josh's torturer, the Dutch businessman. As the train stops in Vienna, Austria, Paxton follows him to a public restroom, where he mutilates the businessman, forcing him to beg for his life before taking two of his fingers and murdering him. Paxton leaves the restroom, boarding another train out of Austria.

• Jay Hernandez as Paxton
• Derek Richardson as Josh
• Eyþór Guðjónsson as Óli
• Barbara Nedeljáková as Natalya
• Jana Kadeřábková as Světlana
• Jan Vlasák as The Dutch Businessman
• Jennifer Lim as Kana
• Lubomir Šilhavecký as Alex
• Paula Wild as Monique
• Petr Janiš as The German Surgeon
• Jana Havlíčková as Vala
• Vanessa Jungová as Saskia
• Rick Hoffman as The American Client
• Miroslav Táborský as Town Policeman
• Dmitri Kalvezm as Butcher

The film was billed as "inspired by true events"; Eli Roth claimed to have read about poverty stricken individuals in Thailand who would sell "members of their family to organized crime, then American and European businessmen would pay $10,000 to walk in a room and shoot them in the head."^[1]

Despite the fact that most of the movie is set in a small fictional location near Bratislava, Slovakia, actually not a single sequence was shot in Slovakia, and the film opened #1 at the box office in Slovakia. The filming locations were at the Barrandov Studios, in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. In addition to the lower costs of filming in the Czech Republic, Barrandov has well-equipped sound stages, making it a popular choice for US productions set in Europe. 95% of the film was shot on location in and around Prague, and the stage was only used for the main torture rooms.

The film's opening weekend North American box office gross was $19.5 million, making it the top grossing film that weekend. It went on to gross a total of $47.2 million in the U.S. The film's budget was around $4.5 million,^[2] and the film went on to gross over $80 million dollars at the box office worldwide, and over $100 million on DVD worldwide.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Critical results were either raves or pans. Critics attack the film for its violence, while defenders interpret it as a subversive commentary on the darkest aspects of a capitalist society, and how people exploit others for their own pleasure: Jean Francois Rauger, a major film critic for Le Monde, a French newspaper, and programmer of the Cinémathèque Française, listed Hostel as the Best American Film of 2006, and hailed the film as a brilliant comment on capitalism gone too far.^{[citation needed]} Artforum magazine in America called the film the smartest comment in cinema to date on American imperialism.^{[citation needed]} Hostel won the 2006 Empire Award for Best Horror Film. In October 2007 H.M.V. stores' annual Horror poll ranked "Hostel" on their list of the 10 best horror films of all time. It was the only modern horror film on the list, the most recent after it was made in 1988. Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments: Even Scarier Movie Moments" ranked "Hostel" as the #1 scariest film of all time.

The film received strong pre-release complaints from the country of Slovakia, which is depicted in the film, and also from the Czech Republic. Slovak officials were disgusted by the film's portrayal of their native country as an undeveloped, poor and uncultured country suffering from high criminality, war and prostitution, fearing that it would "damage the good reputation of Slovakia" and would make foreigners feel that it was a dangerous place to be. The tourist board of Slovakia invited Roth on an all-expense paid trip to their country so he could see it's not made up of run down factories and kids who kill for bubble gum. Tomas Galbavy, a Slovak Member of Parliament, recently commented: "I am offended by this film. I think that all Slovaks should feel offended."^[3]

In his defense, Director Eli Roth said that the film was not meant to be offensive, arguing that "Americans do not even know that this country exists. My film is not a geographical work but aims to show Americans' ignorance of the world around them."^[3] To many viewers, Hostel appears to be misplaced, both culturally and geographically. Roth said he did this intentionally, meaning to show American stereotypes of Eastern Europe, while the Americans in the film are portrayed accurately.^[4] Roth has repeatedly argued that despite many films in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, people still go to Texas.^[5][6]

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• When Paxton is about to be tortured by the German surgeon, he begs to the surgeon in German. Director Eli Roth decided not to add subtitles, preferring to leave it in German. The lines translate as "If you kill me, it'll destroy your life. Every time you close your eyes, you'll see me. I'll be in your nightmares every night, your whole life. I will ruin it."
• In the german version of the movie, Paxton speaks Spanish instead of German. The translation remains the same, though.
• The Asian man Paxton speaks to before entering the torture building is Takashi Miike, famed director of Audition.^{[citation needed]}
• The portions of the film which were set in Slovakia were actually filmed in Cesky Krumlov, in the Czech Republic.
• The place of torture, referred to as the "exhibition", was in reality a former psychiatric hospital in the Czech Republic, which, according to Roth, housed political dissidents during the communist era.
• When the backpackers first arrive at the Hostel, the television is showing a scene from Pulp Fiction. Eli Roth has said that this was put into the film for two reasons: one, to show his gratitude to Tarantino for his support, and two, to show Tarantino's universal appeal. This scene was based on an incident Roth's brother Gabriel had traveling to a hostel in Bulgaria, where Pulp Fiction was playing on the T.V. in the lobby when he walked in.
• The song playing the first time Paxton, Josh, and Óli go to the club is called "Pravda Víťazí" by Slovakian rock group Tublatanka. Roth used Czechoslovakian pop and rock music from the early 80s to give the film a more authentic feel and to introduce American audiences to the music, which Roth listened to all during the shooting.
• Director Eli Roth has a short cameo as a stoner laughing at his brother Gabriel.
• The central station at the end of the movie is the main train station in Prague.
• There are several references to classic European horror films of the 1970s in Hostel. The music played during the sex scene in the hostel is the Sneaker Pimps cover version of "How Do", the song (also known as "Willow's Song" and also covered by Doves) that is played during the nude dance in the 1973 British film The Wicker Man.
• According to the DVD extras, in the scene when Josh is being tortured, the part when the Dutch Business man cuts his Achilles tendon, most of his screaming is real. While screaming and writhing in pain, Derek Richardson accidentally brought the chair down on his toe and nearly crushed his big toe. And when the Dutch Business man is pulling on Josh's hair, he was really pulling on Derek's real hair.

Hostel: Part II is the sequel to Hostel. The film was released on June 8, 2007.

• Official site
• Hostel at the Internet Movie Database
• Hostel Fanlisting
• Time Out Set visit and Eli Roth interview
• Metacritic: Hostel
• In-Depth Analysis of 'Hostel' and 'Hostel 2'
• Cast: Hostel
• "Hostel" review by Peter Bradshaw at Guardian Unlimited
• Coverage of Bratislava and Slovakia reactions

Preceded by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Box office number-one films of 2006 (USA) January 8, 2006

Succeeded by Glory Road

v • d • e Films directed by Eli Roth
Cabin Fever • Hostel • Grindhouse • Hostel: Part II • Cell