Eli Roth’s ‘HOSTEL’ Remains Relevant 20 Years Later

20 years ago this month, one of the most influential horror films of all time opened: director Eli Roth’s Hostel. Drawing from urban legends of “dark tourism,” Roth created a film where the price of cheap sex tourism could be your very life. But it goes even farther than that: it also serves as reminder of how easily human life can be devalued and exploited.

Synopsis

Three backpackers head to a Slovak city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

The trio of backpackers, Paxton (Jay Hernandez), Josh (Derek Richardson), and Oli (Ethnor Gudjonsson), are your typical annoying tourists traveling through Europe. Admittedly, this always makes it easier to watch something awful happen to them later. In this case, it took about two minutes of screen time before I wanted to strap Oli into an Iron Maiden myself. But fear not, a very trustworthy guy Alex (Lubomir Bukovy) does the work for us, and sends the trio to Bratislava where hot women can’t wait to meet them. Who wouldn’t trust this face?

Honestly though, it speaks volumes about the trio’s arrogance that they never question this entire situation for a single second. But Alex was right: the three guys barely get in the door before two hot  women are inviting them to join them in the naked sauna – totally normal behavior. As a viewer, this screams RED FLAG, but can only watch as our hapless trio falls into the hands of the Elite Hunting Club. The club is an organization where the wealthy pay to torture and kill backpackers. The most expensive kill? An American.

This last tidbit didn’t surprise me then or now as we are both a global power and absolutely the worst tourists. America oppresses the poor around the world, then wanders slack-jawed, loud, and arrogant while traveling…

To say that Hostel was influential on horror films is an understatement. Hostel, (along with Saw), is seen as the film that launched a thousand torture porn movies. These are films that seem to focus heavily, and gloriously on the gore – often at the expense of the story. In the case of Hostel, I believe there is more to the film. It serves as a stark, violent reminder of how easily human life can be devalued, priced, and exploited.

When economic hardships arise, and civil conflict looms, desperation can make monsters of regular men. And there’s always ways to make money in hard times – if you have the stomach for it.