As most of my latest reviews have yet to be posted online, I only have one new review link for today, and it's a doozy. Eli Roth's follow-up to last year's counterfeit exploitation flick Hostel is, in virtually every regard, a significant downgrade from its overhyped, overrated predecessor, striking phony pose after phony pose to no positive effect. It's a seriously depressing movie, not because of its extreme gore (of which there's plenty for the hardcore Fangoria crowd), but because it assumes that horror film audiences want nothing more from a scary movie than derivative plotting, cipher protagonists, and meaningless blood and guts.
If Roth is - as friend Quentin Tarantino has claimed - the future of horror, then perhaps it's time we close down the grindhouse asap.
Hostel: Part II (Slant magazine)
I know you haven't posted your newest links yet but I simply have to comment on this asap, in light of our agreeing on the matter:
Fuck you, Eli Roth, you cuntrag son of a bitch. Fans of "Hostel II" are now on the list of people I'll never, ever date.
Posted by: rob | June 08, 2007 at 09:41 AM
Rob - I obviously moved your comment to this post, as that's where it belongs.
In light of your feelings about the movie, you would have probably blown your stack at the NYC screening, where Roth showed up - with Roger Bart, Heather Matarazzo and Bijou Phillips in tow - and was greeted with raucous applause.
Posted by: Nick | June 08, 2007 at 09:44 AM
Yeah, I was blown away enough so as it is. Wretch. And don't forget, I'm a fan of "Wolf Creek" and "The Devil's Rejects", too, so there's definitely more at play here than the mere portrayal of violence. This movie was such a stunning moral void - not mention a shitty imitator of it's B-movie brethren - that I literally came close to getting sick when the slicing started. When a movie like this has so little desire to look at the motivations behind its human behavior, well, fuck, we may as well make some popcorn and watch journalists getting decapitated in Iraq. Oh boy!
But seriously: fans of this movie are now on the list of people I will never date.
Posted by: rob | June 08, 2007 at 10:46 AM
Whoops - I repeated the dating comment. Can you tell I'm pissed off? :D At least I have the comfort of knowing that my "F" review will actually count towards the Tomatometer.
Posted by: rob | June 08, 2007 at 10:47 AM