About a week ago Donna and I finally got around to watching Hostel – a movie from 05 produced by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Eli Roth. I wouldn’t classify either of those guys particularly as horror film makers but I guess they’ve flirted with it (Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn and Roth’s Cabin Fever). None the less this movie seemed to leave its bloody mark on the history of horror movies so I’ve been wanting to see it.
If you haven’t seen Hostel, it’s about a couple of American guys who backpack to Bratislava to find a particular hostel supposedly overrun with gorgeous girls. Then things, of course, go horribly wrong. Stupid horror plot – check! You-have-sex, you-die horror cliché – check! Seems like all the pieces are coming together.
By the way, what’s with Bratislava getting such a bad wrap in movies these days? Forget Kazakhstan, Bratislava is Hollywood’s whipping boy. Between Eurotrip and Hostel they can’t be doing too well in the tourism department.
So back to the movie. As things progress, the flick quickly goes from creepy to just plain sick. No, I mean holy-crap, are-they-f’in-kidding-me sick! And this was the full gore, director’s cut DVD mind you. I wouldn’t ever call the movie scary – but hells yah it’s disturbing. It’s easy to look down on the movie as another Tarantino shock-fest, or another Roth blood-fest, but it’s the evil of the human animal that really makes the movie. And makes it disgusting.
Last night we watched Wes Craven’s first film, The Last House on the Left. This is from 1972, and has the film quality, wardrobe, and soundtrack to prove it. But once you’re past those dated references it’s an interesting (don’t know if you can say entertaining) horror film. It was a small, low budget movie shot with inexpensive equipment. In a “making of” feature, Craven explained that their only previous filming experience was with documentary filmmakers so the film shoots played out much like docu re-enactments. This all ends up working for effect … and it reminds you that all the high end production used these days in moviews actually makes a lot of stuff more safe, because it’s less raw.
Last House is essentially about a couple girls who set out for a concert, but on the way… you guessed it… things go horribly wrong. Rape, torture, murder, yep this movie has it all. And it isn’t afraid to show it. The gore factor is actually pretty low, since the budget and technology for special effects was non-existent then, but it’ll turn your stomach all the same. Even the lamer parts of the movie (the unnatural dialogue, the slapstick comic relief) work to build on the unsettling experience.
After the shock wore off, it was interesting how similar these movies are – despite being 30+ years separated. They both show really horrible acts done to regular people, by regular people. No Freddy; no Michael Myers; just that guy you said hi to this morning. There’s really some brutal scenes in both, and the violence always happens close, face to face. And the story arcs also depict victums pushed to the point of committing horrible acts of vengence. And by the end you cheer (at least a little) when the baddie gets the chainsaw taken to him – yes, in both movies.
We like horror as much as anyone, but whew, I think we’re due for a romantic comedy!
