Friday, June 08, 2007

Hostel II




Hostel II is opening today against Ocean's 13. I wonder how many women will go see this movie? The director, Eli Roth, has talent but I have no stomach for this new genre (torture porn or gorno). When will it end? Never, unless these movies stop making money. Many people are up in arms about the movie's money shot. The actress Heather Matarazzo gets brutally tortured and murdered by another woman while hanging naked upside down. The other woman "gets off" while torturing her.

I laughed when I read an interview on Eli saying he was inspired by Fellini when he was writing Hostel II. He was in Rome and went to one of Fellini's favorite restaurants. Fellini and Roth do not belong in the same sentence. How this movie received only an R rating is beyond me.

As I see all the marketing for CAPTIVITY (another movie about torturing women) I can't help but think of Kelsey Smith, the 18 year old woman who was kidnapped in broad daylight in a Target parking lot. Her body was found and they have arrested a 26 year old who was seen following her on a CCTV camera.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The torture of anyone (including women) repulses me. Give me an old-fashioned movie instead. They can have the brutality.

Moi said...

I just saw Grindhouse (at least the Tarantino film they are showing), and cringed. Yes, i get the genre, and yeah, I appreciated Rosario Dawson and clan's ass-kicking ways, but really...does everything have to be about blatant woman-hating?

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

paul - I agree. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was very violent but it served the story. Most of these torture movies don't even have a plot.

moscerina - hello, how about the fact that many young men think it's okay to take their dates to a movie like HOSTEL II? I wonder about the men who create this stuff and the men who greenlight these movies.

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

GASP and shock.. oh my GOD. What is going on!! Who comes up with crap like this, thinks that it's good enough to mass produce and then finds other people who are willing to join in to make it happen?
I just can't even begin to wrap my mind around this at all, and I don't even really want to. I would never want to understand something so horrible and ugly.
When media portrays torture and murder as erotic, exciting, and entertaining, it becomes acceptable, and there are wackos out there who will begin to believe it is.
I wonder about the generations to come... where and how will they learn decency, honor and respect?

horrified and disgusted
Scarlett

Anonymous said...

l can't understand what on earth possesses people to make this stuff and what possesses those who go and see it.
Our TV's are bombarded with series based on voilence and crime and l have noticed a huge increase in these type's of series. Honestly, do they take into account what crap they are feeding the unconcious minds of society. Yes we have choice. However, how about some social responsibility.

Shelley - At Home in Rome said...

I never imagined that stuff like this would become acceptable for mainstream theater-goers. I mean, even if it doesn't do so well at the box office, still, the fact that it's not being released in just a few obscure alt-cinema houses or straight to video perhaps says something scary about our culture...I agree that if people continue to go see movies like this, and they make money, then it's obvious that the people who make them aren't going to stop. In my opinion even the poster is inappropriate for children to see... are there trailers on TV?

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Perhaps there is hope after all. Hostel II made only 8 million vs. 18 plus million the first one made it's opening weekend. It's seen as a big disappointment considering all the press and hype.

Anonymous said...

My husband and I just rented Hostel II, never seeing part I. Never in my 35 years, could I have even imagined such a horrifically sadistic and disturbingly disgusting film would exist. What is wrong with this planet? At the beginning of the scene, where the girl is hung upside down, with the perverted female beneath her in the tub, I LOST IT! My husband paused the movie from across the room and says, " I don't know about you, but I can't watch this". It was a proud moment. How can we as parents support this kind of "creativity" with all that's wrong in this world?

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

danw - Exactly. I just can't make it through movies with that kind of gratuitous violence.