Art is subjective, and, in Eli Roth’s 2005 thriller, this could not be more true. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are two friends visiting Europe. Their goals are to smoke weed, find extravagant women to entertain them and, ultimately, have a good time. As they travel around the continent together, they find themselves immersed in something far more powerful than weed and women; they find themselves among some of the darkest humans in the world. These people take art to new and extreme levels, and both Paxton and Josh struggle to remove themselves from this world of art. As it begins to consume them, they wonder if they have what it takes not just to survive.
Like Roth has done so many times, he uses disturbing images and death to guide his stories. He had a lot of help depicting these aspects of the film, as the actors that casting director Kelly Wagner chose, accurately portrayed horrid emotions of pain and anguish. Jay Hernandez did a wonderfully twisted job of playing a man who both had the time of his life and lost nearly everything in the process. As the film progresses, every actor steps up and plays their role more than adequately. The audience is taken on a terribly disgusting, yet believable ride and much of this is thanks to the acting. The writing and the direction by Eli Roth is some of his best work to date. Even the most extreme moments in the film were made believable by Roth and his outstandingly grotesque script. With the help of the acting and camera direction by Milan Chadima, which was able to perfectly capture the expressions and the overall reactions by the characters, Roth purposefully and effectively immerses audiences in a world of torture and pain.
For audiences that are capable of handling intensely gory images, Hostel is a film full of energy and life that should not disappoint. Welcome to the art show!
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