Hostel (DVD)

This was billed as being gory beyond belief, and while it's true that there are some very gory scenes in it, they're not necessarily any worse than some in other movies. However, the gory scenes in themselves are actually, unfortunately for viewers, the best part of the film. Because the plot is virtually non existent.
The film begins on an interesting note in the first scene, where we creepily hear someone whistling in a torture chamber, but the entire build up to the actual torture and murder scenes themselves is both boring and confusing.
For far too long in the film, nothing of any real note or relevance happens- the characters are young people who are in Holland to get prostitutes. And that really is it. Nothing expands on this or shows anything exciting happening. The attempts to be mysterious in terms of the plot backfires, and leads to confusion, leaving people thinking "What's going on?"
After the mind numbingly slow pace of seemingly meaningless events, the film suddenly changes pace and this time, goes too fast, rushing through the main event of the torture scenes, before the film suddenly ends. The characters depths are paper thin and diluted, which is annoying as the film drags on for so long you'd think they'd have spent the time explaining the characters and building a better structure to the chain of events leading up to the end of the film.
However it's not all doom and gloom. The characters, despite being shallow, are portrayed for exactly what they are- kids on a holiday having fun, drawn into a horrific nightmare beyond their control and without knowing why. The film doesn't pretend otherwise, or shy away from showing this. Also, once the film reaches the torture scenes, it's a good watch from then on in. And admittedly, although they are rushed, the torture scenes themselves are certainly gruesome. There is also a bit of a twist at the end, adding to the end of the film.
But overall, that really is the problem-it's the end of the film where everything happens and even that doesn't make up for all the pointless confusion and tediousness you have to sit through before it reaches anything worthwhile. Once it has started getting good, it's all over.
It's not the worst film ever made, but it's not great either. A nice idea should really have come off better. Overall, there's some scenes well worth watching, and from these scenes to the end of the film, it picks up somewhat along with the pace. But as a film overall, it's not that good. When you put the good bits against the bad bits, the result is a very average film..