Film Review: Hostel: Part II

Hostel was an incredible film?

You got a problem with that?

That's what happens when your film is on pace for less than $20 million in the middle of the summer. Shame, actually, since I thought it was better than the first.

Let this be a lesson to studios. One, quit rushing out sequels to films a good majority of people either didn't like or were iffy on. And two, keep your trailers houses in check to keep said sequels from leaking weeks before release.

This seems like an extremely odd statement. I wasn't aware that the music industry was dead. It's an exaggeration, to say the least.

While to say it's "dead" is certainly an exaggeration, downloading has really torn the industry a new asshole. He's pretty much saying that the movie industry will likely be effected in a similiar manner. It's really not a good time to be a recording artist or a filmmaker.

It's not so much on the recording or filming side, it's the business end. The studios and labels want returns on their investments and with the buying public able to pick up the product for free on the Internet, they really are only putting their money behind the big studio blockbsuters and even those films aren't making the kind of money that they hope.

You know what's really funny is the statement about studios thinking no one will want to see R-rated horror because of the failure of Hostel II and Grindhouse.

Especially since the 'Saw' series is having absolutely no problem making money every October.

Simple fact is, releasing a three hour long R-rated double-bill on Easter is a bad idea, and releasing the sequel to Hostel in JUNE is a bad idea.

Hell, Land of the Dead only made $10 million on its opening weekend in June a couple years ago, and the Devil's Rejects did no better the following month (I did see both films in the theater, by the way).

But do studios or filmmakers learn? Apparently, some don't notice these trends.

This is also why the Weinsteins come off as foolish (to me, at least) in regards to releasing 'Rob Zombie's Halloween' on August 31st. The name of the movie is 'Halloween'. I know they're trying to avoid some stiff competition this October, but hell, release the film on September 28th, then.

The problem, from what I can see, is a seasonal one, and not a problem of film ratings. I'm a horror fan, I have high-speed internet, and I have never downloaded a pirated film despite the fact that I hate rising ticket & concession prices. The 'theater experience' is also becoming more and more useless to me. I have a 50 inch big-screen HD set at home, and I can purchase a dvd for about the same amount of money I spend at the theater to watch the film with an audience and eat some popcorn. And I spend even more if the wife goes with me.

You know what's funny, too? I watch the majority of horror films during the fall and spring. I haven't even been watching horror at home the last few months because I just haven't felt like it. Maybe it's something to do with the weather...or hey, maybe people just didn't want to see this movie right now. Or maybe most didn't want to see a sequel to 'Hostel' at all.

I watched the first half of 'Hostel' and got bored. I shut it off and mailed it back to the internet rental company I got it from.

I'm absolutely not trying to be rude to Eli Roth, but he has to take into account what he didn't have complete control over, and that's the movie studio sending his movie to the slaughter in the middle of the year when comedies and big-screen spectacles rule.

Do the studios expect any R-rated horror film to make $19 million plus in its opening weekend? "Well, the first 'Hostel' did just that", they might say. But that was in JANUARY. So the studio takes a sequel to a recent horror film, drops it in the middle of the summer box-office craze, and then expects it to make the same numbers the first installment did in an entirely different month.

2 + 2 = 5, dammit!

When do we want to watch? Do the studios care?

You know what's really funny is the statement about studios thinking no one will want to see R-rated horror because of the failure of Hostel II and Grindhouse.

Especially since the 'Saw' series is having absolutely no problem making money every October.

Simple fact is, releasing a three hour long R-rated double-bill on Easter is a bad idea, and releasing the sequel to Hostel in JUNE is a bad idea.

Hell, Land of the Dead only made $10 million on its opening weekend in June a couple years ago, and the Devil's Rejects did no better the following month (I did see both films in the theater, by the way).

But do studios or filmmakers learn? Apparently, some don't notice these trends.

This is also why the Weinsteins come off as foolish (to me, at least) in regards to releasing 'Rob Zombie's Halloween' on August 31st. The name of the movie is 'Halloween'. I know they're trying to avoid some stiff competition this October, but hell, release the film on September 28th, then.

The problem, from what I can see, is a seasonal one, and not a problem of film ratings. I'm a horror fan, I have high-speed internet, and I have never downloaded a pirated film despite the fact that I hate rising ticket & concession prices. The 'theater experience' is also becoming more and more useless to me. I have a 50 inch big-screen HD set at home, and I can purchase a dvd for about the same amount of money I spend at the theater to watch the film with an audience and eat some popcorn. And I spend even more if the wife goes with me.

You know what's funny, too? I watch the majority of horror films during the fall and spring. I haven't even been watching horror at home the last few months because I just haven't felt like it. Maybe it's something to do with the weather...or hey, maybe people just didn't want to see this movie right now. Or maybe most didn't want to see a sequel to 'Hostel' at all.

I watched the first half of 'Hostel' and got bored. I shut it off and mailed it back to the internet rental company I got it from.

I'm absolutely not trying to be rude to Eli Roth, but he has to take into account what he didn't have complete control over, and that's the movie studio sending his movie to the slaughter in the middle of the year when comedies and big-screen spectacles rule.

Do the studios expect any R-rated horror film to make $19 million plus in its opening weekend? "Well, the first 'Hostel' did just that", they might say. But that was in JANUARY. So the studio takes a sequel to a recent horror film, drops it in the middle of the summer box-office craze, and then expects it to make the same numbers the first installment did in an entirely different month.

2 + 2 = 5, dammit!

Egads!

I double-posted my huge rant! Now it's even longer...I apologize and hang my head in shame.

...except that the most financially successful Halloween film is H20, which was released on August 5. The Weinsteins are pretty obviously following that business model.

I enjoyed it more than the first film (which I still dislike for the most part). Roth learned a little more about building tension but his follow through is still shit (I thought Matarazzo's death scene would be a kick in the face but Roth flunked that test and the scene proved to be interesting on a purely technical level).

Loved the cameos by Edwige Fenech, Ruggero Deodato and Luc Merenda, and the expanded bloodhound motif was fucking excellent, I found the fetishism of it all to be quite appealing. I also thought Roth's sense of humor was a lot less intrusive this time around and actually added to my overall enjoyment of thing - the kid pulling off his shirt after scoring the goal at the end was fucking classic and it's the one thing from Hostel 2 that I wish I could steal.

Release dates

True, but it made less than $17 million. That was almost ten years ago, and yeah, that's definitely not bad for an opening weekend in the summer for a horror film...but Saw films opening with $30 plus million in October is a lot better, and the ultimate Autumn month is just a lot more promising, money-wise. It just seems they're throwing money away by releasing the film six weeks earlier.

September's a dead zone of film, and horror has never really opened better in October than any other time of the year. The Scream films opened in December and February -- they cleaned up. It's just a matter of what people want to see.

Halloween: Resurrection opened in July and did respectable business, considering it's a sequel-to-a-final-chapter (they never do well) and is, in fact, shit.

I saw both Hostel I and II, but I felt for some reason that the idea of a hostel that abducts and tortures people is creepier than how the movies turned out.

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