A universally acknowledged and practiced, albeit unwritten, rule in horror states that sequels are always supposed to be nastier, more brutal and more relentless than its predecessor(s). If this rule was applicable to the infamous "Hostel" series, it normally would have meant that number three was one of the sickest, most depraved things ever shot on film. But Eli Roth can comfortably sleep on both his ears, as his original two installments are FAR more disgusting and shocking than the overall weak and pitiable third effort. This is a straight-to-video release with obvious budgetary restrictions, but there are a few other aspects contributing to the fact this isn't a very successful sequel. The one thing which made Roth's movies unique was the authentically raw and uncanny East-European filming locations. The poor suckers in "Hostel I & II" were young enthusiast students that ended up in the grimmest areas of "dubious" countries like Czech Republic and Slovakia, subsequently to be captured by heavily scarred Slavic beefcakes with whom they couldn't communicate at all. Their actual purpose was to serve as living & bleeding toys for rich businessmen who paid fortunes in order to submit their victims to the cruelest and most agonizing torture games. For "Hostel III", the torture playground has moved towards Fabulou$ La$ Vega$, which is pretty much the least scary place on the planet if you ask me, and the torturing gimmick has been processed into the daily gambling activities. When four pals head to Vegas to celebrate Scott's bachelor party, they wake up the next day noticing that one of them didn't make it back to the hostel. He was last seen with one of the hired escort girls, so they don't immediately panic, but when searching for him they get sucked into a dangerous spiral of kidnapping, illegal gambling and painful loss ratios. The lack of gore in "Hostel III" is almost astounding! Some of the deaths are literally bloodless and even the "gorier" ones are never truly upsetting or remotely shocking. Several of the scenes in Roth's films made you cringe and nearly even experience the pain. Director Scott Spiegel, in a distant past responsible for the excellent late 80's slasher "Intruder", admirably attempts to compensate for the gore-shortage through sub plots and story twists, but (a) this isn't what the die-hard fans of the franchise were waiting for, and (b) even the plot twists are predictable and unsurprising. The performances are mediocre, with the exception of Kip Pardue who's truly insufferable. The only real positive thing I can say about the cast is that Zulay Henao (escort chick #2) is very cute. "Hostel III" is just a plain weak film, better skipped by the avid fans of parts one and two.
Review of Hostel: Part III
