Hostel: Part II 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: You live in a free country, you put up with crud like Hostel Part II. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Roth's dark humor and lacerating view of human weakness sometimes suggest George Romero; what he lacks is Romero's stubborn belief in personal morality. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: There's a keen intelligence behind all that gleeful degradation and it pays off in a finish that's at once ironic, satirical, and perversely satisfying. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Roth might have chutzpah, but, sadly he doesn't have any interest in actually scaring us. The moviemaking is driven only by contempt; he wants to nauseate us into submission. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II is an authentic real-world creep show -- better, if anything, than its predecessor. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: No doubt about it: Roth is a talented guy. But it would be nice to see him use his skills in the service of something other than more sadistic, pandering, pornographic violence. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Hostel II is far too shrewd and savagely witty to be caught engaging in higher seriousness. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: It's something of an accomplishment to stage deaths so disgusting, the main reaction is nervous laughter. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Smarter and tougher than its predecessor. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: All it has to say is: Here's human puree served fresh and hot, come and get it. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: The violence we see does not disturb or even excite, but, like porn, it anesthetizes us to our own humanity. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Take away the blood and gore, however, and there's nothing left. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie is almost totally devoid of suspense, which is one of the marks of a true exploitation film. Why waste time with a bunch of false scares and tension, when you can go straight to the pain and suffering? Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Roth ratchets up the retch factor. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Both nubile females and alpha-male douche bags are on the receiving end of pain (that's supposed to nullify accusations of misogyny, is it?), but really, we're all the victims here. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Any semblance of suspense quickly gives way to buzz saws, drill bits and sickles. And the movie ends so abruptly, one has to think the filmmakers ran out of either money or prosthetic body parts. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: The only way to watch is to suspend any literal-minded analysis and appreciate Roth's Grand Guignol sensibilities on their own level. Read more

Nathan Lee, Village Voice: Ends up there is a moral to the story, one sure to delight the bamboozled pseudo-intellectuals who laughably defended Hostel as a geo-political critique of American arrogance and the culture of torture. Read more