‘Hostel’, piracy, Poland, etc.
Yesterday, David Poland wrote a column explaining that he bought a pirated DVD of Hostel: Part II on the streets of Seattle for $5. He goes on for a while about how wrong it was of him, and then settles in to pick the film apart — something it had coming, I’d say, based on how many people got picked apart in the first Hostel movie.
Poland essentially says that the movie follows the same rigid, three-act structure of its predecessor, but then unleashes “a scene that was the most disgusting, degrading, misogynistic, soulless s**t I have ever seen in a movie that is going to be released widely in this country.” (So when you see that quote on the poster, you’ll know from whence it came.)
I’ll warn you, his description is quite graphic:
Heather Matarazzo, who you might know from Welcome to the Dollhouse, The Princess Diaries or a number of other films, is hung upside down, naked, bound and gagged over a pool that slowly has candles lit around it as she screams through her gag throughout. Then a beautiful European woman comes in, disrobes, lays in the tub, and starts toying with the screaming Matarazzo with a long handled sickle. She starts to draw blood and also starts getting off on it. She eventually removes the gag so Matarazzo can beg more pathetically and then cuts her throat, bathing and luxuriating in the blood as it pores over here (sic).
Now, obviously this scene is disgusting, and if you need reasons why, you can go read Poland’s column. I think he’s wrong about there being no political subtext to Hostel (at least the first one), and explained why when that movie came out. But even though I defeneded it upon its release, I have to admit to being disappointed with the news of a sequel.
I haven’t seen Hostel: Part II yet. It comes out Friday, and there haven’t been any screenings that I know of. And while piracy is something I’ll admit to when it comes to indies that can’t get Dayton-area distribution, if I want to see Hostel: Part II, I’ll see it in a theater. The question is: Do I want to see it?
Even though Roth said in a recent radio interview that the self-gratification element of the scene Poland describes had to be cut for it to get an ‘R’ rating (the MPAA said that sexualizing the violence pushed it to NC-17 territory), just knowing that he intended it is enough to make me recoil in disgust.
I take issue with Poland saying Roth is misogynist. I mean, maybe he is, but Matarazzo read the script and signed on. Roth might be a sicko for dreaming up that scene, and the scene itself may be sexist and perverse, but Poland seems to think that Matarazzo must have been fooled or tricked into participating, as if because she’s a woman she must be incapable of seeing past Roth’s wiley ways, or that Roth somehow took advantage of her. By making this assumption, it’s actually Poland who’s victimizing Matarazzo, because the only reason he feels this way is because she’s a woman. If a man had willing signed up for this (as several men did, in the first film), Poland would just call him an idiot. Instead, Poland exercises the worst part of liberalism: He assumes he’s better-positioned to protect an intelligent, grown, capable woman — fully endowed with a brain and the ability to make her own choices — from sexism, because he’s a man.
Still, I wonder: What’s the point of this movie? Honestly, it’s the only reason I’m curious to see it: That, and for the opportunity to write about it, fully informed. But while I thought Hostel was clever in its own way for luring in an audience hellbent on bloodlust and then keeping the first hour relatively bloodless, if Hostel: Part II is more of the same, does that mean Roth is just trying to drive home what critics and audiences failed to see about his first movie? Is this just a remake with thicker, darker brush strokes? Because, if so, uh, Eli: Thanks, but I got it the first time.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Movies
Comments
By Jared
June 5, 2007 9:09 PM | Link to this
I will never see this movie. I hated the first one with a passion that I have never felt for any other movie before or since. Roth just needs to make a full length version of Thanksgiving from Grindhouse and then give up making movies. Then again thats just my opinion. I could be wrong.By Tony
June 5, 2007 1:07 PM | Link to this
Sounds pretty disgusting. I don’t understand why movies like this are made.