HOSTEL PART III (2011)

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Directed by Scott Spiegel
Written by Michael D. Weiss
Starring Kip Pardue, Brian Hallisay, John Hensley, Sarah Habel, Chris Coy, Skyler Stone, Thomas Kretschmann, Zulay Henao, Nickola Shreli

It might have seemed like a good idea to move the HOSTEL torturers to Las Vegas from the Ukraine and it might have saved the filmmakers a lot of money, but HOSTEL PART III’s decision to remove the foreign mystique of the franchise ultimately castrates it. Though labeled as torture porn and panned by critics, I have to say that I was entertained by the original HOSTEL and even more so in HOSTEL PART II. With HOSTEL, I felt Eli Roth tried a little too hard to make his showcase of torture into an homage to Hitchcock. I liked HOSTEL PART II more in that Roth seemed to really want to flesh out this world of debaucherous millionaires and wailing victims. The ending, with the final girl snipping off the balls of her torturer and feeding it to the dogs, though crass, definitely made its mark in my mind. When rumors swirled that a third HOSTEL was in the making, my interest was piqued. When rumors swirled counter clockwise that the film was not to be directed by Roth and would be direct to video, my hopes diminished exponentially.

Basically, this is the torture porn version of THE HANGOVER as a quartet of guys hit Las Vegas for a bachelor party. The Johnny Storm-esque Kip Pardue plays the best man, a pampered rich kid who seems to get whatever he wants no matter how much the cost. The groom (Brian Hallisay) plays the part of the guy whose morals are tested as a stripper grinds his nethers. Rounding out this euchre team are the smart ass and the crippled guy we are supposed to feel for. The acting, I have to say, is on par with the first two films. This series seems to at least do well casting these soon-to-be-deads with capable thespians. It’s just that the story is uninspired.

See, there’s only so many ways to slice and dice a person for the sake of spectacle and I fear that HOSTEL may have shown them all in their first two segments. In this third part, we get a peeled off face, a human crossbow bolt pincushion, and a cockroach scene that seems better suited to an episode of FEAR FACTOR than HOSTEL. All of the psychosis of fear of other countries which tapped into nationwide fears after 9-11 is dropped in this most recent entry. That fear of all things foreign that was palpable in that age was highlighted as these youngsters wandered into a foreign land and fell victim to dark terrors. In HOSTEL PART III the horror is here at home–another statement that could echo powerful scares in the right hands, but I fear the filmmakers just don’t have it in them to do it just yet. Though the ending of PART II suggests that even the most innocent is capable of horrible things, here the ending rings hollow as the torturers again become the tortured in a throwaway schockeroo twist that lacks believability given the demise of one character in an earlier scene.

The most effective scene in the film involves a twisted torturer in a tribal mask brandishing a crossbow. Though the scene is all too brief, this masked and nameless character was a fright to behold and hopefully would return in the inevitable fourth entry.

Though the acting and direction is higher than most films of this kind and there are a few surprising twists, HOSTEL PART III lacks the punch and depth of the first two installments. Given that Roth loves classic grindhouse-y horror, I’d love to see him return for HOSTEL PART FOUR: THE FINAL CHAPTER, going back to the roots of this shady organization of sadistic billionaire bidders and their twisted torturers. As is, this THE HANGOVER meets FEAR FACTOR installment doesn’t hold up.

Check out the trailer here!!