By Chris Summerfield
This movie, though at times being disturbing, kind of brings back memories of those Cannibal movies of the late seventies… Perhaps, Eli Roth, was influenced by them? However I do feel he created a master piece when he made this one… My reason for this being it is what horror should be, such as, at times, unnerving, distasteful and graphic…
The Movie…
Paxton (Jay Hermandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are two young American backpackers, whom find themselves in Amsterdam, along with Icelandic, Oli (Eypor Guojonsson). All three very frisky and seeking pleasures in sex and drugs, well Amsterdam would be the right place to visit for such acts, having visited twice myself, though that is another story, but I can guarantee you, Eli Roth conveys it very well.
Paxton and his friends meet a, Alexei (Lubomir Bukovy) who advices them to head out to a hostel, towards, Bratislava, a place where all your fantasies come true, women that are crazy for American’s, curiosity gets the better of them…
The hostel they head for seems to be too friendly for their own good, and the three boys soon meet the seductive and dangerous, Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaberabkova) the two show the three boys how to party, where, Yuki (Keiko Seiko) and Kana (Jennifer Lim) are also dancing, two petite, pretty young Asian women.
The following day Paxton and Josh, discover, Oli has disappeared, seeming left with Yuki one of the Asian girls, in which all seems mysterious, Josh would be more than happy to leave, as it seems he is suspicious of wrong doings, though, Natalya and Svetlana convince them again to party with them and in doing so the two deceitful women give them tranquilisers…
Josh wakes, chained and hooded, discovering the sleazy,, middle aged businessman that befriended him on their journey on the train to where they are, is to be the man to torture and murder him, having paid the “Elite hunting club,” to carry out such barbaric act…
The torture scenes are often graphic and it isn’t too long until Paxton finds himself strapped to a torture chair, he has to find a way out, try and escape the country that seems corrupted by this “Elite Hunting club” and also strike revenge against, Natalya, Svetlana and the shady Alexei…
The bubble gum, child, Gang leader (Patrik Zigo) and his gang of children are often terrorising people for gifts and plays a great part in this move, as well as the slimy, receptionist at the hostel, Jedi (Milda Havlas).
Perhaps such place never existed in reality, well I do hope not, though do consider the many wars that have been fought over the years, there has always been torture and barbaric slaughter, so perhaps this movie is a reminder of those horrors…
My advice though is simple, if you’re planning to go backpacking like many do, just be careful eh…
Rating: 9/10
