'Hostel' tortures stomachs

Word has spread that "Hostel," Eli Roth's follow up to his 2003 horror flick "Cabin Fever," is gory. In the sense that blood is spilled and random shop tools are used to inflict pain, this assertion is true. However, I would say the film is not so much gory as it is physically discomforting. The blood in this movie seems tame compared to the severed body parts, gushing pus and spewed vomit. Keep in mind that the gore does not begin until the halfway point of the film, so you do have some time to prepare. \nHostel starts out generically enough: American travelers Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) are backpacking through Europe on a drug-filled adventure with their new pal Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson). Their ultimate aim: to score with as many foreign chicks as possible. While in Amsterdam, they get word of a hostel in Slovakia where there are gorgeous women who go crazy for American men. The chance word of mouth is more than enough to sell our protagonists on making the journey. \nLife at the Slovakian hostel starts out great. The guys share a room with pretty ladies, drink lots of alcohol and an abundance of nudity ensues. Then Oli mysteriously disappears leaving behind nothing but a cell phone picture. Josh and Paxton try to party on as usual, but Josh cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong. \nAfter passing out overnight in a bar, Paxton returns to the hostel to find that Josh and the girls are gone and have left no word behind. He tracks down the girls and forces them to take him to Josh. I will stop here because I cannot begin to describe the visuals that follow, though I can tell you that ambulances have already been called to a few theaters showing "Hostel." \nIt seems as though director Eli Roth was not trying to make a horror movie as much as he was trying to compete with "Saw" for the most nauseating movie ever made. He was apparently able to convince Quentin Tarantino, who executive produced the film (you may notice certain shots are reminiscent of "Pulp Fiction"). While the movie relies on simple plot twists, Roth's idea behind all the gore is quite clever. Perhaps if his notion of torture as a hobby would have been developed more fully, his film might have been frightening instead of simply repugnant. In any case, it might be worth seeing "Hostel" just to see if you can make it through with a clean shirt.