| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Director Roth has accomplished the near impossible with Hostel: Part II: He's crafted a vastly superior sequel to a film already considered something of a classic by genre aficionados, one that supersedes its predecessor's sadistic entertainment quotient by orders of magnitude while also upstaging its own outrageous gore effects with a script that's smart, vicious, and occasionally, gleefully subversive.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
While the sequel isn't as unrelentingly gory as the original, there are still rivers of blood.
|
| 75 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's also, in its sick, sick way, a real crowd-pleaser.
|
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
An authentic real-world creep show -- better, if anything, than its predecessor.
|
| 70 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Roth has managed the rare feat of actually improving on the original.
|
| 70 |
Variety
Peter Debruge
In this twist-filled sequel, the real shocker is just how smart and satisfying such degradation can be. There's no question "Part II" outgrosses the original "Hostel" in the blood-and-guts department.
|
| 63 |
TV Guide
Given its premise, it's hard for any Hostel sequel to be little more than a rehash.
|
| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Jason Anderson
May not be your idea of a fun European vacation, but Roth's trip offers horror fans more than the usual sick kicks.
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
Hostel II is far too shrewd and savagely witty to be caught engaging in higher seriousness. Roth could probably go even further with this particular franchise if he wanted to. Yet somehow, I think he's meant for grander, subtler and more intricate distractions than this.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Basically torture porn.
|
| 50 |
Portland Oregonian
Lisa Rose
A decent second chapter in the tourist horror saga.
|
| 40 |
Film Threat
Zach Haddad
Eli Roth has potential, I just think he should leave Slovakia alone and focus on bigger and better things.
|
| 40 |
Empire
Simon Crook
Roth's slick shock-'em-up sequel is a dispiritingly traditional splat of gristly Grand Guignol. It's tooled up to outrage, but ultimately numbs rather than grips.
|
| 38 |
New York Post
A suspenseless rehash.
|
| 38 |
ReelViews
The problem with Hostel Part II is the same flaw that afflicted Hostel: no tension.
|
| 30 |
The New York Times
Mr. Roth, part of a new breed of horror directors affectionately labeled the "Splat Pack," is regarded by some as a savior of the genre, though it could be argued that he is more effectively a saboteur. He might have mastered the cheap sadism-as-entertainment gross-out, but he has yet to produce a single genuine, old-fashioned fright.
|
| 30 |
Village Voice
Nathan Lee
Eli Roth punks capitalism all the way to the bank with cheap tricks and bankrupt imagination.
|
| 25 |
USA Today
Scott Bowles
The filmmakers behind the "Saw" franchise must love to see a movie like Hostel: Part II.
Compared to this Eli Roth fetish video, the "Saw" films are Oscar bait.
|
| 25 |
Boston Globe
The moviemaking is driven only by contempt; he (Roth) wants to nauseate us into submission.
|
| 25 |
Premiere
Fails in what amounts to its only distinct purpose: to smugly push the envelope of depravity farther than anyone else.
|
| 0 |
Chicago Tribune
You live in a free country, you put up with crud like Hostel Part II. It truly is crud, though.
|
