Story Synopsis:   Three backpackers travel to a hostel in a Slovakian city where the male population is scarce due to war.  What starts off as a hedonistic wet-dream come true quickly and systematically becomes a living nightmare.

Premise: Is it believable that failed medical students and or disgraced doctors, eager to use their hard-earned skills, could be so deranged that they would open a business of custom-made torture?  If so, then the film’s supposition is valid and the world is a far worse place than I had thought, prior to seeing this film.  If not, it certainly makes for a great horror picture.  In any case, we, the voyeuristic audience are implicated.  It is my experience that true horror is something that can very well happen… um, no; I don’t plan on backpacking in any remote town, city or village anytime soon.

Characterization: Director/writer, Eli Roth, and the cast do a good job at making the film’s three main characters into fairly likeable fellows, especially Josh (Derek Richardson), such that many audience members are sure to take it personally when the boys are terrorized.  In other words, we care about the characters and hope that they aren’t the ones to suffer the most, if at all.  Whether he did it consciously or not, Roth employs a very effective technique for motivating audience participation.

Dialogue: The dialogue is visual and graphic, which works well for this film and blends well with the very grim visual presentation.

Originality: Some films may never be made if writers aim for one-hundred percent originality.  This is because, according to some people, every story that can be told has been told in some form or fashion.  This is why in my own works, I often concentrate on making certain aspects original, such as characters, rhetorical situations, and I think that many writers and directors also do this.  In Hostel, I thought that the idea of having customers pay to torture the hostel’s prisoners was fairly original.  Of course I have not seen every film made to date; thus, I am sure more avid film junkies than me may and will beg to differ, which is fine with me since, in speaking about the originality of the film, I’m speaking of my personal film watching experience.