Hostel: Part 2 movie storyline. In January 2006, writer / director Eli Roth terrified moviegoers with the blood-drenched Hostel, which catapulted to the top of the box office charts and became the first Number One film of 2006. One year later, Roth takes us back to where it all began, and deeper into the darkest recesses of the human mind.
In Hostel Part II, three young Americans travelling in Rome set off for a weekend getaway led by a gorgeous, sophisticated European acquaintance who invites the trio to join her at an exotic natural spa, assuring them they will be able to relax, rejuvenate and bond. Will the girls find the oasis they are looking for? Or are they poised to become victims for auction, pawns in the fantasies of the sick and privileged from around the world who secretly travel there to savour more grisly pursuits?
Hostel: Part II is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by Eli Roth, and starring Lauren German, Roger Bart, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, and Richard Burgi. The sequel to Roth’s Hostel (2005), the film was produced by Chris Briggs, Mike Fleiss, and Eli Roth, with Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, and Quentin Tarantino serving as executive producers. The plot follows three American female art students in Rome who are directed to a Slovak village where they are kidnapped and taken to a facility in which rich clients pay to torture and murder people.
After the significant box office receipts of 2005’s Hostel, Roth conceived a sequel set directly after the events of the first film, opting to include three female protagonists to “up the ante.”[4] Filming took place in the fall of 2006 in Prague at Barrandov Studios, with additional photography occurring in Iceland and Slovakia.
Banned from theatrical release in several countries, Hostel: Part II had its world premiere at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City on June 6, 2007, and was released theatrically in the United States two days later, on June 8. The film earned less than its predecessor at the box office, grossing $17 million in the United States by the end of its theatrical run[3] whereas the original made $19 million in its opening weekend alone. Prior to its theatrical release, a workprint of the film leaked on the internet, and one publication at the time claimed it was the “most pirated film ever”, which Roth suggested was a factor in the film’s box office returns.
About the Production
With the release of Hostel: Part II in 2006, writer/director Eli Roth alternately thrilled and chilled audiences worldwide with the horrific and suspenseful tale of a Slovakian youth hostel that doubles as a sadistic playground to well-heeled clientele from around the world. A squirm-inducing, gritty account of American backpackers unwittingly sold to blood-thirsty patrons who torture and kill simply for the twisted pleasure of doing so, the film became an international hit, claiming the top spot at the US. box office in its $20 million opening weekend. Now Roth returns to the scene with Hostel: Part II, unveiling the next chapter in the terrifying odyssey.
Unlike most sequels, Hostel: Part II is distinguished by the return of the first instalment’s entire team of filmmakers, which includes Roth, producers Mike Fleiss and Chris Briggs, and executive producers Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, and Quentin Tarantino.
While the unexpected success of Hostel all but guaranteed Roth an opportunity to helm a sequel, it also placed tremendous pressure on the director to deliver a follow-up that would match – or even surpass – the original’s galvanizing intensity. “I knew I had to up the ante the second time around,” says Roth. “One of the ways I did that was by making the three protagonists young women.”
Hostel: Part II follows the fateful journey of Beth, Whitney and Lorna, three relatively inexperienced American women travelling abroad in Italy. When they decide to take a weekend trip, they are lured to a remote corner of Slovakia by a beautiful model they meet along the way, only to find their idyllic adventure turn into a fight for their lives.
“Women in jeopardy and women in horror are kind of a staple of the genre,” says the director. “In this particular scenario, the girls travelling in Europe feel more vulnerable than the guys did in the first movie. It raises the stakes for the audience.”
For the role of Beth, a wealthy yet unassuming all-American girl, Roth turned to Lauren German, an actress who impressed him in a small, but emotionally intense, role in the recent re-make of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. “Lauren has a sense of humour, but she can also handle those horrific, intense moments,” explains Roth. “I needed an actress who would be so vulnerable and so likeable, but then really strong when she needs to be. Even though Lauren probably weighs ninety pounds soaking wet and looks like a princess, you feel like she’s kicking ass.”
As Beth’s animated friend, Whitney, a whip-smart girl who seems more interested in meeting guys than seeing Europe, Bijou Phillips commands the screen. “Bijou walked in to audition and she owned the room,” remembers Roth. “She was so funny and so sharp and ballsy and tough, I thought, `This is exactly what I’m looking for.’ She’s one of the smartest girls I’ve ever met, and it’s been fun as hell working with her.”
When considering the role of Lorna, the awkward girl-next-door who longs for romance and excitement in her life, Roth knew very early on that he wanted Heather Matarazzo, who starred years ago as the hapless pre-teen Dawn Wiener in Todd Solondz’s cult hit, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Excited by Roth’s script, Matarazzo flew to Los Angeles to read for the role – little did she know the part was already hers.
Like its predecessor, Hostel: Part II begins as a disarming vision of a young person’s dream vacation – one that seems far removed from the nightmare that eventually takes over. “The beginning feels like this fun comedy about young girls having a great time. We’re all together and enjoying ourselves,” Phillips explains.
The atmosphere changes subtly when the girls visit a medieval fair in the picturesque town of Cesky Krumlov, near Prague. “The town of Cesky Krumlov is so beautiful that when you’re walking in it, you can’t believe it’s real,” says Roth. “That location really helped contribute to the fairy tale quality of the movie. If Beth is our Snow White, then this town of Cesky Krumlov is her fantasyland. It seems almost fated that something is going to shatter this idyllic place. It’s too perfect.”
The inevitable torture scenes, which were shot one after another, were gruelling and disturbing work for the three actresses. Phillips’ was the last torture episode shot among the three. One scene in that sequence, by her estimation, required about forty-five set-ups. The emotional intensity of the experience left an indelible impression. “I don’t think I could do something like this again,” Phillips confesses. “I’m glad that I had the experience, and I love my job, but we went into places that I didn’t know existed, and I don’t need to do that again.”
Despite Phillips’ difficulties, the experience in no way compares to the discomfort braved by Matarazzo. As Lorna, Matarazzo had to work entirely in the nude for a sequence that consumed two nights of shooting. She spent every moment in the scene hanging upside down, with her hands shackled behind her back for up to five minutes at a time. Her endurance was phenomenal, but it was her performance that dazzled the crew. “Heather Matarazzo was so great in that role, she had us all freaked out,” recalls effects supervisor Mike McCarty.
No horror film worth its salt can function without at least a good villain or two – or in the case of Hostel: Part II, four potential villains: the curvaceous and stunningly beautiful Axelle, the cold, calculating Sasha, and the American buddies Todd and Stuart.
Vera Jordanova, a model born in Bulgaria and reared in Finland, plays Axelle, the temptress who lures the girls away from their intended destination of Prague and shepherds them toward certain slaughter in Slovakia. With her stunning looks and multi-national background, Jordanova lends an exotic, culturally indeterminate air to Axelle, which makes her true character all the more elusive. “Axelle seems very innocent, but there is a mysterious side of her where you can’t really tell where she is from or what she has been through,” says Jordanova.
Axelle’s mentor, Sasha, is the head figure in the nefarious organization called Elite Hunting. As played by Slovakian stage and screen actor Milan Knazko, Sasha has the icy demeanour of a heartless killer and the ruthless cunning of a Wall Street deal broker. A former Minister of Culture in Slovakia, Knazko jumped at the opportunity to play a ruthless Russian – it offered him an amusing bit of revenge for the Soviet invasion during Prague Spring of 1968. “The fact that Sasha was Russian was one of the reasons I accepted this role,” says Knazko with a smile. “We Slovaks are still a little bit angry over the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet army.”
Unlike the original film, which hews closely to the victims, Hostel: Part II offers more information about the torturers themselves, in this case Stuart and Todd, two upwardly-mobile American suburbanites who have travelled thousands of miles for the opportunity to maim and kill with impunity. As played by Roger Bart and Richard Burgi, Stuart and Todd are emblematic of the more extreme sides of human nature… and the dark shadow of First World materialism.
Explains Roth, “Todd and Stuart only care about reaching the next level. Like a lot of people, neither of them is happy with what they have. Stuart’s miserable in his life. Todd buys things. He has all the money he needs, but he’s not happy. Everyone’s looking for that next level of excitement.”
Bart felt it was important to portray Stuart as authentically as possible. “There’s a tremendous amount of rage inside of Stuart, but I thought he should appear pretty normal,” says the actor. “One of the points I think Eli’s trying to make is that evil can be inhabited by those who are at the stool next to you at TGIFriday’s or who sit two cubicles down. You would never know.”
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Hostel: Part II (2007)
Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Jay Hernandez, Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, Vera Jordanova, Roger Bart, Richard Burgi, Monica Malacova, Edwige Fenech, Zuzana Geislerová, Monika Malácová
Screenplay by: Eli Roth
Production Design by: Robb Wilson King
Cinematography by: Milan Chadima
Film Editing by: George Folsey Jr.
Costume Design by: Susana Puisto
Set Decoration by: Karel Vanásek
Art Direction by: David Baxa
Music by: Nathan Barr
MPAA Rating: R for sadistic scenes of torture and bloody violence, terror, nudity, sexual content, language, drug content.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: June 8, 2007
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