FRANCE: Director Eli Roth courts more controversy with horror sequel Hostel Part 2

Record ID: 1540042

  • Title: FRANCE: Director Eli Roth courts more controversy with horror sequel Hostel Part 2
  • Date: 28th May 2007
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (RECENT - MAY 21, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CANNES
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2007 12:19
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAAAJBWBVN6MJ5PUNESY4YG31EQ
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: With scenes of torture horror film Hostel stirred up a lot of controversy last year being hailed as torture porn by some critics. But despite the criticism the movie which cost 5 million U.S. dollars (USD) to make made over 80 million USD.
    The film followed a group of American men looking for sex in eastern Europe who found themselves becoming the victims of men willing to pay to torture and murder them.
    "You know what, my ideas - other people are connecting with them. It was this really inspired moment where you feel like you are crazy and you are on your own thinking of this stuff and then everyone else around the world is thinking like, yeah, we think this idea is insane too," explained director Eli Roth.
    Hostel Part 2 follows on from the first time except this time the victims are three young Americans studying in Rome who set off for a weekend trip but end up at the hostel.
    "What if I can make a horror movie that took the best parts of the first one and just took it to another level where people came out of that movie saying oh my God, that was so much better than the first one you can't even believe it. It's like there's part one and part two and it's a continuation of the story, but what inspired me was the challenge to redefine what a horror sequel could be," Roth said.
    But with the recent killings at Virginia Tech, Roth is sure to court controversy as the finger is once again pointed towards violent films. In one scene in Hostel Part 2 a woman is hung naked upside down and tortured, but Roth defended the movie against accusations of sexism.
    "And with women I was very aware that people are gonna come after me and I'm also very aware of the audience, that I want to make a movie that is an enjoyable movie, I don't want to make a movie that's gonna make people just sick, and turn them off. I mean, you wanna make people barf but you don't wanna make them sick, if that makes sense," he said.
    With the box office disappointment of recent horror films, including Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" and "The Hills Have Eyes 2" it is yet to be seen whether audiences can stomach Hostel 2.
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