The ''Hostel'' series is doing to Eastern Europe what ''Deliverance'' did to the American South. With memories of the Holocaust still fresh, and additionally inspired by recent accusations of illegal CIA-run torture camps for Al Qaeda prisoners (see
this post for more details), the ''Hostel'' series presents Eastern Europe as this dangerous land where Communists-turned-capitalist psychopaths lure innocent young people to be killed and tortured for a price. And while the first ''Hostel'' (2006), with its Germanic villains, was clearly trying to evoke the Holocaust, ''Hostel: Part II'', with its two American villains, might have very well been inspired by those CIA torture camps stories. And the film certainly feeds on the same kind of anti-Eastern Europe prejudice and bigotry that makes Western liberals so determined to prove their accusations concerning illegal detention of Muslim terrorists in Eastern Europe. Directed once again by Eli Roth (with Quentin Tarantino still as executive producer), ''Hostel: Part II'' is different from its predecessor in several respects. For once, it’s now about girls - Beth (Lauren German), Lorna (Heather Matarazzo), and Whitney (Bijou Phillips) – touring Eastern Europe on the cheap. On a train, they meet Axelle (Vera Jordanova) who takes them to the same hostel deep in the wild woods of Slovakia, where the horny guys from the first film met their gruesome end. This time, there is a bit less sex and nudity, and - SPOILERS ALERT - unlike the guys from the first film, who seemed to fuck every available Euro-chick in sight, the poor girls here don't even get to have any sex (not even once) before being strapped to torture chairs or hanged naked upside down. A possible lesbian attraction between Beth and Axelle is hinted upon, but never explored, implicitly or explicitly. But while the film has almost no soft-core nude scenes - except for a scene with Vera Jordanova, Iveta Rucka and two naked girls swimming in a fish tank - it more than makes up for it with a truly disturbing scene involving Lorna and a cruel descendent of the infamous Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Bathory (Monika Malacova), who likes to bathe in the blood of virgins (and Lorna is a virgin). It is quite a surprise to see the star of Todd Solondz's ''Welcome To The Dollhouse'' perform in such a graphic, erotic, gory and demeaning scene. Unfortunately, it's mostly downhill after that. Is it because the film was directed by a man that its only killing of a woman by a man takes place offscreen, while the most graphic and shocking murder scenes involve women killing other women or men ? The ending is quite predictable (telegraphed well in advance when Whitney mentions Beth's inheritance), but it still packs a wallop. And it's way more disturbing than the conventional ending of the first film (neatly betrayed at the beginning of ''Part II'').
