Editorials
Top 10 Kills in the ‘Hostel’ Franchise!
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Eli Roth’s now infamous film Hostel. Lately, Hostel seems to have lost the respect it once received in the public eye. When it was released in 2005, it was highly regarded, especially in the horror community. Now when people mention it, they seem to only be able to recall the “torture porn” trend that it started. Personally, I think the first Hostel is alright, but I absolutely love Hostel: Part II. As for Hostel: Part III, the less said about that one the better, but I digress. To celebrate the occasion (and in addition to Jonathan’s post from earlier today), we thought we would rank the top ten kills in the trilogy!
***Everything that follows is NSFW. ESPECIALLY #2***
10. Natalya, Svetlana, and Alexei (Hostel) – Hit by Car
It’s not that this set of deaths is particularly memorable, it was just so cathartic to see all of these characters get what was coming to them. Granted, it would have been a little bit nicer had they suffered some kind of torture like poor Josh (more on him in a bit).
9. Paxton (Hostel: Part II) – Decapitated
Paxton’s (Jay Hernandez) death may happen off-screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not brutal when you finally see it. We get to briefly revisit Paxton in Roth’s clever homage to Friday the 13th Part 2. It’s not long before his girlfriend (Jordan Ladd) discovers her cat licking the neck wound on his headless corpse though. Nice touch!
8. Axelle (Hostel: Part II) – Decapitated
This is just your standard, everyday decapitation, but the real kicker (no pun intended) here is that the kids in the “Bubblegum Gang” play soccer with her head. It doesn’t hurt matters that Beth (Lauren German) was finally able to get her revenge on her after she helped get all of her friends killed.
7. Kana (Hostel) – Hit by Train
I’ve written about how difficult it is to watch Kana’s scenes in Hostel because of the eye pus, but her death is nearly as disturbing as she chooses to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train. The fact that she would rather die than live life with a facial deformity is the real disturbing thing about this death. At least she saved a lot of money on therapy this way.
6. Josh (Hostel) – Throat Slashed
The first major kill in the Hostel franchise (though not the first major death, that would be Oli’s off-screen decapitation) is a brutal one, if only for the fact that it was implied that Josh (Derek Richardson) would be the “Final Girl” of the film. His death introduced us to the madness that would play out over the course of the rest of the series. After having a few holes drilled into his leg, his killer slits his Achilles tendons and allows him to attempt to walk out. The shot of his heel when he takes a step is enough to make anyone turn away. The throat slashing seems tame by comparison.
5. Whitney (Hostel: Part II) – Saw Blade to the Face
Poor Whitney (Bijou Phillips). All she wanted to do was get laid. Of course, this is a cardinal sin for any character in a horror movie, so she was destined to die. The manner of her death was particularly shocking though, when Todd (Richard Burgi) is showing off with his power saw and accidentally slices off part of her scalp. In a sick twist, she doesn’t actually die from this and has to be pawned of to other Elite Hunting Club members (at a discounted rate) when Todd backs out.
4. Mike (Hostel: Part III) – Face Sliced Off
Hostel: Part III didn’t have that many great deaths (one girl gets suffocated by cockroaches, if that gives you any idea), but Mike’s is arguably the best one in the film. The poor bastard gets his face sliced off which supposedly kills him, though technically we don’t see him die. He does die though, which qualifies him for placement on this list.
3. Guard (Hostel) – Head Bashed in by Children
This guy doesn’t even have a name, but the fact that he gets murdered by a group of kids is pretty awesome. The cherry on top of his much-deserved death is the shot of his head being crushed by one of the children.
2. Stuart (Hostel: Part II) – Castrated **GRAPHIC NUDITY**
Roth subverted audience expectations in Hostel: Part II by pulling a switcheroo with his two lead villains Todd and Stuart (Roger Bart). Todd had spent the whole movie playing the “tough guy” role, with Stuart acting more shy and reserved. Lo and behold, Stuart is actually the psychotic one, and his betrayal of Beth makes it all the more satisfying when she finally castrates him and feeds his severed member to the dogs.
1. Lorna (Hostel: Part II) – Throat Slashed
Lorna’s (Heather Matarazzo) death is the most brutal death in the entire Hostel trilogy. There is no argument about it. The poor girl just wanted to have a nice vacation, and instead she got sliced up by a Mrs. Bathory, a woman with hematomania. What makes this death so difficult to watch is that once Bathory cuts off Lorna’s gag, we must spend over a minute listening to her pleas for help as Bathory cuts into her back with a scythe. When she finally slits Lorna’s throat (in a spectacularly bloody effect), it’s a mercy on her and the audience.
Do you agree with my rankings? What are your favorite kills in the Hostel franchise? Do you, like me, think that Hostel: Part II is an underrated gem? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me a Tweet and celebrate the 10th anniversary of Eli Roth’s Hostel!
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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