Eli Roth is certainly a director to watch. Cabin Fever was one of my favorite horror films of the past few years. It was an incredible blend of gruesome effects, and some genuinely funny comedy, which made for a very enjoyable experience. I was hoping to get as much out of Hostel as I did out of Cabin Fever, albeit they are entirely different films in tone. I had very high expectations, as the promotional trailers would lead us to believe Hostel was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for a new generation. But one thing I've learned in my movie viewing years, is that we are more often let down by the Hollywood system, than we are impressed. This is also the case with Hostel.

Hostel is certainly not a bad film, simply average. There are some stunning moments of directorial brilliance on the part of Eli Roth, but the film as a whole seems too content in its attempts to shock the audience. It seldom delves into any actual development of plot or character. The film suffers as we never really care much about the characters. We're not as much concerned with their individual fate, as we are the fate of the collective - the collective being the entire body of people who have been or will be the victims of this disgusting practice.

The characters are not entirely inconsequential; Roth takes the time before the sex and violence begin, to establish each character and their relationship as a group. The relationship between the boys is well built, and they are all displayed as interesting enough characters in the beginning. I'll admit, I almost enjoyed the very beginning of the film, in which the characters are initially established, more than the rest of the film. This is part of the reason I felt so let down, any type of relationship established between the audience and the characters is quickly abandoned, in order to establish a sequence of terrible acts tied together by some truly bizarre scenes.

Many of you will disagree with me, but the violence in Hostel really isn't that bad. It's certainly quite intense by the standards of Hollywood horror these days, but the majority of tried and true horror fans will have seen much worse at one time or another. As horror fans we're familiar with foreign works, such as the Guinea Pig films or Naked Blood, independent films, such as Murder, Set, Pieces or Scrapbook. These are all films which deal with violence as pure exploitation. Watching Hostel however, it's obvious Eli Roth had much more in mind than pure and simple exploitation.

Roth is more than just a capable director, he has incredible potential. Cabin Fever was pure entertainment, but didn't really showcase Roth's talents as a director. With Hostel, Eli Roth creates a number of intense sequences, in some of which the violence is shown to us in its entirety. One particular sequence is shocking simply because we enter the scene after the violence has occurred. We are spared the graphic details of the violent act which has occurred, however, this only makes the discovery that much more horrifying. In the most effective scene in the entire film, Roth restrains himself from revealing the violence that is happening right before our eyes. Our imagination is left to interpret what we are seeing. These sequences show us exactly how much Eli Roth has matured as a director.

There are a number of strong scenes throughout Hostel, which prove its potential. These moments of brilliance are built off a unique idea, however there's not enough substance to make it completely worthwhile. Hostel could have benefited immensely by fleshing out the characters further, yet the film seems more content with displaying numerous scenes of sex and violence. As much as we'd like to say otherwise, sex and violence do not necessarily make a good movie, there has to be some substance. By lessening character depth, Roth has diminished the emotional impact that should have gone along with the terrors these characters face. Hostel has a number of brilliant scenes, but unfortunately they get lost within the confines of a film which can best be described as average.