A young man about to marry his fiance is taken by a friend on a golfing holiday. However, this is just a ruse and instead he is taken to Sin City and in particular the famous strip of clubs, bars, hotels and casinos. Here they are met by two other friends, and soon attract the attention of two beautiful young women. They are invited to an exclusive club which turns out to be way off the strip in the middle of a deserted warehouse district. There is a club, but they soon find themselves captive in cages - unwilling victims in a bizarre and perverted game of death...

It was the first Hostel, along with the Saw films which were distastefully labelled "Torture Porn" in an attempt to categorise this horror sub-genre. Although this stand alone sequel is very blood thirsty it is more conducive to the plot. The first two films were torture and extreme graphic violence practically for the sake of effect (although a more recent viewing has made me more sympathetic to them). Although the death scenes in this one are nasty, to say the least, they are never dwelled upon - leaving just as much to the imagination as perverted feast for the eyes.

In many ways this is more like a Saw movie. I particularly liked the early scene wherein the viewer is made to assume the Ukrainian man is the villain rather than the uneasy youngster. The plot’s late reveal is both clever and a little predictable, and the final scene will come as a relief to everyone, because nearly everyone despises injustice. Although not my favourite type of horror film, I did find Hostel III entertaining and mercifully short. Without giving too much away, the deadly game aspect reminded me of another film with an inherent voyeuristic audience aspect.

The picture is very crisp, but I expected this Blu-ray edition to carry more extras than a mere director commentary. Blu-ray collectors might consider themselves short-changed.

7

Ty Power