Hostel Part II (**)

Hostel Part II is essentially a retread of the first film, with less comedy, more gruesome kills, and a few interesting moments devoted to the wealthy folks who pay to kill people. A lot has been made of the Hostel flicks being nothing but torture porn, or "gornos," and while director Eli Roth may get his kicks in weird ways, he does have some talent behind the camera. My main problem with Hostel II is the fact that the genders have been reversed. Instead of three jerky American boys getting butchered and killed, we now have three relatively nice, normal American girls facing the same thing. You don't really want to see them die, which puts viewers in a weird situation, because so much of this film is all about the kills. Though it ends with a oddly satisfying castration scene (never really thought I'd say that in a sentence), you leave the theater feeling a little dirty.