Hostel 2

Aroview: Macabre, sadistic sequel from Tarantino protégé Eli Roth veritably oozes gore, this time following a disparate trio of college girls to Slovakia, whereupon they get far more than they bargained for.

In a change of tack from the original, the script focuses less on exploiting audience fears, choosing instead to probe the perpetrators' motivations for torture. Expanding the cast of tormentors to a 'bloodsport elite' – which cleverly incorporates a frustrated average Joe husband -, Roth simultaneously sates the audience's bloodthirsty baying while sardonically turning their schadenfreude back in on themselves.

Note: Our version differs from the US theatrical release, which has one scene cut to comply with the New Zealand DVD classification of the film.