Hostel Part II

Filmmaker Eli Roth tries to enliven the formula, but this sequel loses the grim surprise of the original without adding much new in terms of plotting or gory set pieces.

Roth's dark humor and lacerating view of human weakness sometimes suggest George Romero; what he lacks is Romero's stubborn belief in personal morality.

Sadly, the director's proven creative finesse has given way to boring self-imitation. Hostel: Part II gives us the same premise as the first film, changing genders and little else.

Oh, do grow up.

It is pretty boring. But then the gore is even worse to watch.

Hostel: Part II does succumb to mere ghoulishness in the last-reel bloodbath, but up to that point its moral tension feels horribly persuasive.

Unfairly written off as a cheap and misogynistic cash-grab when it's actually a feminist horror film with a smart, relatable and queer final girl.

A tight-fisted slow burn that whacks you in face with two or three really horrifying sequences.

Gory torture bloodbath checks in for another stay.

There are some grisly deaths gore hounds would approve of, but the focus is more on the motives of the murderous pervs and the inner workings of the snuff corporation.