Featured Image Credit: Lionsgate
Topics: Horror, Film and TV
Katherine Sidnell
Warning: graphic content and horror elements throughout
It’s an age-old debate among horror fans - what is the most disturbing film of all time?
Well, one movie may have taken the top prize and, surprisingly, it was released nearly two decades ago.
Despite this, the film is still banned in one European country and its sequel was even debated in UK Parliament - because of its graphic content (yes, really).
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If you’ve still not guessed which horror film we are referring to, you’d be forgiven for never wanting to book a cheap city break again after watching it (spoilers ahead, obviously).
Yes, that’s right - it’s Hostel and it’s sequel, Hostel II.
For those who haven’t seen the 2005 film, here’s a quick synopsis.
Eager to enjoy all that Europe has to offer, college students Paxton and Josh are exploring Slovakia when they are kidnapped and tortured by a mysterious organisation.
Cue intense shots of chainsaws cutting into people, a close-up of an Achilles tendon snapping and a killer taking a pair of scissors to a character’s face - seriously, this movie is not for the faint-hearted.
Slammed by the critics for its excessive gore, the horror flick was made by legendary director Eli Roth whose previous films included The Green Inferno (2013) and 2001 Maniacs (2005).
Despite the obvious torture porn element, the film regularly sets a dark tone with themes almost as bleak as the character’s likelihood of escape.
In fact, the original ending was so dark that it had to be cut from the movie after audiences reacted badly to Paxton kidnapping his torturer’s daughter.
Even with the new ending, which showed the college teen escaping, Hostel was backlisted by some countries due to its violent content.
In fact, the film was banned in Ukraine because of how graphic it was.
Hostel also bought the ire of Slovak and Czech citizens for how it depicted Eastern Europe.
Much of the backlash was over the movie's depiction of the nation as poor and crime-ridden, with a member of the Slovak culture ministry, Linda Heldichova, alleging that it ‘damaged’ the image of the country at the time.
The flick's uncut sequel was banned in Germany and was even debated in UK Parliament - with MPs arguing that images from the film could be deemed illegal.
If that isn’t enough to put you off watching Hostel forever, we don’t know what will.