Hostel Part II Blu-Ray Review – Latest Blu-Ray Reviews

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This is a Blu-Ray review, a review which focuses on whether or not it’s worth spending your hard-earned dollars on buying the Blu-Ray version of a film. It also focuses on whether or not the special features on the Blu-Ray are actually worth the upgrade. If you’re looking for a review of the quality of the movie itself click here: Vocab’s awesome Hostel Part II review!

Main Presentation Quality: Hostel Part II isn’t necessarily improved by being presented on Blu-Ray. The film doesn’t look all that different from its standard definition presentation. If you’re happy with the presentation on the standard DVD, then you should just stick with it. If, however, you haven’t bought the DVD yet, then you might as well buy the Blu-Ray.

Hostel Part II: The Next Level – Featurette (26 minutes)

This featurette is a nice behind the scenes look at the production of Hostel Part II. It follows the film from its opening production meetings to its final days. The featurette is composed of lots of nice handheld footage (sadly all in standard definition) which captures tons of candid scenes of the cast and crew interacting. It’s a funny and natural piece that will appeal to fans of the movie. It’s not going to give you a better understanding of the film or provide you with any insight. There is lots of mugging for the camera, and some shots of a people working out, but it’s all in good fun.

Should you watch the film first? – Yes.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? – Only if you’re a huge fan of the film itself.

The Art of KNB Effects – Featurette (7 minutes)

The Art of KNB Effects is a solid featurette that will appeal to the special effects freak within you. It follows the good folks at KNB as they prepare, ready, and execute the film’s special effects. It’s a solid behind the scenes look that feels a little bit hurried and rushed. Certainly, more time could have been spent in this area, but the brief glimpse is definitely nice.

Should you watch the film first? – Yes. It’s always nice to see the finished product first and then see how the effects were pulled off.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? – If you’re not a big special effects fan, then probably not. But if you love special effects, it’s one of the must see items on the Blu-Ray.

Production Design – Featurette (6 minutes)

The Production Design featurette is easily the weakest of the bunch. It shows some of the ideas and techniques used to create the look of the film. It shows how some of the sets were found, created, and taken advantage of. It’s a short piece, and it doesn’t really do much.

Should you watch the film first? No.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? Not really… but it’s pretty short, so it’s not like you’re going to be wasting tons of time if you decide to take a chance on it.

Hostel Part II: A Legacy of Torture – Featurette (24 minutes)

This featurette is the best of the bunch… at least for the first half. The first half of the featurette focuses on the ideology behind the Hostel series. It takes a look at the history of torture and even takes an awesome and unforgettable tour through a museum of torture. The featurette is informative and entertaining… but then it turns into a whole who’s who of random stars from horror movie’s past that Eli Roth has given bit parts in Hostel Part II. That part of the featurette kind of sucks.

Should you watch the film first? No. You might even be able to watch this before the film and be fine.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? Definitely. This is the only featurette that has any real design and freshness to it. It doesn’t feel like a rehashing of scenes from Hostel Part II.

Deleted Scenes x 10 – (15 minutes)

The deleted scenes on the Blu-Ray are deleted for a reason. They are slow and most of the time the deleted scenes are scenes that are still in the movie, only in a longer form. None of the scenes are that great… and a lack of a “play all” button makes them annoying to go through. Even if you do go through them all, the payoff is about as exciting as getting a gumball out of a vending machine and getting an orange one… then realizing that the color had nothing to do with the flavor. They’re all the same.

Should you watch the film first? Yes.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? No. The scenes are rather worthless and uninteresting. There’s a reason they were deleted.

“The Treatment” Radio Interview with Eli Roth – (26 minutes)

This is a solid interview of Eli Roth talking about what his next flick (Hostel Part II) will be like. The guy that’s interviewing him sounds like kind of a douche, but Roth rolls with it and makes the most of the interview. By this time, you’ll start hearing stories and ideas for third or fourth times if you’ve been checking out some of the other special features.

Blood and Guts Gag Reel – (3 and a half minutes)

This is a short but sweet feature that highlights a lot of goofs and blunders in the film as well as showing off some of the nice gore scenes in the film. There’s not much else to say about it.

Should you watch the film first? No.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? Sure… why not? It’s three and a half minutes.

Surveillance Cameras

This feature is kind of a waste. It seems like a good idea, but in reality, it’s a rather boring special feature. It takes eight cameras and allows you to choose which one you want to watch. The footage is all composed of second unit footage that was used to populate the monitors in the security booth of the torture facility in Hostel Part II. It’s an interesting concept, but it isn’t executed properly.

Should you watch the film first? It doesn’t really matter.

Is it worth your special feature viewing time? Nope… it’s not worth any of your time.

Commentary #1: Producer’s Commentary Featuring Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Gabe Roth

This commentary is actually pretty enjoyable. Roth, Tarantino, and Gabe Roth all gel quite nicely together as they relate stories, reference films, and generally have a good time. The fact that there are three of them and they all seem friendly means that there is very little dead space during the commentary. It’s entertaining and never feels like people are pulling teeth just to find something to say. It’s definitely a commentary worth checking out and provides some laughs and interesting information.

Commentary #2: Director’s Commentary Featuring Eli Roth

This is a solid commentary and Eli Roth is definitely able to fill up the full runtime of the movie with solid commentary. The highlight of the commentary is Roth’s description of the background of certain spots. It’s the second best commentary on the DVD, but the producer’s commentary is far more entertaining, mostly because it spotlights Roth and Tarantino’s film I.Q.’s.

Commentary #3: Eli Roth, Richard Burgi, Lauren German, & Vera Jordanova

The weakest of the three commentaries, this commentary suffers because of the lack of solid comments from the cast. What it amounts to is more of Eli Roth rambling and saying many of the same things that he says on other commentaries. It’s the weakest of the three, and like most commentaries that involve actors, it just doesn’t have much going on for it. The actors are generally weak and lack much insight. Once again, it rests on Roth’s soldiers to carry the commentary.

Final Evaluation: Hostel Part II is a solid pickup as far as Blu-Ray goes. It has a ton of features, three commentaries, and some featurettes that are actually worth the time. I just wish the featurettes were in HD, instead of standard definition. But hey, they can’t all be winners. If you don’t already own the special edition on standard DVD, then you should definitely pick it up. If you already own the special edition, then there’s really no reason to pick it up, because the Blu-Ray isn’t noticeably better than the standard DVD special edition.

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