Hostel: Part 3 (2011 film)

Category: Torture horror/drama

Directed by: Scott Spiegel

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Not only should movie studios leave well enough alone, but I have to ask: when am I going to stop doing this to myself? I saw some reviews that forewarned me Hostel: Part 3 was not a top-notch cinematic experience (to put it generously), but I just couldn't say no when this offered itself on my streaming. I suffer for my art.

Hostel: Part 3 shares next to no narrative connection to either Hostel or Hostel: Part 2, save for the Elite Hunting Club name and logo and the concept of people paying to kill other people. It's really more a parallel movie rather than a sequel, and was directed by Scott Spiegel rather than Eli Roth.

Anyway, let's go over the plot and then I'll get into likes and dislikes.

The plot:

The movie begins with a young man named Travis (Chris Coy) who walks into a hostel room as if to put his belongings down to settle in for the night when he finds two people already in his room - Victor (Nickola Shreli) and Anka (Evelina Oboza), a Ukranian couple. There is a sense of unease as Victor (looking very gangster-like) offers Travis vodka, with Travis offering beer instead. Victor and Anka accept, and Anka goes to shower while Victor and Travis chat.

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (2021 film)

Category: Torture horror/police drama

Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman

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Starring Chris Rock, Spiral isn't so much a sequel to the Saw/Jigsaw series as it is a parallel entry, and I think this confers two advantages:

Freeing this movie from the corpus of Saw canon allows the writers creative freedom - they aren't bound to ten movies of lore and backstory so they can create what is ostensibly a new movie and only need a couple of nods to keep the connection going. Being Saw-adjacent also allows the producers to borrow the clout from the Saw series, assisting this movie with publicity and inspiration.

But does it work? Is it worth a watch, especially if you're a horror fan? Let's find out after a plot recap!

The plot:

The movie starts with a 4th July carnival scene. A man wearing an oversized hat steals a purse from a woman who screams for help, causing a plain-clothes detective who just happens to be nearby give chase. The purse snatcher goes down a manhole with the detective in pursuit. Down the manhole, the detective finds a mannequin in a seat and when he goes to look closer, a hooded figure appears behind the detective and knocks him unconscious. After this, we find the detective at an underground railway line, his tongue clampled in a vice hanging from the ceiling while his feet barely touch the stool that is there to support his weight.