10 Horror Movie Flops That Everyone Saw Coming

In 2005, Eli Roth picked up where Saw began and fleshed out a horror sub genre that quickly took off: torture porn. Hostel, the grim tale of doomed, hedonistic tourists in Eastern Europe, unsettled critics and audiences alike with its sadism. Roth hit viewers with the far more extreme, more gratuitous Hostel Part II in 2007. Due to the sequel’s diminishing returns, however, it appeared a trilogy was not to be.

Unfortunately, not all sleeping dogs are left to lie. In 2011, a low budget threequel sans Roth hit the stands. Notice the use of “stands” rather than “theatres” here, as Part III went straight to DVD. The low budget grounds the film back in the US, far away from the Eastern European landscapes of the first two.

While neither of Roth’s efforts set the world on fire with their rich character development and cerebral plots, they seem like high art in comparison to their follow-up. The story follows a Hangover-like bachelor’s party that soon find themselves at a torture festival almost as grim as the torture of sitting through this film. 

The fact that so many are surprised to hear there’s a third Hostel film to this day says it all. Stripped of the world-building, intensity, and appeal (if one can call it that) of Roth’s efforts, this ill-advised third part never stood a chance.