10 Horror Movie Sequels That Took Risks... And Failed

The first two Hostel films were pretty similar to each other. In both cases, three tourists (mostly Americans) came to Slovakia for a holiday and then fell into the clutches of Elite Hunting, a sick organisation which kidnaps tourists so that rich people can pay to murder them.

So, yet again, the makers of this ultimately poor-quality direct-to-DVD sequel (which didn't involve franchise creator Eli Roth) were right to try and shake up the formula a bit, it's just that they did it in the wrong way. For starters, they didn't go far enough, as Hostel Part III's plot is largely a re-run of the other films anyhow. The only real change they made was moving the action from Slovakia to Las Vegas, and that, unfortunately, really didn't work. 

Sure, the depiction of Slovakia in the first two films was inaccurate and pissed off the Slovakian government, but it was still an atmospheric, haunting setting for the story that largely worked. There was something far more powerful about Americans being kidnapped in this unfamiliar foreign country where they didn't speak the language and were largely beyond any aid. Plenty of movies have been to Vegas, so that sense of unfamiliarity is immediately lost, and it didn't land as a horror setting either. Las Vegas is many things - scary isn't one of them. 

A Hostel TV show is now in the works, with Eli Roth back on board. Hopefully, they'll pick a better setting this time.