10 Horror Movies Where NO ONE Is Safe

A linchpin of 2000s torture porn, Eli Roth's Hostel relishes its kills, serving up extended scenes of torture and nightmarish murders. As with most splatter movies, no-one is safe, and yet the way in which Roth goes about proving this makes Hostel just that little bit better than many of us give it credit for being.  

A squad of young, dumb American tourists – Josh Brooks (Derek Richardson), Óli Eriksson (Eyþór Guðjónsson) and Paxton Rodriguez (Jay Hernandez) – head to Europe on a boozing, whoring hostelling holiday. Along the way, they are drawn to Slovakia by the promise of easy, beautiful girls, and are kidnapped by an underground torture club for their troubles.

Although we are following the trio, Josh is the main man: easily the most developed character, and the central focus of the action. So, when Óli is killed we barely even blink. And yet, soon thereafter Roth pulls a crafty bait and switch. Josh is tortured and slain almost exactly halfway through the film, leaving no-mark Paxton to fill the protagonist void.

Paxton has to step up and fight his way out of the club, picking up Kana (Jennifer Lim) along the way and leading a whole new narrative. But Hostel isn’t done there. The main body of action in the film is bookended by shocking character deaths, first by killing Josh, but then by having Kana jump in front of a train at the end, when she has escaped and is safe!