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Hostel: Part III 2011 ★★★
So the opening sets you up with an innocent looking American boy and a hot, Ukranian couple. So predictable, right? And then... swerve! For full disclosure, there is also a swerve at the very end, but you can that one coming a mile away. The delivery is much better on the first one.
In this one, the action moves to Vegas with a bachelor party.
Bride to be: Should I worry?
Groom: No, of course not.
Womp womp.
In their race for adventure and their hunger for sex and infidelity, they of course end up with a US branch of the elite torture club. In spite of the main character heeding the words of Chris Rock: Can't wait for GI... I'm sorry, I meant No sex in the champagne room.
This time, they have set up shop somewhere near Fremont. Even for experienced movie viewers, doing that on the strip would require too much suspension of disbelief. The actual torture scenes are as gruesome as you would expect. Especially the first one stands out with the audience betting on what the torturer will do next.
The acting is no great shakes, though Chris Coy delivers a solid villain/main henchman. Lord boss crime is a lot more forgettable this time around.
Oh, and... *Sean William Scott-voice* Carter, you dick!
Red Eye 2017 ★
A pretty forgettable slasher with no link to the Wes Craven helmed namesake.
The Headless-tee was pretty sweet, though.
The Final Destination 2009 ★★½
Final Destination, the franchise that's like a trusty knife. Always ready to deliver when you are in the mood for some gore.
In this fourth installment, we follow Nick and his friends Lori and Janet. And there's a guy called Hunt, though, throughout the movie, I get the impression that they spelled the c wrong.
They are attending a Nascar-race where they come across a mechanic, a cowboy and a racist called Carter. Thus keeping in tune with the Carter, you dick!-theme. Also... a racist at a Nascar-race? Who woulda thunk it?
Of course, Nick gets a premonition and they escape impending doom. After that, they go through the same song and dance as in the previous installments: the elaborate kills, figuring out the scheme, trying to “cheat death”,... yadda yadda yadda. No Tony Todd this time. Sadly.
The kills are good, though. Spectacular, bloody, gory with the characteristic build-up. And that's what I came here for.
Triangle of Sadness 2022 ★★★
Funny thing: even when you watch a comedy in an arthouse-ish theatre with a supposedly edumacated crowd, it's still the shit- and the barf-jokes that get the biggest laughs.
It's certainly relevant for these times as it pokes fun at current themes like influencers (though a movie like The Joneses in my opinion perhaps did it better) and income inequality. And granted, it got a few laughs from me as well. So it's definetily worth seeing. Is it the masterpiece the blurb promises? Not... really. The back and forths between Woody Harrelson and the Russian are kind of funny, but other than that, it does not get much further than a lot of “boy, rich people sure are weird”-jokes. And models and influencers are shallow and self centered. What else is new?
The story was well told and the running time rolled by swiftly. A sign of a well told story. Woody Harrelson is good as the reluctant captain. Zlatko Buric reprises a more tongue in cheek version of his character in 2012. The other characters are well placed, though none of them really stood out all that much.
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