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No horror scene has shocked and shocked me as much as this one

No horror scene has shocked and shocked me as much as this one

The Hostel franchise is known for long, graphic gore scenes. Created by Eli RothOne of the most renowned splatter horror directors, when you sit down to watch a Hostel film you are in for a sickening experience and a test of endurance as you watch innocent characters undergo intense torture. Even if I knew that beforehand, Nothing could have prepared me for the brutal death of Lorna (Heather Matarazzo). Hostel: Part II. With all the horror films I’ve seen, I’m pretty desensitized to gore, but something about Lorna’s death was so overly gruesome and violent that I wished I’d never seen it. The image of her suffering will forever be etched in my brain.




Heather Matarazzo makes Lorna likeable and likeable

Image via Lionsgate

Lorna is introduced Hostel: Part II as a mousy, shy individual. She feels like an outcast from the rest of the group and there is even a feeling of hostility and antipathy from Whitney (Bijou Phillips) towards them. However, when the group arrives in Slovakia, they seem to come out of their shell. Her concern made her understandable and I found myself feeling great compassion for her. As much as I knew in my heart she wouldn’t make it, It is the extreme of her untimely death that is so heartbreaking to her. The background to Lorna’s kidnapping is that she is charmed by a man (Roman Janecka) Anyone who is clearly visible to the audience has ulterior motives. Yet she seems so fascinated by the attention that she ignores the warning signs. The couple departs on a boat, presumably to have sex, but the exit is romanticized rather than sexually suggestive. After she doesn’t meet Whitney and Beth (Lauren German) the next morning they assume she is still with Roman and her disappearance doesn’t seem to bother them.


Lorna’s death in “Hostel: Part II” is the most graphic part of the series

Heather Matarazzo hangs upside down and gagged in Hostel Part II, a scythe next to her face
Image via Lionsgate

When Lorna wakes up, she is hanging naked by her ankles over a dimly lit gothic bathtub. The barrenness of the room feels like a physical manifestation of Lorna’s isolation and helplessness. The structure is more complex than the inhospitable, barren boxes from the first film. It immediately expands on the extremes of the Elite Hunting Club from the first film. Your torturer, Mrs. Bathory (Monika Malacova), comes in, takes off her robe and lies under Lorna. Mrs. Bathory begins to slash Lorna’s body with a scythe as Lorna’s blood drips ceremoniously on her. Matarazzo’s performance is harrowing as she screams and pleads for over a minute before her throat is slit. The satisfaction Mrs. Bathory feels from the violence makes Lorna’s struggle even more agonizing. Mrs. Bathory’s behavior is so controlled and callous that it makes the sequence seem even more drawn out and merciless.


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While the first film is about hookup culture and all of the perpetrators are older men, the second film is largely about toxic masculinity with violence between men and women. This murder feels tonally different because both the victim and perpetrator are female. On a personal level, it becomes much more difficult to make sense of this and analyze it from a neutral perspective, as it seems particularly difficult to understand Ms. Bathory’s psyche and motivations. I think that’s why it evokes such an emotional response from me personally. There is no hesitation for Mrs. Bathory, she knows exactly what she is doing. Compared to other death scenes in the film, the other killings are chaotic and depict individuals who lack experience in what they are doing. Yes, it’s still difficult to watch the torture scenes in the Hostel series, but Lorna’s death is particularly excruciating because it seems so carefully planned. The cruelty of the scene contrasts with Lorna’s sweet personality; it even feels unfair hostel Standards.


Lorna’s death in “Hostel: Part II” has an even darker inspiration

The scene has an even darker inspiration as Lorna’s torturer is named after her Elizabeth Bathorya Hungarian countess who tortured and murdered more than 600 young women in the 16th and 17th centuries. This context adds such historical weight to an already brutal scene that it becomes even more difficult to contemplate. There is a deeper recognition of the real violence against young women that makes it so difficult to observe on a personal level. You can hide in films because of their fictionality, but when something is so inspired by the real world, that barrier is broken. The scene has become the most infamous part Hostel: Part II, and It was solely responsible for the film being banned in numerous countries. When the film was finally released on DVD in New Zealand, the Board of Review decided that the country had to have its own special DVD version developed in which the carnage scene was censored.


Hostel: Part II is available to rent on Apple TV+ in the US

Rent on Apple TV+