On Friday, Neil Cavuto welcomed Hostel II director/creator/ sick, twisted mastermind Eli Roth to the program to discuss — wait for it — the message inherent in his new gore-fest, wherein young Americans are once again depicted being savaged while innocently on vacation in Eastern Europe. Or, not so innocently — what might they have done to deserve their fate? What might all of us have done, wonders the chyron, in classic Cavuto-mark style? That was almost the most ridiculous thing in the segment, too — until Roth claimed that his movie was actually quite feminist. ETP would never put a moviegoing dime in Roth's direction, but we have had the misfortune to see, and thus never be able to un-see, the international poster for Hostel II featuring star Bijou Philips topless and carrying her own severed head. Classic third wave stuff, Eli!
NB: If you want a glimpse of Roth's attitude towards shooting women in these films (actually, "shooting" is a little tame for him, but I digress), see this interview from Cinematical: "I think having girls in it raises the stakes, but I didn't want to make a film that was just sadistic and mean...I want people to be invested in the story and to care about the characters." Oh, and after that is when you get to be sadistic and mean. Now we get it. Unfortunately, Eli suffers for his art; sometimes, the censors aren't impressed: "In Japan, they wouldn't even put Hostel in theaters because of the blow torch scene; how we disfigured a Japanese girl's face. That's a cultural no-no over there."
Upshot: We agree with Gabriel Delahaye on this. Especially that last line. Heck, we even agree with Newsbusters. Hey! Eli Roth is a uniter, not a divider!