By: Joseph McCabe
Photographs By: Sophia Quach
Sequels can be nightmares, even the ones that aren?t horror films. If a director ventures too far from his original movie, he risks losing the audience that made a sequel possible. But if he gives people more of the same, there?s a good chance they?ll quickly get bored.

Eli Roth?s well aware of the risks involved in creating a follow-up to Hostel, his 2005 hit about ugly Americans who meet even uglier fates while looking for free love in eastern Europe. But if Roth?s feeling a bit nervous, he hid it well at last weekend?s New York Comic Con; where he appeared on a panel promoting Hostel: Part II.

Roth was joined by the stars of his upcoming film?Heather Matarazzo and Roger Bart. Matarazzo may be best known to genre fans from her appearances in Scream 3 and The Devil?s Advocate, but those same fans may be unfamiliar with Bart?s Tony-winning stage work or his recurring role on Desperate Housewives. In Hostel: Part II, he apparently plays a businessman who learns of the human slaughterhouse club introduced in the first film; while Matarazzo plays one of several college girls who stumble upon the club, to their deep regret.

Roth talked about the subtle difference between working with a largely female cast versus the first film?s male leads.

?In Hostel, it was the three guys,? said Roth, ?and there were girls, but the film was mainly about their story. And it?s just unbelievable the kinds of things that [become] a crisis when you?re dealing with young women. Certain things like the color of one?s shoes, for example. Before it?d be like, ?Jay, put that on and go do that.? And, yeah, it?s great. But then sometimes?like, the color of lipstick?that?s the main discussion! I certainly learned a lot. But the truth of the matter is that there really was no difference between working with guys and girls. You?re just working with actors. As long as you?re working with great actors, and experienced actors, then it?s really the same thing. It?s the same experience. I was certainly more delicate in certain areas, but in other areas I don?t say, ?Oh, I?m gonna direct it differently because it?s girls.? I say, ?No, they?re actors???

But Roth later admitted that casting women in the lead roles did bring new challenges:

?I expect that people will be fully outraged and horrified. I think the people who don?t get it will be?the people who just want to watch the movie, and go, ?This is senseless violence?? Anytime there?s violence against women, instantly, you?re pushing people?s buttons. No matter what. But I think that there?s enough intelligence and thought behind it that it will be disregarded. But any time you?re making a movie like this?

?I had to really consciously think about how I was going to have scenes with young women. Because it?s hard. You can?t do the same stuff that you did for guys. There?s definitely a few moments where? I mean I?ll be very unhappy if the entire audience is still there after the film. There?s definitely a few different walkout scenes. I want people getting up and leaving if they can?t take it.?

Roth and his cast wouldn?t reveal many details about the film, but he hinted at the film?s storyline.

?I didn?t want to repeat the first one. That was the thing? But I can have the girls get themselves into trouble, and I think the girls in Hostel: Part II are smarter than the guys were. That was a very conscious choice. I didn?t want them to make the stupid decisions. But I do think that they get in a little bit over their heads, and things get out of their control very quickly.?

To illustrate his point, Roth showed some exclusive footage in which a naked Matarazzo is suspended upside down and pulled along a track through a slaughterhouse. After filming such scenes, one might think the actress had some lingering emotional scars; but she spoke happily about the experience.

?For me the whole experience was incredible,? she said. ?Eli was just an absolute dream, and he?s one of the best directors I?ve worked with. The set was so incredibly warm and inviting, and loving, and he had such an incredible passion it was infectious. It was really a wonderful opportunity?

?What?s so great about Eli, as a director, is he set the tone for how this film shoot was going to be. And it was one of the most painless processes ever.?

?I felt so lucky with the cast I had,? added Roth. ?The truth of the matter is that with a script like Hostel, or Hostel: Part II, it kind of weeds people out who don?t want to do that type of movie. I mean, everyone who reads the script, they know what they?re in for, and they?re all signing up to do that. So it?s like we?re all in this together. And it?s a lot. There are some days that are really, really difficult. And these two, all of the cast members, were really, really incredible. I remember one scene in particular with Heather, where?everyone was kind of amazed by her performance.?

Roth also said audiences shouldn?t expect the same mix of horror and comedy that characterized both Hostel and Cabin Fever. ?I really made a conscious choice this time not to do the tonal switch, you know. Cabin Fever is fucking weird and insane, and when I watch it now, I?m like, ?God, what the fuck was I thinking?? I loved it, and that?s the fun of that movie. In Hostel the fun was taking it comedic in the first forty-five minutes and then twisting it on its ear. This one is gonna have some of that, but I really wanted to just make it totally creepy. I want it to feel uncomfortable.?

Roth?s fans were curious about the status of Cell, his adaptation of the Stephen King novel, so he gave them a quick update. ?The writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski wrote Ed Wood and 1408, which is fucking awesome, a really scary script. They?re working on a draft right now. So by the time I finish Hostel: Part II the script will be ready, and it?s gonna be great.?

Whatever his writers come up with, Roth will probably fill Cell with the blood-soaked morality of his other movies. He said he can?t help giving some meaning to his on-screen madness. ?It?s not like I?m trying to make a movie with a message to cram down people?s throats. But it?s just funny for me when people are so upset about the violence in Hostel. Because I do feel that Hostel has a very moral core at the center of it. I feel like it?s more of what?s in my personality. I like to have lots of really violent images in movies, but deep down I?m actually a good person, and I don?t like violence in real life. I?m just making things that I?m afraid of.

?But, yeah, there?s a very conscious choice. All I want is when people watch it for the first time to be entertained, and then if they watch it again on DVD they?ll maybe see another level. They?ll go ?Oh, wow, the first half of Hostel paralleled the second half. And those guys, all that shit of them making fun of the hookers, actually they become the hookers in the window. Everything they do to those hookers in Amsterdam happens to them. Josh walks up and down the hall, and in the last scene he gets dragged down the hall.? They?ll see that there?s actually another layer there. It?s easy to just make a movie where there?s senseless violence and everybody dies. I think that only goes so far. I like those movies you can watch again and again. I do think that it?s fun to have a movie that people get so outraged by and then when they think about it they?re like, ?Oh, that actually has a strong moral core to it.??