Hostel Part II, however, lets us see events from the other perspective too, as we meet the wealthy businessmen who are availing themselves of the club’s services. It’s a logical dynamic for the movie, and it does bring a fresh perspective to a film that does eventually settle down to a cavalcade of gore and shock. As a director, Eli Roth has clearly improved since last time around, even if this time he too often succumbs to the temptation to show rather than imply, and Hostel Part II as a result feels a little less fresh and more uncomfortable than its predecessor. Yet it’s most certainly an unsettling piece of cinema, and one likely to find favour with Roth’s increasing fanbase. A word of warning, though. Hostel Part II isn’t shy about pulling its punches, and it very much justifies its 18 certificate. It’s also a cut above many of its modern day contemporaries in the genre, even though it fails to measure up to part one. -Jon Foster Shrooms Heavily influenced by the influx of Japanese horror films over the past few years, Shrooms is a muddled, yet intriguing film, albeit one with an identity crisis. Is it a conventional horror, or is trying to do something a bit different? Inevitably, it’s a little bit of both. The basic concept could be the basis of any of the avalanche of horror films that have emerged in recent times: six American students in Ireland go hunting for some magic mushrooms. But what Shrooms does is try to distance itself from being a generic slasher movie, and instead attempts to inject some uncertainty. Yet when one of the party, after taking one of the ‘shrooms’ of the title, forsees trouble ahead, you can still pretty much see what’s around the corner. Shrooms does work hard, though, with an at-times unsettling visual style, and some well earned jumps punching it above many of its contemporaries. But it’s not without problems of its own, not least the fact that the longer the film goes on, the further it goes off the rails. But at least it had something to start with, and Shrooms does reward your time and money by the time the end credits roll. It’s far from the finest horror-thriller of recent times, but it’s got enough of an identity to hold its own. -Jon Foster.