Starting right where Hostel left off, this second installment closes the book on the ambiguous ending of the first, leaving little to the imagination as far as what happens to the surviving backpacker, Paxton, played by Jay Hernandez.

While there are similarities with the first film, Hostel Part II writer and director Eli Roth also brings new elements to the table.

First, the main characters (victims) this time around are female rather than male. There’s the privileged rich girl Beth (played by Lauren German, who also played the girl wandering down the road in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake), her promiscuous friend Whitney (played to perfection by Bijou Phillips, who played similar bad girls in Tart, Bully, and Havoc), and the outcast loner Lorna (played by Heather Matarazzo of Saved! and Showtime’s The L Word).

Again, the students are lured to a remote destination — a Slovakian spa promising rest and relaxation — by a stranger. Again, that stranger is a female, an artist's model named Axelle (played by relative newcomer Vera Jordanova). Again, the students then become the targets of a hunt.

Roth adds much to Hostel Part II by focusing on two members of Elite Hunting, and Roth manages to go so far as to garner a bit of sympathy for Stuart, one of the men. Roger Bart, a star on Broadway who also played a recurring role on Desperate Housewives, portrays Stuart, and Richard Burgi, another Desperate Housewives alum, plays Todd, the other man.

This time around, Roth delves deeply into the world of Elite Hunting, showing the process by which the hunters come to find their prey, as well as showing the business side of the club and people behind the scenes.

This film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. The Director's Cut offers more explicit gore than the theatrical release, as well as full-frontal male nudity, both real and crafted with special effects.

The DVD offers three separate audio commentaries: the Producers track (with Eli Roth, Executive Producer Quentin Tarantino, and Gabriel Roth); the Directors track (Roth); and the Actors track (Roth, Jordanova, and Burgi). All three offer insider info.

There’s also a collection of deleted scenes, complete with text explaining why said scenes didn’t make the cut; a radio interview with Roth; a gag reel with some funny clips; an international television special entitled Hostel Part II: A Legacy of Torture; a behind-the-scenes featurette; and a look at KNB's work with makeup and special effects.

Hostel Part II is replete with blood and guts unrivaled in the first film, which could be due to the Unrated Director's Cut tag on the DVD. While fans of horror will love the gore in Hostel Part II, fans of mystery will appreciate the nuances of the world of Elite Hunting, where bidding wars abound and the fate of everyone involved can change in a heartbeat.

While I can only imagine what the Hostel franchise (you can lump Turistas in this category as well) does for the travel industry, particularly for the countries featured in such films, as far as fulfilling my expectations for blood, guts, gore and chills, Hostel Part II exceeded on all accounts, and even went so far as to leave me hoping for a third installment.