Mollie at Get Religion has a post about the incredibly gruesome film Hostel, comparing the hew and cry by some cultural conservatives against Brokeback Mountain and the silence regarding this film.

Hostel was #1 its first weekend of release, but fell pretty far this weekend, ousted by decidedly calmer films like Hoodwinked and Glory Road ( Go here for all of your box office needs)

Mollie has a point. The argument has been made that Brokeback Mountain has been objected to because it’s a grenade in the culture wars (which is, according to some who have seen it, including Victor Morton and Rod Dreher, a questionable assertion, however). And films like Hostel are not? There’s nothing new in gruesomeness – this is a trend that’s been growing over the past 25 years or so, not only in film, but in gaming as well. Not a problem? I wonder.

In the comments on the GR post, Peter Chattaway says that since Hostel seems to be falling fast, despite its big opening, it won’t have much of an impact. What he doesn’t account for is DVD life of films like this. Take it from the mother of young adults and a pre-teen, it’s there that these movies take on new life.

For example, my daughter reports that a favorite movie of many of her classmates, and one that "everyone" has seen (a doubtful proposition, but I’ll grant her that a lot of them have) is Saw – described in the link. Rated R, gruesome, explicit, vengeful. It’s not just that a lot of them have seen it. It’s that it’s a favorite in the age group. Which, I might remind you, is 8th grade.

Once a movie gets to video, ratings, except for the NC-17, are useless (because places like Blockbuster won’t stock them with that rating). Not every video store clerk checks ID, clueless parents rent whatever the kids shoves at them, kids whose parents might be more attentive can go over to other kids’ houses, older siblings can get it, and no one checks ID at Netflix.

Viewing violence, even extreme violence, in the midst of a non-exploitive drama that has an actual narrative, theme and some artistry is not problematic. That’s not what we’re talking about. It’s this gruesome hacking and pornographic gore that permeates these kinds of film as well as many video games that should give us pause – and most of all, a reason to be attentive. If we didn’t need one before.