Bratislava played its role in couple of Hollywood film productions. In both ways- it provided its environs pretending to be some other location or casted as Bratislava while it was actually shot in the completely different location.
Hostel- film by Eli Roth (2005), together with e.g. one James Bond sequel, falls to the latter category- a whole story supposedly happening in Bratislava and Slovakia has been actually shot in neighbouring Czech Republic. Therefore there is a lot of discrepancies which are pointless to discuss. This post will focus on facts which are by chance correct so you can have a similar experience during your stay in Slovakia.
Hostel movie was written and directed by Eli Roth and produced by Quentin Tarrantino. It says the story of
“two American backpackers and a friend from Iceland embarking on a crazy adventure touring Europe. They start in Amsterdam, and are lured to a hostel somewhere in Bratislava (Slovakia) where they’re told they will find beautiful women. When they arrive, they meet three delicious girls in the hostel and they believe they have found the lost paradise of sex on Earth. But sooner they find that they have been sold to a sadistic group of the Elite Hunting, and their dream becomes their worst nightmare.” (via imdb)
The train interior they sit in on their way to Bratislava is real, however not really used for the international connections. But you can still find it on some local railways.
Getting off the train. Very real train station- same clocks, same white tiles and graffiti like in Slovakia. But it was shot in Czech Republic- so also all signs are in Czech.
Arrival to “Bratislava”. It is a very nice, romantic town but has nothing common to Bratislava. Just compare it with real Bratislava
Glimpse of reality- a policeman (Czech actor) is wearing the real Slovak police uniform, even with the Slovak signs
Scene in sauna- naked beauty is real (played by real Slovak actress) but they sing a Russian folk song. As I am not a regular sauna visitor, I cannot confirm the rest :-).
Some other Slovak hints:
– in the hostel lobby, they show the Slovak movie Chodnik cez Dunaj on the antique TV.
– at the disco, the Slovak hits from 80’s are played.
And that is all from the real stuff. All the rest- Russian old cars, children street gangs, hostel itself- you will not see on your trip to Bratislava.
If I missed anything, let me know in comments.