Those `Hostel' ads test the squirm factor

The photo, which appeared in an ad in our paper on Sunday, stops you in your tracks, which, of course, is what great advertising is meant to do. If you want truth in advertising, this is it -- you couldn't possibly walk in to see "Hostel: Part II" thinking it is a harmless teen comedy. But while I admire the art of these posters, there's a fine line between an image that deftly captures the spirit of a gory film and an image that glamorizes the degradation of women.

Palen defends his work in two ways: in terms of context and execution. The poster of a naked Phillips holding her severed head in her hands, he says, "is completely inappropriate to be on a billboard on the street or even in the lobby of our offices." But he says it is suitable for theaters in foreign markets -- where people are far less concerned about sexual images -- and for hard-core horror fans.

"It's for the boys in the backpacks at these comic conventions, waiting in line for hours to get the posters signed," says Palen.

Palen insists his images are considerably different from the ones that appeared on billboards for "Captivity," whose graphic portrayal of the kidnapping and torture of a woman caused such a furor that they were quickly taken down earlier this year. (The movie, made by After Dark Films, is distributed by Lionsgate, but the company claims it never saw or approved the advertising materials.) Palen says those images were "vulgar" because of the way they were designed and photographed.

But what about his severed-head poster? Why isn't it vulgar too? "There's a way for Bijou to hold her head in her hand and do it elegantly instead of gratuitously," he says. "It's the flourish and technique brought to it that makes all the difference."

I'm guessing that many people have trouble buying that logic, even though I'd be the first to argue that a photo of sexy teens by Larry Clark has a very different aesthetic than one by, say, Bruce Weber.

One vocal critic is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon, who recently posted an impassioned essay about how women are treated in pop culture, comparing the trailer for "Captivity" to a gruesome CNN story on a young Iraqi woman who was stoned to death by a group of men who took time to film the killing (Read his take at whedonesque.com).

I don't blame Palen for doing his job. He's not making these movies, just promoting them. Art can often make us squeamish, whether it's high-minded social commentary or squishy horror porn.