It was definitely not a good film. It just didn't deserve a sequel. I don't know if I should blame the director or YOU (america) though.

Why blame the director:

- One of the major reasons the first film was good is because Hollywood-based "torture porn" isn't very prolific, if at all existing (8mm was not torture porn, Se7en had a plot that involved murder and torture, and anything else I haven't watched or cared about.
- Another reason was, as you put it, the formula. The first film was basically a huge hommage to Japanese horror / gore movies. Miike plays a cameo as a customer, the suicide circle-esque suicide of the girl with a blowtorch-cauterized face, etc etc. The second movie was nothing like that. Sure they had some visceral scenes and some hommages (Elizabeth Báthory), but to me, they couldn't do much, which leads me to the next section.

Why blame you, the american viewing public.

Oh yes I went there. The only reason a film about three women going to Slovakia could be truly murdered and etc would be....well that's impossible. Whether it is our feminist-centric world or a 'universal' reverence for females, I don't really find many instances where women are brutalised on-camera, with no negative consequences for the action.

The one person who was shown to die on screen was killed by a woman. The other gets cannibalised but that isn't shown, just strongly implied. The last person doesn't even have anything happen to her (Oli had some of his digits chopped off by mistake), and the 'haha I have more money than this entire country' deux ex machina? C'mon.

Actually now that I think about it, the movie itself sucked. Followed the same plot with none of the wit.