Hobo With A Shotgun

Directed by Jason Eisner

Starring Rutger Hauer, Brian Downey, Molly Dunsworth, Gregory Smith, Nick Bateman, Robb Wells

Back in 2007 sitting in a multiplex theater  which are now popping up in  towns with  any sort of significant population. I sat in a clean seat, in a row with a non- sticky floor eating a frozen yogurt, as Dolby  surround sound fills the auditorium. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's ode to 1970's exploitation films, Grindhouse was lighting up the screen, their experiment to take the audience back to a time when a city's theater would show anything. Blaxploitation, rape- revenge, martial arts, and horror films would play as prostitutes, winos and druggies did their thing. I found this to be ironic as I picked up my mega size drink with a free refill from the cup friendly chair, but still found the movie entertaining. A highlight for me was the fake  trailers between  the two features, Edgar Wright's " Don't", who is best known for directing " Shaun of the Dead" and " Hot Fuzz". Cabin Fever and Hostel's Eli Roth did the faux trailer "Thanksgiving". Machete has since been made into a feature film by Rodriguez, while Rob Zombie's " Werewolf Women of the SS" is in talks of being made into a feature. Another fake trailer shown was Hobo with a Shotgun, it also looked cool, but unknown to me at the time this was the winning entry of a contest that was held for aspiring film makers to do their own fake trailers. Lo and behold a young Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia winds up winning , Jason Eisner.

The minute our Hobo friend ( Hauer ) rides into Hopeville, rechristened Scumville by the uncivilized , law breaking citizens this picture screams out Eisner's love for exploitation films. With his choice of the opening credits, the music, and the use of Tenichcolour which was so vibrant I felt like I needed to wear my sunglasses. Spaghetti Westerns, rape - revenge, vigilante and an educational lesson on bears, it's all here. The pacing is fairly quick and wastes no time getting to the first sequence of carnage, which there are many. Gore hounds will be satisfied by the display of  the wet stuff. Drake ( Downey) the  big  boss mobster along with his two sons Slick and Ivan own and run Hopeville. When we are first introduced to the family with a bad case of assholism running through their genes, they are preparing to kill their uncle Logan ,Drake's brother ( Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys ) in what appears to me to be an updated version from the exploitation film " Thriller, They call her One eye". If you haven't seen this Swedish delight, you must check it out. There is an unrated version with explicit sex scenes, but does not propel the plot.

Anyway back to Hobo, it doesn't take long for our hero to discover what kind of Hell hole the rails has brought him to . After averting the potential rape from one of  Drake's sons with sweet mannered prostitute Abby ( Dunsworth ) she and Hobo become friends and  enter a businesss relationship  together. After all he just wants to buy a lawn mower from the local pawn shop and cut some grass. But this dream will crash and burn when thugs decide to hold up the pawn shop on the day Hobo had planned to make his life changing purchase. Eyeing a shotgun on the shelf, he picks up the weapon and begins to deliver justice one shell at a time.

Hobo with a shotgun is a mean spirited movie with it's long list of despicable characters like the low life  scum sucker that enjoys video taping bums fighting in the streets and other acts of degradation, such as paying hobos money to eat shards of broken glass. Scumville has it all I tell ya, naked women beating on a victim strung up by his feet dangling from the ceiling like a pinata, a pedophile Santa and one of the more unpleasant scenes a bus full of  school kids are barbecued alive. Even the police are corrupted, there is no hope in Hopeville. Mean spirited, yes but having said that this is helluva lot of fun. How serious can one take a movie where a head is yanked off from it's body and a bikini clad bimbo gets off showering in the bloody geyser erupting from the neck. Most of the characters are cliches and come across like live action cartoons but this unspools admirably as Rutger Hauer plays the Hobo straight, serious and with total conviction.

Drake becomes more concerned with each daily headline detailing the vigilante hobo's war against crime, until ultimately the Plague is called in for extreme termination. The Plague are a couple of medieval armour wearing, motor cycle riding Angels of death who would'nt look out of place jousting in George Romero's rarely seen gem " Knightriders".

With Abby held hostage, a bloody confrontation explodes between Hobo and just about everyone else who is still alive when our rail riding friend declares enough is enough.

My Final Thought: I'm curious to see what project the young Eisner will tackle next. Hopefully he won't get caught up with the big studios wanting to waste his talents on some sort of a remake, but that does seem to be the norm these days. Whatever he decides,I'm anxiously waiting for the announcement.

My Rating: Four Go Go Girls out of Five.