Spawned from a fake trailer contest co sponsored by the SXSW festival and Robert Rodriguez, comes the latest grindhouse style feature to splatter itself all over the big screen, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Hobo with a Shotgun is about a Hobo (Rutger Hauer) who arrives by train to a corrupt and crime infested city ruled by a crime boss named Drake (Brian Downey) and his two utterly sadistic sons (Gregory Smith and Nick Bateman). He exists in the background of the city until one day he stands up to one of the sons by protecting his new prostitute friend(Molly Dunsworth), brings him into the police station for justice, and then gets tortured when he discovers the police with Drake. Eventually, he finds himself in a pawn shop about to purchase a lawn mower to make changes in his life when chaos unravels around him and he realizes that the only way things will ever change is with a shotgun “in his hand and two shells in its chamber.”
This film marks Jason Eisener’s feature film directorial debut, and it is a glorious one on all accounts. The guy simply has a knack for splatter films and it shows throughout the entire runtime. The script was as ridiculous as you can possibly imagine, I mean just check out the name. The kills, the dialogue, the color, and the acting was all spot on, at least in the way that it should be for a grindhouse film, aka you consistently yelling, “holy shit, did that just happen?” Eisner exploits the clichés of the genre like a pro and doesn’t fail to deliver some of the most F’d up kills I’ve seen in a while. I mean after the introduction, the first kill we see is some guy’s head getting pulled off his body by a truck while the rest of his body is in a sewer (see below). It’s Eisener’s creativity that makes this one of the best exploitation films you’ll ever see.
Staring as the Hobo is none other than Rutger Hauer, a man who isn’t new to the crazy world of splatter/genre films. The guy has also starred in films like Bladerunner, Batman begins, and Sin City and has also won a Golden Globe. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that you really couldn’t have a better guy playing an angry homeless man with a shotgun. His delivery is probably the best part about his role, everything he says is with a straight face even when it’s probably tough to do. He delivers a ton of great/sappy one liners that consistently garnered laughs.
Hobo takes a variety of twists and turns, consistently surprising you with quality moments you’d hope for in a film like this. For example, when a head gets ripped off a body, two hot girls run in and take a sadistic shower in the blood. Or how about this, a team of assassins called “The Plague” who are dressed in bulletproof, Road Warrior attire and only a prostitute with a weaponized lawnmower and a missing arm is the only one who can stop them.
As for the effects, all I can really say is quality job. This low budget Canadian flick had all the blood spray, flying body parts, and wicked explosions that you could need…and it looked like quality exploitation effects.
Overall, Hobo with a Shotgun is a well done gore fest that will leave you, at times, speechless and questioning your sanity, and at other times it will have you gasping for air because you’re laughing so hard. It’s better than Grindhouse, as crazy as Machete, and could easily pass as an instant 70s exploitation classic. This film is really only going to work for you if you are a fan of the genre, if not, you are absolutely going to hate it, and, I believe, that’s a fact.
Hobo with a Shotgun is being released on VOD April 1st and in theaters on May 6th thanks to Magnet Releasings
Rating: A wild and crazy low budget splatter film aptly described by its name (7/10)
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