Hobo With A Shotgun

First things first, director Jason Eisener has to get his first nod for outstanding casting, i mean Rutger Hauer is the Hobo With A Shotgun, and while not the original hobo from the faux trailer the movie is based on, a more perfect itinerant vigilant cleaning up the streets 'one shell at a time' couldn't be found. This tale of one hobos journey to clean up the street of a town gone almost to hell is blood, violent and totally compelling to watch in all its visceral glory.

But i get ahead of myself, its important to know where this movie came from to understand why it has become so popular. It began with Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino decided to revive the a form of low budget genre cinema with the movie of the same name, Grindhouse. This consisted of a double feature in the style of the grindhouse movies. But most people are unaware of what grindhouse actually means, the term grindhouse is not a genre of movies as is commonly believed but comes from the cinemas in which they were shown. These cinemas were former burlesque theatres where striptease shows featuring 'bump & gring' dancing, hence, Grindhouses!!
But the name is now commonly associated with low budget, exploitation and genre movies that were produced en masse to be shown in these theatres round the clock!
Hobo With A Shotgun came about through a competition to create a trailer to accompany the 'grindhouse' movies of Tarintino & Rodriguez. The self funded trailer was a hit and and the full movie was funded and here we are.

The story begins with our afore mentioned 'Hobo', Rutger Hauer arriving in town via freight train and soon discovering the reason the towns sign has been defaced from 'Hopetown' to 'Scumtown'! Its not long before he witnesses the full extent of this lawless town, seeing a homeless man being beaten and filmed, 'bumfights' style. He also witnesses a Santa Clause dressed paedophile making his getaway with a child, child prostitution and eventually witnesses street justice preformed, and the key word being performed, by the ultimate villain of movie, The Drake, performed to perfection by Brian Downey.
The hobo saves and tries to help Abby, a local prostitute, escape from the town and life. All the hobo wants to do is get enough money to buy a lawnmower for his lawn mowing business, he even has a slogan 'You mow it, I cut it!!'.
But its not long before he gets dragged into being a vigilante killer and acquires his shotgun. he then goes about cleaning up the street one shell at a time!
The villains throughout are over the top, violent and utterly entertaining. The Drakes sons, Slick and Ivan, are almost stereotypical 80's kids, with their sports jackets and large shades, and take great pleasure in dishing out kickings with ice-hockey skates.

Drake: "Summon the Plague"

And then there is the Plague, and any description that i can produce here Will do no justice to how awesome these armoured, bike riding bounty hunters are. And if the Plague doesnt get their own spin-off movie there is no justice in the world!

While packed with uber violence, from head smashed with bumper cars to a school bus of kids being torched there are a few underlying commentaries that the director seems to be making, mostly about the film making. The bum fights filmmaker seems to represent the low budget indie filmmaker while the Drake is the big studio exec who will stop at nothing to entertain, specifically using sex and violence to do so. This may be the directors way at commenting on the state of movie making at the moment.

But whether you choose to look at the movie like this or just jump on and enjoy the ride, it is enjoyable none the less!
Rutger Hauers performance as the hobo is spot on and his speech to the babies is one of the many highlights in the movie.
This movie has succeeded where others have failed by making a low budget genre piece that has mass appeal and is thoroughly entertaining. Cannot recommend this enough!!!

9/10