Post by StevePulaski on Apr 14, 2011 17:32:46 GMT -5
The hobo with a shotgun.
Rating: ★★★½
Hobo With a Shotgun is a vile, disgusting, exploitation masterpiece which only brings to light more violent entertainment for it's dedicated fans. If this film was marketed as a regular horror/action film it would not only be false advertising and misunderstood, but put in the wrong category all together. This is the second best thing to come out of the modern day Grindhouse vault since Death Proof. It's everything it should be.
Out of all the Grindhouse type films in the 2000's like Planet Terror, Death Proof, Machete, and Drive Angry 3D, Hobo With a Shotgun stands out because of it's title. It's to the point. Picture the title and you got the movie. The makers didn't call it something more complex like Citizen's Arrest, Vigilante Justice, or Heartless and Homeless. They called it Hobo With a Shotgun. It almost sounds some superhero an action junkie second grader would come up with; "here comes the hobo with a shotgun!"
This is another film that was born from the 2007 double feature Grindhouse. It was one of the few fake trailers that ran during the break between Planet Terror and Death Proof. This is the second fake trailer from the 2007 film that got made into a feature film, with the first being Machete. Both are great tributes to their respected genre, but Hobo delivers more fun. The rules that apply to regular films like acting and a well developed plot do not apply here. The more blood, gore, and violence the better. You deduct points if there isn't enough. Grindhouse films are allowed to break almost every film law. And then some.
The plot, if you haven't figured it out, is about a homeless man (Hauer) who stumbles upon a lawless town with perverted townspeople, scumbags galore, careless cops, and prostitution. After seeing the damage done when he nearly survives a pawn shop robbery, the hobo takes justice into his own hands and gets himself a shotgun. Now he's a hobo with a shotgun.
That's the jist. Why say more? I'm not going to ruin the suspense. You should see this whether you know the mere definition of a Grindhouse film. It's that good. Yes there are scenes like the school bus clip and others that threaten the very limits of decency and disorderly conduct but THAT'S the point. Grindhouse is made for that. If this was a mainstream release film with no forewarning of it being a homage to films from the seventies than one star it would receive for not giving consumers info on what they're seeing.
I knew going into this it would be very disgusting, disturbing, and somewhat graphic. Never did I even touch the remote to pause it. I was fully immersed.
The film is available for a short amount of time on the Zune Marketplace, iTunes, and On Demand. I assume the company who made this film, in this case Rhombus Media, wants to get this seen by various because it will not have a wide release. This is the same way I was fortunate enough to see World's Greatest Dad by using the Zune Marketplace on Xbox Live. It's a great thing. Especially when used to promote films like this.
Starring: Rutger Hauer, Brian Downey, and Gregory Smith. Directed by: Jason Eisener.