A logical successor to GRINDHOUSE, and in my view exactly what we all
need right now: an unapologetically excessive seventies-inspired
splatter-fest bursting with wit and invention that’s never boring!
The Package
When the two-part GRINDHOUSE was released in 2007, its
creators Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez spoke of their desire to
produce more similarly themed features. The film’s
box office failure
put an immediate stop to that dream, yet some filmmakers have taken
their own initiative and followed Tarantino and Rodriguez’s lead--see
Rodriguez’s 2010 MACHETE and this 2011 Canadian production.
Like MACHETE, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN began as a fake
trailer, made by Canadian director Jason Eisener as part of a contest to
help promote the release of GRINDHOUSE. His film won the contest, and
was even edited into GRINDHOUSE in parts of Canada. The feature version
of that short, with Rutger Hauer in the title role (replacing the
trailer’s headliner David Brunt, who plays the role of “Dirty Cop” in
the feature), is very close in style and tone to the PLANET TERROR
episode of GRINDHOUSE--only several times more over the top!
The Story
A virtuous middle aged hobo lives in a grungy hellhole
of a town (actually Nova Scotia, Canada) ruled by the ruthless gangster
Drake and his asshole sons Slick and Ivan. The hobo is looking to earn
enough money to purchase a lawn mower so he can start a lawn mowing
business, but he finds himself distracted by the behavior of the
slum-dwellers surrounding him--which includes enclosing a guy’s head in
a steel manhole and chopping it off. When the hobo spots Slick
manhandling a prostitute he can take it no more and beats the bastard
up. This gets the hobo in trouble with local cops on Drake’s payroll,
who lynch the hobo severely.
After recuperating in the apartment of the prostitute,
a comely young woman named Abby, the hobo hits the streets. He makes
some quick money by eating broken glass for the edification of a local
bum fights filmmaker, and heads for a pawnshop to buy his prized
lawnmower. But the place immediately is held up by three scumbags, and
the hobo responds by grabbing a shotgun and shooting them all.
From there the hobo embarks on a vigilante rampage with
his new shotgun, massacring the bum fights moviemaker, a local pedophile
and a pimp. Drake is none too happy about the hobo’s antics, and
dispatches Slick and Ivan to even things up by incinerating a school bus
full of children--and then killing a newscaster reporting the
massacre(!) and using the broadcast to announce that more children will
be killed unless people go out and murder every homeless person they
find.
The townspeople follow suit, killing bums right and
left. Amid all the madness Slick and Ivan invade Abby’s apartment and
nearly kill her, but the hobo is there as well, and blows Slick’s dick
off. Drake responds to this latest outrage by dispatching two
armor-wearing shitheads to the hospital where Abby is recuperating, and
there the armor guys kidnap the hobo. Abby realizes she’ll have to act
quickly--and violently--if she wants to save her new friend…
The Direction
Everything in this film, from the hysterical acting to
the eye-burning photography to the cacophonous score (which is so
insistent, even in quiet scenes, that it frequently drowns out the
dialogue), has been pumped up to the point of excess--and beyond. That
includes the bloodletting, which is as excessive as that of any movie
I’ve seen, but is never too troubling, seeing as how it’s all done with
a lot of campy humor. Such an approach would doubtless be irritating (as
in most Troma movies) were it not for the considerable wit and invention
of director Jason Eisener, who always seems to top himself at every turn
and keeps the energy level high from start to grim finish.
In the title role the 67-year-old Rutger Hauer is as
commending a screen presence as ever, and also a lot of fun, slyly
recalling his most famous performances--BLADE RUNNER’S Roy Batty, THE
HITCHER’S John Ryder--at various points in the film.
Vital Statistics
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN
Magnet Releasing/Alliance Films
Director: Jason Eisener
Producer: Rob Cotterill, Niv Fichman, Frank Siracusa
Screenplay: John Davies
Cinematography: Karim Hussain
Editing: Jason Eisener
Cast: Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey, Nick
Bateman, Robb Wells, Peter Simas, Jeremy Akerman, Glen Matthews, Drew
O’Hara, David Brunt
