Hobo With A Shotgun
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (CINEMA)
Alliance Films
Release date: July 15th 2011
Certificate (UK): 18
Running time: 85 minutes
Director: Jason Eisener
Cast: Rutger Hauer, Gregory Smith, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey, Nick Bateman
Following Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s the box office flop Grindhouse (2007) that paid homage to exploitation films of 1970’s drive-in theatres, the market had an opening for a feature which could finally emphasise the excellence of this genre.
Jason Eiseners debut Hobo With A Shotgun blows all competition away…one shell at a time.
Based on the fake film trailer which Eisener produced and appeared in between the Grindhouse features, Hobo centres around a homeless drifter (Rutger Hauer) who starts a new life in a new city with the dream of owning a lawnmower.
He soon realises that his new residence is a hellish place where crime and murder is high under the power of The Drake (Brian Downey) and his two sons Ivan (Nick Bateman) and Slick (Gregory Smith). The town’s civilians are made up of criminals, rapists, killers, corrupt police and paedophile Santa’s. With the help of prostitute Abby (Molly Dunsworth) and his lawnmower fund, the hobo has no option but to cleanse the streets of scum with his new purchase; a shotgun.
During the screening at Fright Fest in Glasgow earlier this year, Eisener introduced the film (as well as dropping his trousers) telling the audience to let their inhibitions go.
And that’s exactly what they did. This was by far the film that generated most excitement amongst the audience. I must admit I too laughed uncontrollably at things I’d normally find sickening.
I could tell you one scene which shocked me and is the scene which stuck with me. It’s where Slick and Ivan burn a group of children with a flame thrower on a school bus. That was jaw dropping and yet quite funny.
In many ways Hobo With A Shotgun captures the very essence of an exploitation film. Whereas Tarantino and Rodriguez tried too hard to recreate the era, Eisener seems to have surpassed them with minimum effort. It’s extremely violent, the dialogue is cheesy and it will keep you entertained throughout.
Hobo is offensive, absurd, and politically incorrect yet I loved every second of it.
Nick Moorcroft, along with writing partner Piers Ashworth, has written almost a dozen screenplays together, included Burke And Hare directed by John Landis.
James Newton Howard’s score for Green Lantern is adrenalin driven, but misses what made his previous work on films like Dreamcatcher (2003) such a listenable experience.
The classic Ealing Studios comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob, sees shy and timid Henry Holland plotting to rob his bank’s delivery van carrying a fortune in gold bullion.
Directed by Tran Anh Hung, I Come With The Rain is a neo noir about a private investigator trying to find a mysterious client in a story of biblical proportions.
39 films originally banned as part of the Video Recordings Act are presented here in trailer format and discussed by film critics Kim Newman and Mark Kermode.
