REVIEW: Hobo With A Shotgun

A true story of a director's dream film Hobo With A Shotgun started off as a faux trailer for a Grindhouse contest which ended up seeing Jason Eisener's trailer attached to the Canadian prints of Grindhouse (Death Proof & Planet Terror). Later the director found himself with the money and cast to make a full length film. Starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner) the exploitation film focuses on a Hobo who arrives in a town run by psychotic crime family which is littered by all the filth and grime you can imagine. He ends up getting his hands on a shotgun and delivers his own brand of justice "one shell at a time".

I think if you go into a film like this thinking it's going to amazing your going to be disappointed. On the other hand if you're a fan of exploitation films and genre homages you'll have fun with it. My biggest issue is that there were too many Canadian references in this film to reach a broader audience. The film proudly filmed in Nova Scotia is purely made for the Trailer Park Boys crowd not really made for American audiences. Two things the film had going for it was it's amazing score along with the inventive death and violence scenes that at times out shine Robert Rodriguez. Yet the first twenty minutes are sort of terrible and don't give you the impression the action will ramp up which it does. It's an uneven gore fest but it was still fun for a new director's first film. I hope that Hollywood comes calling because Jason could have an interesting career in studio horror and action films if given the chance. If I had to compare it to a recent film it would be Machete, a movie with problems but forgotten with entertaining action sequences.

C