HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN comes out way too late for me to fully appreciate it. I should have seen this one in my younger days, renting Troma movies from the local Circle K because they didn't have any new releases. I'd pick up something like FAT GUY GOES NUTZOID or SURF NAZIS MUST DIE based solely on the cover, go home, crack open a bag of chips, and let the cheese and exploitation waft over me. But had I seen this film at thirteen, I guarantee you it would have changed my life. And I know all about age restrictions and film ratings and what have you, but I'm telling you, any young teens out there with any kind of love for film need to hit up their cool older cousin and get into a theater showing this movie.
Everyone knows the story of how this movie came to be by now. What's great about the original trailer that Jason Eisener made was that if you've seen it, it really is a trailer for this film. Just juxtapose Rutger Hauer for the original Hobo, David Brunt (who makes a cameo in the new film). Most films don't have nearly the focus that Eisener gave HOBO. This movie knows exactly what it is, and if you've seen the poster or the trailer and see HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN based on those things you really don't have any right to be offended by what passes in front of your eyes in this movie. Nothing subtle about it; you can't say you weren't warned.
The plot's simple enough - a hobo makes his way into a crime-riddled city, gets a shotgun, and takes matters into his own hands. For Rutger Hauer, this performance marks a return to the annals of geek greatness. He plays the material totally straight, and as the film gets more ridiculous around him he quickly becomes the anchor for the audience as we tour through the mayhem. His Hobo has little ambition - all he wants is a lawnmower in hopes of getting a landscaping job, maybe a little money - but as the crime and filth of the streets piles up around him he has little choice but to fight fire with a lot more fire. The Hobo befriends Abby (Molly Dunsworth), the Whore With A Heart Of Gold, as she is pursued by the local crime lord Drake (Brian Downey) who treats everything and everyone like they are participants in the world's sickest game show. His sons help perpetuate the constant carnage in Fuck Town (yeah, that seems to be the name of the town, like I told you, this ain't subtle). Who can stop this mayhem? The only man brave enough - THE HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.
Carnage happens, people explode, there's gratuitous nudity (really, is there any other kind?), and lots of people die in particularly nasty ways. Sure, the film is shrill at times, but it's supposed to be. The violence is in your face pretty much the entire time, but all the movie asks of the audience is to enjoy the ride, and if you're sitting down to a movie called HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN with full knowledge of the title you're probably already knowing what's going to be in store. The gore is plentiful and the nudity gratuitous, just as it should be. Gore used like this has never bothered me; when it's used subtly like in BLACK SWAN it gets under my skin, but the gore is so over the top here you just have to laugh and marvel at how much the raw meat and corn syrup budget was for this movie. Plus, there are situations that in other films would cause most audience members (at least those with a conscience) to storm out in disgust, but here you know it's all in good fun, whether it's seeing someone's head pop off like a wine bottle cork or it's seeing a bus load of children go under a flamethrower, waving happily at Mom and Dad as they burn.
With the right crowd, the right frame of mind, and a disposition for fun, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN has the potential to rock your world. I don't normally make predictions like this, but if HOBO's not playing to large crowds at midnight screenings within the next five years, a la ROCKY HORROR, there's something seriously wrong with today's youth. And I'm completely serious when I say that this film could really be a gateway for some splatter movie lover out there to decide that they should try their hand in making movies. Hell, Peter Jackson did it. Even Francis Ford Coppola did it. It's bricks like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN that get laid at the foundations of giant careers; I wouldn't dismiss this movie just because of the subject matter or genre. When a filmmaker hits their target as much as Eisener does with HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, he's one to watch, regardless of the kind of film it is. BAD TASTE led to THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Who knows where HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN could lead?
