Review of Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) by Sheri M — 28 May 2012

A trashy, gritty, exploitative piece of seminal garbage, Hobo with a Shotgun is entertaining in a small scope. Originally a fake trailer for the "Grindhouse" experimentation of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, it is just as filthy and wrong as its counterpart Machete, except much less entertaining.

I tried to let go of my inner voice that screamed, "Stop watching this!" because I do enjoy exploitation films when they're done right. Though there are some very prominent elements, and a tragic set of circumstances, the villain was too over the top, the hobo was too unbelievably nonplussed by the antics of this hoard of scoundrels, and it was obviously all about bad effects showing blood spurts and shotgun blasts into people's sternums.

It dragged for quite a while, but when he finally gets a hold of the shotgun and starts tormenting the bad seed element in this fictitious wasteland it becomes much more about the effects and less about fleshing out the villainous overlord and his sons.

When that view was shifted it was much less about the shoddy dialogue and more about the flowing of fake blood, body parts disappearing, and hobos going on rampages for no good reason. There aren't any competent effects, the quality of the film is below par even with seventies flicks, and the villain is more unsettling than scary or even ferocious.

Actually, the most earnest thing to be said about Hobo is that it is unsettling. From the infuriatingly grotesque scenes of bloodshed and human sacrifice to sexual violence, and general warfare among the streets, there is very little solace to be had in any of this.

Even the good guys are impractically bad, and there seems to be no outside authority or chance for hope. Even the ending is obtuse and plainly stupid, short and bloody as everyone expects. Rutger Hauer is the main redeeming thing about this, and the fact that he did it thanks to his involvement in the fake trailer, was strange.

His performance was interesting if not flawed, and the rest of the cast wasn't memorable but at least passive to Hauer's antics. Truly worthy of the grindhouse moniker.