Hobo with a Shotgun

"Hobo Stops begging, demands change", A perfect line for this movie if only it could somehow project images of blood and gore into your minds.

I was lucky enough to see this opening night and surrounded by some pretty hardcore fans of the grindhouse genre. Was even lucky to have some of the main cast and "movie makers" there to give a friendly hello. If you have never seen; Planet Terror, Death Proof or Machete then chances are you are in for a treat. If you have seen any or all of those and loved them, then sit back and get excited (you probably already are). If you have seen one or all and thought it was stupid and disgusting then this movie is probably not for you. That all being said, rating this movie was kinda hard to do. So read along and see what I come up with.






Fun Warning: If you’re easily offended, annoyed by mindless destruction and a sissy when using violence as entertainment, you should avoid Hobo with a Shotgun.


Basic Plot:

Hobo With A Shotgun has no real plot except a hobo (Rutger Hauer) eventually gets a shotgun and uses it to kill all the "misguided fuck-ups" in a little place nicknamed Fuck Town (Halifax/Dartmouth, Nova Scotia). Along the way he meets up with a hooker named Abby (Molly Dunsworth) which gives him some kind of motivation to take on the rapists, murders, and pedophiles of this city. Fuck Town is run by a man named Drake (Brian Downey) and his two sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman) who terrorize the city so they can run it for them selves. Corrupt cops, wacky film makers and 2 "super villain-hitmen" are all in the way of this Hobo with a Shotgun cleaning up the streets.


Thumbs Up:

• Filmed right here in the Dead Siskels hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada!
• Spot on with the pop-culture grindhouse style movies that have come out over the last years.
• Amazing acting from Rutger Hauer. I felt as though he lived as a hobo for a while just to get it down. His movements, speech, actions and just his overall appearance were just perfect.
• The script for such a basic story was just amazing. 
• Humor was found in even the most bloody of scenes.
• A few scenes were so "in your face" that even the most enthusiastic fan in the room stopped cheering.
• Cinematography was fantastic with many different camera angles, film effects and lighting.
• You can do more then skate with hockey skates!

Thumbs Down:

• At just 1 hour 26 minuets it's a tad shorter then the last few movies of its style.
• Would have liked to see more of Robb Wells.

This is where this movies becomes kinda hard to rate. In my opinion I am going to give it a rating based on what I like about it and of the movie styles I like. However if you're not a big fan of these types of movies then the "Thumbs Down" section here is going to be a lot more full for you. I could come up with all kinds of things that were not "perfect" about this movie but for the style it is, it can't be perfect. Grindhouse movies were low budget and that's part of what helped create such a cult following.



Since I do enjoy these types of movies I am giving this movie a hard 4 star rating. Now, you might be saying, "Hey! so your saying Hobo with a Shotgun is as good as Paul?" To that I have to say a big huge NO. But because they are completely different styles of movie. Hobo with a Shotgun was a great movie and was only just shy of a 5 star for me. If your a person who's not into this type of thing, but you go see it anyway you might say is was a 1 or 2 at best.

I hope after reading this you make the best decision about going to see this movie or not. It is made for fans of the genre and not for people who prefer sexy vampires and werewolves.

4 - Stars