HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a loving homage
and parody to the Grindhouse films and B movies of the 1970s and 1980s. The
movie is complete with a music score that wouldn't feel out of place in a John Carpenter film, actor Rutger Hauer (who had
many leading roles in the 1980s and early 1990s), and the awesome bad guys known as the Plague. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN begins when a hobo pulls into town on a train.
he dreams of starting a new life and having his own lawn mowing business.
Instead he finds a city which ruled by Drake, a crime boss, and his sadistic
murderous sons, Slick and Ivan. Soon the hobo finds the only way to realize
his dreams is to deliver justice with a shotgun- one shell at a time- and rid the streets of crime.
Rutger Hauer shines in his first big leading
role in years (even though David Brunt would have been as a great as the Hobo too- Brunt was the Hobo in the original Grindhouse
trailer). HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is over exaggerated and features things
which make no sense. The parody never comes off as stupid. It shows a side of the 1980s as seen in horror and action films of the 1980s. The Plague are first heard of in a video game and then you see what they can do later in the
film (I like how they are trying to kill something with tentacles in their lair and I wonder if it's Cthulhu) The Plague are faceless evil knights who unleash a massacre in a hospital. The
film never pulls back from the violence that the bad guys unleash (one of the Drake's sons even torches a school bus). Also this film has the requisite hooker with a heart of gold who takes the Hobo
in and believes in his dream of a better future.
I don't know how they would pull off a sequel, but I would love to see
a sequel to HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN as long as it is as over-the-top as this film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Disc 1-
SHOTGUN MODE is a Behind The Scenes interactive
mode which viewers can view separate as a series of 45 behind-the-scenes featurettes or with the movie. In Shotgun Mode, they can click on the bull's eye during the movie and be sent to one of the featurettes. Soem of the best featurettes are either with Rutger Hauer (the star of the film)
and David Brunt (the star of the original contest trailer for HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN).
Two audio commentaries were recorded for
the film:
the first is with Director Jason Eisener
and actor Rutger Hauer while the second is with Eisener, writer John Davies, producer Rob Cotterill, and David Brunt (Grindhouse
Trailer "Hobo").
Disc 2-
MORE BLOOD, MORE HEART: THE MAKING OF HOBO
WITH A SHOTGUN- a very interesting 45 minute making-of documentary as chronicles the film from being made as a trailer for
contest which it won to the feature film's production.
Various video blogs show a behind-the-scenes
look at the making of the film including the sons of the Drake hurting the film's producer twice.
The alternate ending is very horror movie-ish
while the two deleted scenes add nothing to the overall film. The camera
test reel is a test of the shots at the locations used in the movie. HDNet: A
LOOK AT HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a short interview with Jason Eisener and Rutger Hauer while the Fangoria Interviews go more
in-depth with Hauer and Eisener. Also included on the disc are the original
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN trailer, the contest winner for the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN trailer contest which is for a movie that hasn't
been made called VAN GOR, the Redband theatrical trailer for the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN film, and Canadian TV shots. The digital copy of the movie can be downloaded from iTunes once you redeem the code that comes
with the two disc collector's edition (the code will expire on 7-5-2013).
FINAL ANALYSIS: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a fitting homage and parody of the Grindhouse films. Rutger Hauer shines in his first lead role in years, but one sees glimpses the trailer Hobo (David Brunt)
would have been equally as great as the Hobo. The amount of extras
show lots of love and detail went into making HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.
this DVD review is (c)7-5-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
