Movie Info
Movie Name: Hobo with a Shotgun
Studio: Rhombus Media
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): January 21, 2011
MPAA Rating: R
I’m a hobo…with a shotgun…that’s pretty much it
A new hobo (Rutger Hauer) arrives in Hope Town and hopes to start a new life. His chances are ruined when he finds Hope Town completely corrupted by the Drake (Brian Downey) and his two kids Ivan (Nick Bateman) and Slick (Gregory Smith). When Ivan and Slick turn on the hobo and a prostitute named Abby (Molly Dunsworth), it’s time for the hobo to take action…with a shotgun loaded with justice!
Hobo with a Shotgun originated from Robert Rodriguez’s South by Southwest Grindhouse trailers contest (and in some areas of Canada, it was included in screenings of Grindhouse). From its nomination, it was made into a big screen picture much like Rodriguez’s Machete. The hobo was recast as Rutger Hauer and the clips from the trailer were expanded upon and made into a story. The original hobo from the award winning trailer (played by David Brunt) makes a cameo as one of the officers in the movie.
We’re ’80s chic…We rock!
Hobo with a Shotgun is a complete throwback to grindhouse movies. The acting is over-the-top along with the blood and gore. The movie says it is filmed in Techincolor and does have that super-saturated feel to it. The coloring gives the movies a ’70s feel, but the characters and costumes allude to more of a ’80s movie with punks and Miami Vice escapees. Those visuals combines with more modern editing techniques and makes Hobo with a Shotgun a complete question mark when it comes to its time and setting.
The violence is insane and gets progressively more crazy while adding elements of Mad Max through the Plague who look like they stepped out of Beyond the Thunderdome. The blood does flow and if you are looking for violence look to this movie for explosive gore (literally).
- Oh no! Gobots are after the Hobo with a Shotgun!
Overall, Hobo with a Shotgun is fun and though it is trying to be very much like the exploitation films of the 1970s, like Machete, never quite seems to make it. Unlike Machete, the producers of Hobo with a Shotgun realized that keeping it short and to the point was a much better idea and kept the movie under an hour and a half…That time felt just right.
