On certain days, part of me loves reprehensible garbage like this. How do you measure something like Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) against the rest of the field? One shell ejecting scene at a time, that’s how! You’ll grin stupidly at the mindless, gory excess and cartoonish colouring of director Jason Eisner’s in your face, giddily one dimensional B-grade exploitation flick.
Rutger Hauer is clearly having a ball as the hobo who’s ridden into a hellish little suburban cesspool in which crime is rampant and the corrupt cops are a huge part of the problem. All this hobo wants in the world is a lawnmower and a patch of grass to call his own but the mayhem he sees around him in this urban jungle finally tips him over the edge. So he joins the call to arms and begins dishing out justice, vigilante style with the aid of a young prostitute (Molly Dunsworth).
Aurally awash is ominous throbbing synths and so bad it’s hilarious interactions between a range of moronic characters, the film obviously has a truckload of cult appeal but little more to recommend it other than an appealing kind of low grade, flashy style. That said, the Festival context really enhanced the appeal of this for me and I couldn’t help enjoying the blood soaked ride. I’ll be curious to see if I feel quite so generous after a second viewing but as I say there are days when the intake of a slice of reprehensible garbage is strangely sating.
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