Hobo With a Shotgun Gets Spare Change Quicker

Hobo With a Shotgun

If the classic television show, The Littlest Hobo, and Jason Eisener’s debut feature, Hobo With a Shotgun, are any indication, Canada is filled with helpful Hobos. Granted, Eisener’s film takes place in the fictional Scumtown, yet the look and feel of the film is distinctly Canadian circa 1970s.

Based on the fake trailer of the same name that appeared prior to the Canadian screening of the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse double feature, Hobo with a Shotgun tells the story of a Hobo (Rutger Hauer) who happens upon a town where corruption is running rampant. Ruled by the ruthless Drake(Brian Downey), who revels in the theatre of violence that he creates, and his two sons, Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman), Scumtown is a place where drug dealers, pedophiles, and petty thieves rule the streets. Similar to the decent folks in Scumtown, Hobo tries to ignore the deteriorating town to focus on his goal of saving up enough money to buy a lawnmower. Unfortunately, Hobo can only keep out of trouble for so long. With a shotgun in his hand and a local prostitute, Abby (Molly Dunsworth), as his only ally, Hobo tries to clean up Scumtown one bullet at a time.

Hobo With a Shotgun is a film that wears its love for the grindhouse genre on its sleeve. In many ways the film feels like a more authentic exploitation film than Machete. One of the flaws with Machete was that the last half of the film felt more Hollywood spoof than it did a true grindhouse film. Hobo with a Shotgun, on the other hand, remains consistent throughout. Eisener revels in the over-the-top violence just as much as his villains do. He not only sets the tone early by featuring a decapitation in the first ten minutes of the film, but also emphasizes the point by having a bikini clad woman rubbing the spouting blood over her body. Despite the excessive violence, Eisener ensure that it is all relevant to the film. The villains are so evil that, in a slightly twisted way, the audience fields gratified when Hobo starts delivering his own unrelenting brand of justice.

Eisener’s film not only embraces the gory violence of the genre, but the absurd humour as well. From the idea of a Hobo dreaming of starting his own lawnmower business, despite not having a home to store it or a car to transport it, to humans being used as piñatas, there are many wonderfully absurd gags in the film. One of the best gags involves the demonic bounty hunters, known as The Plague, who happen to have a giant octopus in their lair. The funny thing is that the other characters act as if this is just a regular day at The Plague household.

The acting in the film ranges from decent to intentionally bad, which is to be expected from this type of film. Rutger Hauer does a good job of conveying that Hobo is a man who may not be quite right in the head but has good heart nonetheless. He also really elevates the other cast members who share screen time with him. If you do not enjoy the grindhouse genre, than you probably will not find Hobo With a Shotgun entertaining at all. If you happen to be a fan of the genre, and can handle the over-the-top violence, than Hobo With a Shotgun is worth checking out. It is a good modern day example of what makes exploitation films so much fun.

Piranha Meal Deal A Bit Fishy

Piranha

Why do major studios spend big money to make B-movies? Attempting to recapture that “it’s so bad that it’s good” appeal which certain B-movies have is rarely achieved by today’s standards. Sure there have been exceptions, most notably Black Dynamite and, to a lesser extent, Machete. Yet more often than not the films end up being plain silly. This is evident when you watch films such as Drag Me to Hell, My Bloody Valentine 3D and the recent release of Piranha.

After living for millions of years in a tomb underwater, thousands of fearsome prehistoric piranhas are released after an tremor occurs. Fortunately for the piranhas there is plenty of food available as the tremor just happens to coincide with the annual Lake Victoria Spring Break week. Soon sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and a marine biologist, Novak (Adam Scott) find themselves trying to not only stop the piranha invasion, but attempting to save Julie’s son, Jack (Steven R. McQueen), and the object of his affection, Kelly (Jessica Szohr), in the process.

It is hard to truly classify Piranha as a horror film as it aims to be more of a reimaging of the original Piranha film series. The problem is that the film does not know when to quit. It is like a joke that is no longer funny, yet the comedian is still trying to get as much mileage out of it as possible. For example, a good portion of Piranha is dedicated to spoofing the whole Girls Gone Wild franchise. Besides being several years late in regards to the subject, there is a point where the film becomes the very thing it is spoofing.

Every aspect of the film, with the exception of the plot, is done to great excess. Both the nudity and the violence are so gratuitous that the film ends up being a cheesy comedy instead of a horror movie. Similar to director Alexandre Aja’s previous films, The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, Piranha has numerous scenes where Aja goes to extremes to generate some form of reaction from the audience. He fills the screen with scenes of the piranhas eating male and female genitalia, severing various limbs, and even a scene where a piranha devours a woman from inside out. Yet unlike his earlier works, these scenes do nothing more than causes fits of laughter instead of screams of terror.

If anything, the most shocking thing about Piranha is the cast that the film manages to pull together. Besides Shue, the film features the likes of Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, Jerry O’Connell, Christopher Lloyd, and even Eli Roth. It is perplexing to imagine what drew them all to this particular film? As neither the plot nor the campy humor is really that appealing. Out of all of the actors, only O’Connell and Lloyd seem to hit the right over-the-top tone that the film aims for. Elisabeth Shue does the best she can with the material she is given, but the fact that someone with her talent even did this film is probably the scariest thing of all. 

Movie Marketing Monday

Machete

In honor of Jeff Fahey’s recent work on Lost, I thought that I would highlight another soon-to-be-cult classic he will be featured in. Machete has quickly become one of my most eagerly anticipated films of the year.




Megamind

Dreamworks answer to The Incredibles? Seems like it. Instead of The Fantastic Four, Megamind looks to add a comedic spin on the classic Superman tale. As long as it is better than Superman Returns I will be happy.