Hobo with a Shotgun

[ScS of the Fraternity]

A couple years back, those of us lucky to see the double feature Grindhouse in Canada were treated to the award winning fake trailer Hobo with a Shotgun. Written and directed by John Davies, the fake trailer depicted an over-the top violent film featuring all manner of pimps, whores, a degenerate Santa, and the name-sake, a hobo with a shot gun. Just like the fake trailer, Machete, enough attention was gathered to produce a feature film, which was released this weekend.
I've seen it. I can't unsee it. Oh, dear god.
Rutger Hauer plays the titular Hobo. As the trailer says, he’s traded in his nickels and dimes for a new way of life. He wages a one hobo war on a crime ridden city, dispensing justice one shell at a time.
This is a true horror film. In short, this film will horrify you. Every scene is splattered with mindless acts of violent randomness. No one is spared from the gut churning scenes of murder and mutilation. Word of special warning: in two mercifully short scenes, children do get killed.
Worst of all, the insidious director makes you enjoy it.
It is the exact opposite of the detestable Saw and Hostel franchises, which play their torture straight. Here me out: The characters are so unbelievably insane, the dialogue so stupid, the violence so endemic and the deaths so over-the-top, that this film is FUN. While the hero of the film is played straight, the manic villains revel in evil for its own sake. You will despise these soulless monsters, but their sense of fun is infectious. From sadistic drug dealers to cybernetic Nazis, they are all so enjoyable. Perhaps because we know that they themselves are doomed? It is the very essence of guilty pleasure.
Some films are so bad that they're good. This film achieves that with deliberate care. Colors in the film are mostly washed out, except for the vivid blood red. The sound is absolutely brutal and adds infinitely to the experience. Of everyone in the film, it is the dialogue that is specially singled out for the worst tortures. Example:
Abby: “Not every problem in the world can be solved with a shotgun”.
Hobo: “It’s all I know.”
Just as the villains revel in violence, the director and the actors celebrate the stupidity of the film.
The sole critique I have is that the film doesn’t quite capture the fun of the fake trailer version. Hauer is just a little too straight, and the plot a little to coherent. The trailer was filled with familiar stereotypical symbols like 70’s pimps and fat moustachioed police chiefs, which just don’t appear in this film. Several times, characters deliver the best lines from the fake trailer, but to far less effect.
Some people may think that they can wait for Hobo to be released on DVD. You are wrong. This is a visceral gore fest made all the more powerful by the painful graphics and the tortured soundtrack. You just won’t get the same experience without your fellow audience members angrily cursing and leaving the theatre in disgust.
Hobo with a Shotgun is two barrels loaded with insanity. If you have a weak stomach and can’t bare graphic scenes of violence, do not see this movie. But it you think you can handle it, I have a challenge for you:
I’m giving all my broads to the man who brings me the head of that hobo!

[alhoon]

So, is it a good satire or a so-failed-horror-movie-that's-funny?

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Satire. Everything it does, is deliberate.