Hot on the heels of Machete, Hobo With a Shotgun is the latest grimy, gritty Grindhouse film to hit DVD and Blu-ray. Initially introduced to Canadian audiences as one of the fake trailers sandwiched between Planet Terror and Death Proof, Hobo With a Shotgun follows a…uh…well, a hobo with a shotgun (Rutger Hauer) as he takes it upon himself to clean up the bloody streets of the aptly-named Hope Town. Now lets not make this out to be any more than it is an intentionally offensive and abject attempt to piggy-back on the success of a filmic experience that we never even got to indulge in properly over here.
Still, that doesnt stop Rutger Hauers claret-laden rampage from being damn good fun. The action kicks off a little badly as Hauers eponymous vagabond bears witness to a murder that every bit as daft and cartoonishly violent as a Troma flick. With the bad guys chewing through their lines and acting like tosspots, its pretty much a chore to endure until Rutger cracks and decided to polish this turd of a town. From then on, things get a whole lot better as robbers, kiddy-fiddling Santas, corrupt cops and a bunch of other degenerates meet the business end of the tramps boomstick. The result is a fun, tongue-in-cheek, superfluously gory descent into B-movie madness thats nothing short of a riot.
In terms of the Blu-ray, the picture is crisp, clear and detailed with only a little bit of noise. Unfortunately, this clean picture is at odds with the films tone as the unkempt aesthetic conventions that you tend to associate with exploitation films. Still, the HD image does allow for some nicely over-saturated colours and handles the films fast pacing with ease. As such, its not too much of a ball-ache.
In terms of sound, the hectic gunfire and yelling is like a blood-soaked aural duvet thatll engulf your lounge. Sadly though, the audio does tend to go swiftly from characters practically whispering to screaming at the top of their lungs. This means that you may end up reaching for the remote to change the volume a few times throughout. Still, its nice and clear at least so thats a plus.
As for the extras, theres your usual batch commentaries, making of featurette, deleted scenes, alternate ending etc. all of which are as entertaining as they should be. The extras worth noting however are the original fake trailer that spawned the film and the Blu-ray exclusive Shotgun Mode that allows you to branch off for behind-the-scenes content. Its hardly life-changing but it pads the disc out nicely and tops off a pretty decent title.
Overall Verdict: Despite a rocky start, Hobo With a Shotgun swiftly becomes an inventively gruesome, brilliantly witty slice of blood-soaked B-movie tat. Whod have thought Rutger Hauer going on a rampage would make for compelling viewing?
Special Features:
Audio Commentaries
The Making of Hobo With a Shotgun
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Ending
Interviews
Blogs
Trailers
Shotgun Mode
Reviewer: Jordan Brown