Some films are created as an homage to a superior director/idol (think Super 8), using the lauded director's style to create an entertaining new film. Other films are original concepts which can be applauded for their ingenuity, as they apply new tropes or re-engineer old ones to add freshness to otherwise banal ideas. And then there's Hobo With A Shotgun. Director Jason Eisener took a short which he developed as an intermission piece for the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse, and expanded it to a full hour-and-a-half of pure crap. And I really mean CRAP. The homages to Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma fame are obvious: ridiculously hammed-up villains(the actors who portray The Drake and his sons are waaaaay over the top), a blindly noble hero(sadly, Rutger Hauer in a laudable performance, given the material), and tons of ridiculous excessive gore. Eisener attempts to portray a once-proud town gone haywire, full of idiots and criminals, living in an anarchaic harmony until the Hobo throws the balance of all things scummy asunder. What the director creates, however, is utter garbage. You know those ideas that begin with "You know what would be freakin' awesome?!?" while smothered in a blanket of stank weed smog with your pothead friends? That idea became Hobo With A Shotgun... Besides a complete lack of direction(both from Eisener and conceptually), this film lacks the charm of the 80s films which came from Troma, like the Toxic Avenger and Surf Nazis Must Die; films which, bad as they were, had a ribald and outlandish tone. This tone allowed the viewer to not only remember they were watching a bad film, but feel content to sit back and just laugh at it. The joke here is inevitably on Eisener, as he pays homage to filmmakers who he never truly understood or could replicate. Sadly, Eisener is working on another project, due to release next year. I'll warn you in advance when I know more.
