tek's rating: ¾

Hobo with a Shotgun (not rated)
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This is based on a fake trailer from Grindhouse. I didn't see the trailer, but I was aware that it was later made into a real movie (this one). And... after I watched this on DVD, I searched YouTube for the trailer, and found something, and I assume what I watched there was the actual fake trailer that inspired this film. Anyway, most of the (incredibly brief) beats from the trailer were incorporated into the actual film.

So, there's this homeless guy (played by Rutger Hauer in the real movie, but not in the original trailer). He comes to a town where a criminal called "The Drake" pretty much does whatever he wants. (He's really a comic book style villain, who considers himself an entertainer.) The hobo witnesses all kinds of terrible things, most notably a murder committed by the Drake and his sons, Slick and Ivan. But the hobo, like everyone else, seems to mind his own business, rather than getting involved. However, things eventually get to be too much for him to bear, and one night he assaults Slick to save a prostitute named Abby from him. He takes Slick to the police, but they turn out to be on the Drake's side. (Eventually we'll see one cop who isn't corrupt, but he never does anything to stop all the other corrupt cops.) Anyway, Slick carves "SCUM" into the hobo's chest, and throws him in the garbage.

The hobo finds his way to Abby, who gives him a place to rest for the night. Later, he goes to a pawn shop, where he'd been hoping to buy a lawnmower. But before he can, some robbers come in, and he stops them with a shotgun (which he then buys instead of the lawnmower). After that, he goes on a killing spree of all the horrible people in town, and becomes a media darling, sort of. (I have no idea how he has a seemingly unlimited supply of ammo.) Of course, the Drake and Slick (his favorite son) want to get back at him, so... the whole thing escalates. And Abby gets mixed up in it all. And um, Slick gets the ordinary citizens to start hunting homeless people. But eventually something happens that causes the Drake to send in a pair of major badasses called "The Plague" to go after the hobo. And... I guess I don't want to say any more about the plot.

I gotta say, there is a lot of very graphic violence. This movie is not for the squeamish. It is fucking gruesome. It's also fairly funny, and I'd say there's a certain wish fulfillment aspect to it (which kind of reminded me of God Bless America). And I absolutely need to say that the song "Run with Us" plays over the end credits, which I found hilarious. (It was the closing credits song from the Canadian animated series The Raccoons. So its use here basically shattered a little bit of my childhood innocence, in a good way.)


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