I suspect most of you are already familiar with this one. If not, Hobo With A Shotgun is the next highly anticipated throwback exploitation film from the Grindhouse camp, based on a winning trailer for a competition hosted by Grindhouse creators, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, respectively.

I was somewhat, maybe inevitably, disappointed by Rodriguez's equally anticipated Machete and seeing as Hobo With A Shotgun isn't director by any current genre luminaries but rather newcomers Jason Eisener and John Davis (director and writer respectively), I decided to go in with low(er) expectations.

The film opens up with a title sequence featuring Blade Runner's Rutger Hauer as the titular character riding a boxcar. The titles are the classic yellow B-movie font popularized by Tarantino and co. and set to the theme of the legendary exploitation film/torture porn progenitor Mark of the Devil. About two minutes in, a familiar title that hasn't been seen in a mainstream film in years pops up: filmed in Technicolor.

Rutger Hauer. Mark of the Devil. Technicolor.

Two minutes in, someone has already granted a wish I never knew I had.

About five minutes later, a man with a manhole lid locked to his head with his hands tied behind his back is dropped into an open manhole, aptly named the Glory Hole. The lid locks into place leaving this man in the most vulnerable position of his life on the curb on the most crime-infested town in the country.

Moments later, a noose of barbed wire is wrapped around his neck, attached to the back of a retro 80s sports car, complete with vertically opening doors.

You know what happens next.

The plot is simple enough. Rutger Hauer's hobo shows up in a town with the social climate of Grant Theft Auto if everyone who lived there were a player of the game. The town is controlled by the utterly terrifying Drake (Brian Downey) and his two sons, who look like evil Tom Cruise clones. If the Drake doesn't like you... he rips off your head with his sons' car. It's the worst case of strong praying on the weak possible.

All the hobo wants is $49.99 to buy a lawnmower. But crime's always getting in the way, whether it's Drake's posse, dirty cops, 80s punks who smash hobos' heads with bumper cars or a snuff pornographer who films bum fights. Soon, hobo's had enough. 30 minutes in, Hobo meets Shotgun and before too long, he's on a vigilante rampage.

Hobo With The Shotgun is probably the most violent mainstream film I've seen since Passion of the Christ. Not the bloodiest. Not the most graphic. It is very bloody and very graphic but the key word is violent. It plays off like a filmic version of the Aristocrats in the world of GTA. Watching it feels like being in prison. No one is off limits, there's no limit to what the filmmakers will pull and they are out to hurt you (or rather hurt their characters). You are in constant fear of violence and each time it comes, it's even worse than the last time.

Fear and violence are pretty much integral to the plot. The Drake and co. basically keep control by presenting themselves as the most sadistic, merciless and hedonistic individuals in a town where everyone takes what they want. The only people more sadistic are the filmmakers.

Hobo With A Shotgun is essentially the American version of Ichi the Killer but the majority owes a great debt to classic exploitation cinema, as much as any Tarantino film does. John Carpenter and Dario Argento probably have the heaviest influence on the look and sound of the film. Some of the scenes feel like footage taken straight from Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York and Suspiria. But you'll also find bits from Mad Max, The Warriors, Shaw bros., Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Guinea Pig films and many more.

Like Tarantino, Hobo With A Shotgun wears its influences on its sleeves. With soundtrack cuts from Mark of the Devil and The Thing, lighting schemes lifted straight from Suspiria and Inferno, the weaponized lawnmower from Dead Alive and the beheading style, really, an updated version of Caligula, the whole thing is very much a pastiche. And not even just a pistache. A pistache of the vilest 70s-80s exploitation left to ferment in the depths of a gas station urinal for six months.

Like Machete, there's a fair share of tongue and cheek but I think there's a lot more effort put into being violent and disturbing than being goofy and fun. I doubt many will find a bum eating glass on grainy video tape very entertaining. None of it feels cute. The majority of the film is done in flagrant bad taste.

The dialogue is atrocious at times. I think the filmmakers set out in part to offend as many people as possible. Sometimes, it sounds downright ridiculous. The acting is totally over the top, which varies in effectiveness. Hauer is the most consistent. Always a pleasure to watch. The rest are just completely outrageous, one dimensional villains meant to facilitate most of the film's violence as well as hatred so that the audience will relish the hobo pumping them full of shells. There's a vague romantic subplot but no one cares. It's all about the violence.

There's a lot wrong with Hobo With A Shotgun. Like Machete, it panders to the audience by being intentionally funny at times but when it opts for the shock value route, it sometimes ends up being unintentionally funny as well. I feel like there were so many moments this could've fallen flat on its face.

But you know what? For once, I've found a film where I can forgive even its worst shortcomings. It's far from perfect and just a flat out mean-spirited bad taste flick but hell, I loved Hobo With A Shotgun. I really did. It lived up to all the expectations I had that Tarantino's Death Proof failed to live up to. It was a true homage to all my favorite exploitation cinema by people who had a genuine affinity for it and not someone who just wanted to spoof it. These guys really knew their stuff. Carpenter, Argento, Fulci, Deodato, Jackson... they're all here.

As soon as I recognized that whimsical Mark of the Devil tune, I knew these guys had made this movie for me.

I'd recommend this to fans of Grindhouse and all it's spinoffs (especially those who hated Death Proof) but also to fans of the Crank series. I think it has just as much to do with the latter as the former. Hobo With A Shotgun is totally nuts.

And a Canadian film, no less!

I didn't love this one, but I'd say it's well worth watching for two things: Rutger Hauer and The Plague.

The scene set in The Plague's prison area where The Drake interrogates the Hobo while The Plague struggles to contain another prisoner is probably scene of the century, for me.

just saw this one and absolutely loved it. this was the film i was hoping machete would be. for once, i got everything i wanted and more so. sure, its not perfect. but it doesnt have to be. given its source material, it would be imperfect for it to be perfect. it pays perfect homage to all of the films which you've mentioned james. most notably, suspiria. the lighting and vibrant colors are damn near perfect in this film. if you're a grindhouse fan like i am, then this is a must own.

and thanks for all of the source films james. mark of the devil seemed to pass by me so i put it on my netflix immediately.

Just saw this last night.  Quite shocking, actually, in many different ways.

As usual, James gives a great critique.  All spot on, and I'm in agreement, but don't quite share your overall enthusiasm.

We obviously can't and aren't supposed to take this seriously, so it's basically like a big old pisser.  And I'm cool with that...totally cool with that.  But unlike most pissers, or so bad they end up good, this has such a mean, cold heart, it's hard for me to look at it, as it's obviously intended.

The violence is over the top, and although most of the FX are cheesy, they're well done.

The acting is over the top.  And although it's funny in a way, for some reason, it's also irritating to me.  Maybe too self aware to come across as it intended.  Not sure.

The characters are ridiculous and maybe this is where my problems were.  Too intentionally over the top to work for me.  I love "bad movies" with ridiculous characters doing ridiculous things, but IMO, the beauty of these is that they're not 100% supposed to be so bad (it's hard to say sometimes, but my bet is that it's usually attributable to horrid writing and acting).  Here it's all too obvious that every single character is a cartoon.

I didn't dislike the film, but there's no story, and you know exactly what's going to happen.

BUT...I have no idea what was happening with those 2 dudes dressed up in armor hanging people for no reason, or why in the world there was a giant tentacled monster in the scene in their basement, or wherever the Hell they were supposed to be.

This obviously isn't for everyone...probably say not for most.  But for what it is, it was well done and a pretty fun ride while it lasted.