Release Date – 5/6/11 (limited)
In the disastrous place called Hope Town (know as Scum Town to those who live there), crime is running rampant through the streets. The cops are corrupt and being paid off by a man known as The Drake and his two bully sons who run the town. Murders and robberies happen constantly with no consequences and The Drake is allowed to take matters into his own hands. One day an old homeless man takes a train into the town and immediately witnesses a man being decapitated at the hands of The Drake. He also meets a prostitute that is getting hounded by customers. Seeing all of this drives him to take justice into his own hands. The film is over the top violent and gory, but tries too hard to be one of those cult classics. It’s a cool concept but it felt a little too forced. Sometimes movies like this have to take themselves a tad bit seriously and then let the fans decide whether it is cult worthy.
Rutger Hauer plays the Hobo with a Shotgun. The film starts off very oddly with slow piano music set to this bum viewing crime throughout the town. The music is really out of place for some severe violence going on. And for some reason the people of this town just accept all the killings and crime and don’t get the hell out. It seems almost like a post-apocalyptic setting but then you see the hospital operating normally along with some shops. It just doesn’t flow well together. Brian Downey plays The Drake, an over the top villain sending out his two sons, Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman) to whoop the asses of anyone they want, striking fear into the citizens. The sons are both WAY, WAY over the top and annoying. Molly Dunsworth plays the hooker named Abby who takes a liking to the nameless Hobo when he saves her life. Since she’s alone, the homeless man becomes like a father figure, teaching her some lessons about life. But all the man wants is to buy a lawnmower and start his own business, instead he picks up a shotgun and starts blasting heads off.
The film is based on a contest winning trailer to promote Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse. It was actually added to prints of the movie in Canada. It was picked up and recast to be shot as an over the top violent B-movie type film. It just goes a little too over the top. The acting is purposely bad and the blood squirts and mangled bodies are used too often. I’m a big fan of gore and excessive violence but this time it was just minute after minute, nonstop violence and not enough story. The story that is given to us is pretty simple, a bum starts blasting criminals getting the attention of the crime boss of the town leading to an obvious showdown in the end. It was a fun movie for a one time watch, just to see how absurd it was but I wouldn’t feel like watching it again.
IMDB – 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 74%
Movie Wiseguys – 6/10