GROSSSSSS. It makes perfect sense that Canadians should pick up the slack in throwback gorefest B-movies. We have an army of semi employed grips, prop dudes and editors. We have our regulars that will and do act in any kind of filmed-in-Canada production be it cut rate sci-fi, cut rate sci-fi or cut rate sci-fi. (I kid, we also do film adaptations of Lucy Maud Montgomery fiction)! We have a proud tradition of sick filmmaking, from guys like Bob Clark (Black Christmas), David Cronenberg, and OK, there's no chainsaws but did you know Porky's was bankrolled with Canadian taxpayers' money? Well, so was this one! Hobo with a Shotgun was barftacular and rife with East Coast accents. I knew that if the first scene was the decapitation of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys (and the perpetrator was Stan from Lexx), I was just going to have to kick back and let it happen. About 90% of the content of this film was just stomach-churning (bumfights, torture, firebombing babies) but luckily it's also got a sense of humor. I had to laugh at Rutger Hauer advising newborns in the maternity ward not to turn into Hobos With Shotguns because what kind of life is that. (It was at that point in the film where someone called out, "Oscar!")
Hobo with a Shotgun originally appeared as a fake trailer screened during Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse. I'm not sure whether I support or if I am cynical of this genre of throwback B's, filmmakers purposefully aping low-budget exploitation flicks from the 70s. I've always been in favour of more B's in general - what a great antidote to overblown summer tent pole movies: CHEAP THRILLS! - but would question why we may need to continually allude to the visual style and approach of the last generation, cool as it may have been (thanks, Quentin, for reminding us). And while I grew up on the pablum of poliziotteschi, kung-fu flicks and other cheap delights, it seems like these nouveau-B's stick mainly with sheep intestines and buckets of red dye #1. What's next?
Hobo with a Shotgun originally appeared as a fake trailer screened during Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse. I'm not sure whether I support or if I am cynical of this genre of throwback B's, filmmakers purposefully aping low-budget exploitation flicks from the 70s. I've always been in favour of more B's in general - what a great antidote to overblown summer tent pole movies: CHEAP THRILLS! - but would question why we may need to continually allude to the visual style and approach of the last generation, cool as it may have been (thanks, Quentin, for reminding us). And while I grew up on the pablum of poliziotteschi, kung-fu flicks and other cheap delights, it seems like these nouveau-B's stick mainly with sheep intestines and buckets of red dye #1. What's next?
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