Magnet Releasing:

A train pulls into the station - it's the end of the line. A Hobo jumps from a freight car, hoping for a fresh start in a new city. Instead, he finds himself trapped in an urban hell. This is a world where criminals rule the streets and Drake, the city's crime boss, reigns supreme alongside his sadistic murderous sons, Slick & Ivan. Amidst the chaos, the Hobo comes across a pawn shop window displaying a second hand lawn mower. He dreams of making the city a beautiful place and starting a new life for himself. But as the brutality continues to rage around him, he notices a shotgun hanging above the lawn mower... Quickly, he realizes the only way to make a difference in this town is with that gun in his hand and two shells in its chamber.

More blood, more heart. That was Jason Eisener and company's mantra all through the making of Hobo with a Shotgun, he even had hoodies made up.  That was Eisener's way and reminding himself and his crew that they weren't making a spoof film, they were making something that was for real.  Hobo with a Shotgun is a exploitation film that could have been made in the early 80's, but at no point in the film are they laughing at that period, or making jokes at its expense.  The film is all heart.  They've taken the sensibility of 80's exploitation films, stuff like Street Trash, and simply made another film that could fit easily into that canon.  This isn't a Black Dynamite styled spoof, though I love that film, and it isn't an homage film like Planet Terror, with fake-battered film stock.  It is real, and it is fantastic.

We loved this film.  Todd had this to offer in his review for Showcase.ca:

A blazing carnival ride of non-stop blood and gore, it's as though Hobo With A Shotgun exists only to prove to itself and its audience that there is no image or moment so extreme that it cannot be topped. The film pushes ever harder, ever faster, into a non-stop game of one-upmanship with things not stopping until everyone who can be dead is.

Kurt also liked the film and said this here:

With the film continually upping its phantasmagoric stakes (enter:  The Plague) and its eventual passion-play with the Hobo as Christ, it is safe to say that the film goes way too far to allow for any popular success, but shall garner a healthy reputation for the crazy cult curio that it is. While the film is no Rabid or Shivers - there is simply none of the subtext present in the Tax-Shelter Cronenberg, Hobo with a Shotgun is gloriously goofy gratification - it is still worth Shout-Mumbling, "LONG LIVE THE NEW FETISH!"

I thought it was fantastic.  Eisener captured the spirit and energy of those old films perfectly, outdoing them at times.  One area in which Hobo outshines most of those older films is that it looks absolutely outrageously good.  DP Karim Hussain had access to several digital movie and still cameras and he used them amazingly well.  His eye for dramatic lighting is also pretty astounding, as just about every sequence is drenched in crazy blue and red lighting, much in the vein of Inferno-era Argento.  The digital footage is also color-graded to a ridiculously over-saturated pitch, which helps lend a feeling of extremity not only to the action on screen, but to the environment itself.

The film's crazy over the top violence combined with Rutger Hauer's ability to imbue his character with genuine soul makes for a potent mixture.  A film this over the top would normally not have much to offer emotionally, but there are some moments of genuine warmth between the Hobo and the prostitute he rescues from certain death, and Hauer never overplays his hand.  There are many over the top characters in the film, the Drakes who run the town never say a single line in anything less that a shout, and then there is The Plague, a pair of post-apocalyptic armored enforcers.  But Hauer even approaches them with genuine anger and passion, never tipping and never playing for laughs.  Every performance is pitch perfect, and it adds up to a brilliant and explosive piece of extreme cinema that deserves a place on your shelf next to all of those Jack Hill, George Romero, and HG Lewis flicks.

The Disc:

Magnet Releasing's Blu-ray disc of Hobo with a Shotgun is a thing of beauty.  As I mentioned above, the film was shot digitally, so there is no dust and no damage to the image.  There is a little bit of digitally manufactured grain, but it feels real enough, and isn't distracting.  Karim Hussain and Jason Eisener went for an extremely stylized heightened look for the colors, and if you haven't seen the film before, it is a bit of an adjustment as the opening sequence starts.  Every color is amped up and the contrast is pretty extreme, but it looks good, and it is intentional.  I can find no faults, this image is blazingly good.

The sound is very front heavy, but the real star of the audio track is the original soundtrack, which is amazing. Every music cue in the calls back to the eighties wobbly synth music that was found in those old action and horror flicks.  I've heard it compared to John Carpenter's soundtracks, but this one is far more driving and fast paced.  The action makes a dent in the subs, and the surrounds are used to good effect, but none of those really stood out to me like the music. 

Jason Eisener must be a fan of DVD extras, because this disc is ridiculously stacked, more so than any previous Magnet disc, which I've found to be consistently light on extras.  There are two commentaries, the first is with Eisener and Hauer, the second with Eisener, his production staff, and original Hobo David Brunt.  Probably my favorite extra is More Blood, More Heart, the making of documentary.  This featurette runs about 40 minutes and is edited extremely well, with some talking heads, a lot of behind the scenes action, and some great insights on the making of the film.  It has its own music that fits well with the film and the theme, and it is obvious that everyone involved had a passion for the film they were making.  Eisener is very open about his feelings, as is everyone else that is interviewed, and one thing that I found really great was that I don't think there is a single shot of cast or crew behind the scenes where everyone involved doesn't have a huge beaming smile on their face.  That excitement and passion definitely shows in the finished project.

Another great pair of extras are the interviews with Fangoria's Mike Gingold.  These interviews total out to about 35-40 minutes with Rutger and Jason and they share a lot of how they felt about making the film and the challenges and rewards of making Hobo with a Shotgun.  This is where Jason's passion for the film really shines.  He has about 20 minutes of interview and he loves talking about his movie.  We get the impression that he can still barely believe that he made a full length motion picture with Rutger Hauer, and it's good.  I thought these interviews would be dry, but Gingold does a good job of asking open ended questions that allow these two very passionate characters to speak their minds.

The disc also houses something they call Shotgun Mode, which allows the viewer to access behind the scenes material while watching the film.  Shotgun Mode was pretty cool.  About every two or three minutes a crosshair shows up on the screen and the viewer can choose to watch a short piece of film about that scene.  Pretty cool.  The Shotgun Mode clips are also available by themselves on the disc in the extras menu. Some other small clips on the disc include the original Hobo trailer, another fake trailer called Van Gore, with a voiceover that sounds very similar to Eli Roth's Thanksgiving trailer from Grindhouse, some short video blogs about the making of the film for online audiences, a few minor deleted scenes, some camera test footage, and US promotional material.

This is a massive and mighty package for an explosive film that deserves all the attention it can get.  Jason Eisener is a major emerging talent, and he really deserves a lot of credit, along with his crew, for making an outstanding film that captures the spirit of a bygone era of film making without becoming cloying or nudging the audience too hard to acknowledge the joke.  This is no joke.  Magnet Releasing's Blu-ray release of Hobo with a Shotgun is HIGHLY REOMMENDED

Magnet Releasing presents Hobo with a Shotgun in a region A locked Blu-ray.