If you saw Tarantino and Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” double feature, then you should have some knowledge of Hobo With a Shotgun, seeing as it was one of the featured “trailers” in the series.  After enjoying “Deathproof”, “Planet Terror” and “Machete” (based off another of the fake trailers), I had a fairly good idea of what I was in for with “Hobo”.  Yet, somehow it exceeded my expectations to create this beautifully mad Technicolor world that is deliciously fucked up.

It starts off with a scene that’s a cross between “Desperate Living” and “Caligula” (two movies which left me feeling a bit…..unclean after I saw them for the first time).  Imagine if you will, a town filled with degenerates, streets of trash and graffiti and a man named The Drake (who is absolutely NOT cool like Drake the rapper a.k.a Jimmy from Degrassi).  The Drake runs this town and he and his sons go around killing and mutilating just for the hell of it.  They supply the townspeople with drugs to take away the pain that they inflict and have their hand in the local prostitution ring (which apparently consists of every woman under the age of 30 who isn’t a mother).  Fear is The Drake’s main game and his hold on this town of deviants is firm.

Enter one hobo off a train who’s simply looking for a place to call home.  Dude picked the wrong town.  Once he realizes his mistake (after witnessing a murder staged as a street show, the breaking of a teenage boy’s arm, an attempted rape of a prostitute and a violent robbery attempt wherein a child is threatened), this hobo has had ENOUGH.  Armed with nothing but a shotgun and a prostitute named Abby, he goes to town (literally) wiping the scum of the earth off the streets and into hell.  The rest of the movie is a tit for tat, garish, in your face, vivid pink, neon blue, Asian movie gushes of blood, free for all revengesploitation of the most wicked kind.

Best part EVER?  When Abby suits up for war and the final touch of her outfit is slap bracelets.  Oh hello 80s fashion, how I’ve missed you.

A must for exploitation fans everywhere.