Hobo with A Shotgun

Title - Hobo With a Shotgun
Language - English
Genre - Grindhouse

Hobo with A Shotgun started out as one of the spoof trailers on the Taranto/Rodrigues ‘Grindhouse’ double bill and was later made into a full length movie.

Hobo starts with a homeless man arriving in a new town with the dream of getting the money together for a lawn mower so he can start his own gardening business but he soon finds that the town he has arrived in is run by the corrupt Drake who will happily make a show of ripping off the head of his relatives.  To begin with the Hobo is happy to keep a low profile but he is taking note of the corruption around him.  The Hobo starts to stop the criminal activity when he finds one of Drakes son’s trying to abduct a young prostitute named Abby, the Hobo knocks out Drakes son and takes him to the local police station only to find that the police are in Drakes pocket.

After witnessing a robber threaten to kill a baby the Hobo uses the money he had for the lawn mower to get a shot gun and with the help of Abby he sets out to clean up the town and get rid of Drake and the corrupt police force.

People were a bit surprised that an actor with the credentials of  Rutger Hauer would take on a part like the Hobo but he plays it well and it was also nice to see the darker, creeper side of  Brian Downey who plays Drake, it makes a change from watching him as Stanly Tweedle in Lexx.

Hobo is a good film about a man trying to do what’s best even if the methods he employs are wrong and we see a character who goes from trying to mind his own business to trying to fix a corrupt town but who knows that, in the end there is only one way to save himself from the corruption that is overtaking him.  Or I could just be over thinking things; ether way Hobo with a Shotgun is an entertaining film with a good amount of gore and action and some good characters and as I have stated it does have a good story but, if all you want is people getting sliced, shot and decapitated then sit back and enjoy

Nude Nuns with Big Guns (2010)

Title - Nude Nuns with Big Guns
Director - Joseph Guzman
Language - English
Genra - Grindhouse, action, nunspolitation (is that even a word)









"Who the F@*k are you" almost every cast member to Sister Sarah.



Right, today's challenge is to review this without having to to change my settings to the ones for a mature audience or offending too many people.
 
Sister Sarah is a nun who has been sent from her convent to a church in Mexico because she sinned, her sin was being caught with another nun.  Unfortunately the church she was sent to is involved with the manufacture and supply of drugs, and prostitution.  When Sister Sarah is caught trying to hide a pack of drugs she is given to the local bike gang who also run the local brothel were she is kept on drugs and raped until she is almost dead which is when she is given to the closest thing the bike gang have to a doctor to either revive or kill.  Mr Foo, the doctor revives Sister Sarah who tells him that she died and saw God who told her:
1) She was not read to died
2)She has to kill all those who are sinning in his name
So Sister Sarah sets out on a mission of revenge against the church & the "Los Muertos" biker gang.

I think I only remember about 5 scenes where everyone has all their clothes on (I'm not complaining, just saying), There's plenty of violence and more than one lesbian (I suppose that should be more than two, one lesbian would have limited appeal).

It is Questioned in the film whether Sister Sarah is really on a mission for God or the Devil or was she just hallucinating from all the drugs. Who she is working for doesn't really matter Sister Sarah is the closest thing 'Nude nuns with Big Guns' to a  morally good character, if you ignore all the killings and lesbianism (I'm not saying being a lesbian is a bad thing but in the context of the film , and as Sister Sarah is a nun it's a bad thing to the other characters).  The only other characters with any redeeming features are Sister Angelina who joins Sister Sarah and becomes her lover, Mr Foo (he may be part of Los Muertos" but he does try to help Sister Sarah and gives her her first set of guns so with out him it would be a  short movie), and a family who just happen to stop for gas at the petrol station run by Los Muerto, I think their there to show just how bad the gang are.  We are given more evidence that Sister Sarah is fighting on Gods side in to ways:
1) she is only ever hit by one bullet (& not at the end of the film as you may expect) but she manges to kill almost everyone whit one shot.
2) the closer to the end of the film we get the whiter & cleaner her habit becomes symbolising the righteousness and purity of Sister Sarah and her cause.

There seems to be a bit of an anti male theme running through Nude Nuns with Big Guns, the only two good characters are lesbians, with one exception all the bad guys are male.  Although both sides use sex to get information Sister Sarah is seen seducing Butch (the female owner of a motel)  and only goes far enough to get the information she wants where as "Las Muertos" have 'Kickstand who specialises in raping people to the information they want and the victim usually end up dead.  The (almost) final scene is also a pretty anti male (or at least anti sex) message that seems to imply that the source of all evil is the penis.

I do have to admit that I did enjoy 'Nude Nuns with Big Guns'  but it is defiantly not suitable for the young or easily offended & here's hoping that the 'To be continued' ending is followed through

Dead Hooker in a trunk (2009)

Title - Dead Hooker in a Trunk
Director - Jen & Sylvia Soska
Language - English
Genre - Action, horror, Grindhouse













One of the first things I noticed about 'Dead Hooker' is that none of the characters are named, the main cast are only known by their stereo type and the other characters are just know as what they are.


The film starts at a party which Junkie and Badass are at, but the story starts the following morning when Geek (Bad ass' sister) is asked to pick up her friend (Goody two Shoes).  After picking up Goody two shoes the group set off to pick up some drugs but on the way they realise there is a strange smell coming from the trunk of the car, when they look they find the body of a dead hooker and a lot of drugs, as Junkie & Bad Ass can't remember much of what happened at the party the night before they decide that they can't risk involving the police so head out to bury the body in the woods.


The four main cast each fill a role of a different stereo type, the Geek, The Junkie, The Bad Ass & the Goody Two Shoes providing a group dynamic that is always in conflict with the Junk & Bad Ass set against the Goody Two Shoes and the Geek but with the added complications of the Geek & the Bad Ass being sister's & of the Geek and Goody Two Shoes relationship


The Group are first pitted against each other when deciding what to do with the body, the Junkie and Bad Ass

want to get rid of it and the Geek and Goody two shoes want to report it to the police.  On the way to bury the body the group cross the police, the mafia & a pimp and are forced to work together (helped along the way by a guest appearance by God)


As 'Dead Hooker' plays out it covers the topic of  what is right, religion and the greater good all mixed with drugs, violence, blood, serial killers, sex & dead hookers.  'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' is over the top, from the main cast playing the typical movie stereo types & everyone they meet (except God) either trying to kill them or sleep with them to the amount of blood and injureys, but it works, no one really believes that hitting someone on the back of the head with a baseball bat would cause their eye to fall out and splat on the ground (we all know it would come out and hang by the optic nerve) but it work for the film, after all films are not real and 'Dead Hooker' is on the right side of over the top action.

Rubber (2011)

Title - Rubber
Director - Quentin Dupieux
Language - English
Running Time - 79 Min's
Genre - Horror, grind house, WTF

"In E.T. why is the alien Brown, no reason.  In love story why do the 2 main characters fall madly in love, no reason.  In JFK why does the President get shot part way through, no reason....All great films contain an element of no reason" Paraphrased from Lieutenant Chad.







A crowd gathers on a hill to watch a film.  A tyre rises from the ground and we watch as it learns to move and kill.  A police Lieutenant knows what is happening but it is not going to plan.  Why, no reason.

Rubber is a film that clams there is no reason to it, but which also explores the nature of films, that is, to be watched.  As the crowd gatherers to watch an unknown film we watch the 'birth' of the films main character, Robert, a car tyre as he (it) rises from the ground and makes his (it's) unsteady way across the sand.  Robert soon finds that he can't roll over some thing and that he is not heavy enough to flatten most thing so he blows them up with his telepathy.

When the crowd on the hill go to sleep so does Robert and when they wake so does Robert showing that he is the representation of a film, Robert is the reason the crowd are on the hill but he would not exist if they were not there showing that the film exists for the audience but then taking the narrative further, a film is a safe form of entertainment but if the film, or Roberts life, is being created as the audience watch what happens if some continues watching longer than they should?  this is answered as Robert becomes obsessed with a woman named Sheila who is heading to the nearest town and one spectator keeps watching for longer than he should.

If you want a film with lots of deaths that follows the normal formula then Rubber is not for you.  If, however you want something different and surreal and where a tyre can blow up peoples head and you don't need answers to all the questions then give Rubber a go and remember weather you like it or not it doesn't really matter.