'Hobo with a Shotgun,' director's 'Graffiti Western,' comes to the Crescent

Filmmaker Jason Eisener doesn’t want kids going to see his new film, “Hobo with a Shotgun,” but he’s leaving the door wide open for adults who want to escape into that feeling of watching something for its pure, visceral appeal — a feeling some might remember from sneaking off as kids to seek forbidden thrills.

And if you’re looking for “pure, visceral appeal,” “Hobo with a Shotgun” has it in spades. The film opens a one-week run Friday at Mobile's Crescent Theater.

Now, this movie isn’t for everyone. If you want to enjoy your popcorn and soda while holding hands and celebrating the happy nuances of life, wait a few weeks and come back for “Larry Crowne” with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. But if you love a good summer action flick, replete with a more-than-fair share of gore, one-liners and iconic characters, “Hobo” is worth a look.

It has semi-immortal hit men, maniacal villains, hookers with gold-foil hearts, gallons of blood and, oh yeah, perennial action star Rutger Hauer as the title character, doling out his own brand of pump-action justice.

“We wanted to make the kind of film that (as a kid) you’d hear about on the schoolyard, but you weren’t really allowed to check out,” Eisener said during a phone interview. “It almost sounded dangerous to watch them, but it was a safe danger.”

While viewers might be safe watching the trials and tribulations of life in Scum Town — that’s right, this film is about as overt as “Snakes on a Plane” — the movie’s victims aren’t. Whether it’s by razor-blade baseball bat, noose, barbed-wire manhole cover or 20-gauge shotgun shell, to name just a few, the gorier moments in “Hobo” don’t disappoint.

And they specifically hearken back to Eisener and co-writer John Davies’ inspiration, which is ‘70s and ‘80s “super-saturated, action-crime” exploitation flicks, like “Savage Streets” and “Death Wish 3.” In fact, “Hobo” only came to be because Eisener made a fake trailer as an entry in a contest for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” films. He won the contest, thanks in no small part to the “Hobo” trailer becoming a viral smash on YouTube.

Imaginative death gags are the bread and butter of grindhouse movies, but according to the director, they weren’t the hard part of making “Hobo” a reality. The challenge was making sure the characters and the heart of the film were accessible to the audience.

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But the real treats of this soundtrack are the five incredible Tangerine Dream tracks (#2,3,4,5, & 11). These pieces are my absolute favorites by them (and they've done a TON of albums and movie soundtracks!). These 5 tracks create a mood and feel to the movie that really does enhance and make the film truly special! Just put on these five instrumental tracks and you'll instantly be taken back to those scenes of Joel Goodson making his future by saying "what the ----!

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