Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Hobo With A Shotgun' (2011)

This marvelous example of cinematic mastery is not some simple return to the golden age of silver screen classics. Oh no, it has raised the bar for Hollywood and the movie industry as a whole! Hobo With a Shotgun challenges our very concepts of society, culture, philosophy, and dare I say, even God. What we're provided with is not some mere excuse for entertainment, but rather a deep internal reflection on the soul of our humanity. Hobo With A Shotgun pulls back the scabs, renders the flesh, and digs deep into the marrow of what it means to be human.

This film, this icon of pure genius, is not some forgettable grind house exploitation of violence and sexual deviance, nay, it is an insight into our dreams, our fears, and our desires.

What is represented here may seem on the surface like some whiskey fueled blood rage, but at its core, the symbolism shows mankind's desire to return to the simpler child like fantasy as depicted in the song of American vagrants, "Hard Rock Candy Mountains." A song that depicts a world of candy, games, and no adult authority.

The charter of the Hobo as played by the masterful Rutger Hauer constantly refers to his prostitute side kick as a School teacher. This clearly shows the Freudian desire to find his comfort as a child in the disciplinary lap of a school mistress [AND] by extension, through this mothering symbol, a return to the safe confines of the womb.

His fantasy of mowing grass is not some foolish, one dimensional, depiction of a return to land and civilized living, but rather a rejection of his puberty, an actual return to boyish physical being. By trimming the land, he metaphorically will trim the land of his own body free of the growth of manhood.

Throughout this movie, three consistent themes appear in the symbolism. First! The death of children, as though puberty itself was the death of joy and innocence. Second! The hanging of bodies to be beaten; a clear representation of pinatas, the game enjoyed for birthdays, as though the passing of time and age is a painful rejection of imagination and merriment. Finally! Blood fountains from every body representing a clear release of sexual tension. In one scene a woman dances in a fountain of blood from a decapitated corpse stuck in a manhole. To lose one head in a 'man hole' only to have a sexualized temptress dance in the life giving blood, is a clear representation of the fear of sexual release; that the beginning of sexual identity and the symptoms of a boy's impending puberty, in of itself, maybe an inescapable trap. The death that comes from this particular scene, the impending inescapable murder, the fear of helplessness, societies rejection of sexual discovery, and fear of the sexuality of women, are not showcased here by mistake. There is deeper meaning!

This masterpiece, this work of unequaled genius, this return to golden age artisan production, will be an icon of our societies revolution towards a better world. It will be examined in the history books for centuries. There will be nay sayers and critics, but they are blind to the sheer depth of worldly significance this movie holds.

It is a shame, NO, a SIN, that everyone in the world has not yet viewed this gift to our species! A simply requirement for life, to understand the mysteries of the universe, is to watch this movie! This is NOT just some 'must watch' movie of casual viewing! This MUST be shown in classes across the globe, to tech our youth about the direction that we must take, as a unified world, to move forward as humanity! TO EVOLVE COMPLETELY!!!

Enjoy...