Hobo With a Shotgun at West End Cinema Monday, May 23

Like Machete, Hobo With a Shotgun was born of a fake trailer. Unlike Machete, Jason Eisener’s debut is a mess. Once our heroic hobo (Rutger Hauer) jumps off the train in Hope Town—or Scum Town, or Fuck Town, depending on which sign you catch—he doesn’t like the way its citizens, especially those on the fringe, are being bullied by a mafioso type named Drake (Brian Downey). Even the cops are giddy about gittin’ ’em some hookers and homeless, who are decapitated with manhole covers or blasted with weapons that tear them to pieces. (A busload of schoolchildren are special, getting burned to ashes.) So Hobo saves up for a shotgun and starts doling out justice, often with a ridiculously earnest piano score accompanying his quieter moments and godawful dialogue such as “She’s so hot, I’d eat peanuts out of her shit.” Still, there’s a bit of morbid fun to be had watching the film go bonkers: Where else are you going to see half-naked women gutting a hanging man like a piñata? Welcome to Fuck Town.

The film shows at 9:15 p.m. daily to May 26 at West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW.