Hobbs End

I love it when I find random films at flea markets or during thrifting (especially ones that I've never seen or heard of) and Hobbs End was a curiosity I found last week at the Goryville flea market for under $1. My interest was piqued by the cover art because it showcases a random guy draped with flannel in the dead of winter clutching a chainsaw. The whole context of the photo lead me to believe it was going to be some sort of cheesy-assed Texas Chainsaw ripoff or something, but that's not the case at all. At All. This cover art is true marketing trickery (because it worked in getting me to buy it) and it's just another one of the many, many movies out there that lies to it's potential audience to sucker them in. Even though I was duped and now I have the paper sleeve release of Hobbs End as part of my collection-was it at least worth my initial watch? Surprisingly, yes. But the experience of sitting through this was much different than what I expected. The entire feeling I pulled from this picture was almost like I was reading a very well written thriller novel that I just couldn't put down. That's really the best way I can describe it. It flowed very well, the two main characters are very solid and are eventually fleshed out evenly and even though there was basically no kills (there's a couple, but they're off-screen and pretty basic) and no gore to speak of at all, I really enjoyed this thing for what it was. There's also a few twists that are sort of predictable and a red herring that I was actually wrong on, so there's that as well. Just wish that damn chainsaw made an appearance. It didn't.

I thought Hobbs Ends' population was 667? I guess I was wrong.

Holy shit-make this song stop. Please. No, don't turn it up. Goddammit.

    Winter is something I really don't miss.

Ah-back when old and new technology still crossed paths.

You might run out of gas soon. Just saying.

It's hard to decide if Ben looks like an 80 year old pizza delivery guy or an 80 year old lumberjack.

That's a hard nutshell. But Lacey cracked it.

Mr. forest camo is about to turn into Mr. red herring here in a minute.

That's not vodka-that's water.

Howard Hughes was a size 11 boot too, but no one cares about that.

 Yeah, you nomadic bastard.

Todd wants some of Lacey's cooking alright.

I think Todd is your husband, but we'll get to that later.

If you can find Hobbs End somewhere to watch it, I'd say check it out. From what little about this flick that I could find on the web and beyond, it seems like either really no one knows about this piece or if people have seen it, they didn't like it. That's a shame. Really. It's not that bad. This is a slower, dialogue heavy type of thriller that builds and builds on itself until the pressure can't be contained by the end and then it slams you in the face for sticking around. That's ultimately what I dig about Hobbs End-it yields a nice reward for being patient. Now that this review is done and I'm kind of buzzed, it's time to eat. Lasagna and garlic bread it is.