Grindhouse double feature provides action-packed, grade "A" experience
What do a crazed stuntman, an amputee go-go dancer, a Hollywood stunt woman and a swarm of bio-engineered zombies have in common? They're all part of Grindhouse, the best movie of 2007 so far and quite possibly the greatest movie experience I've ever had.
Friday marked the opening of the epic double-feature tribute to the low-budget exploitation films that influenced directors Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction) to make movies themselves. And boy what a tribute it is.
If you're a fan of gore-filled sci-fi/horror films like Dawn of the Dead, Omega Man or Re-Animator, than you will have a blast with the first of the two films, Rodriguez's Planet Terror. You've heard the storyline before. A toxic chemical has been released into a small town and as people become infected, they terrorize the townspeople who band together to fight off the zombie hoard. And, of course, vixens like Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), who uses a machine gun for a prosthetic leg, and Dr. Dakota Black (Marley Shelton), who carries a hypodermic needle gun, are just par for the course.
While the film can be dull at times, most of the time it's so completely ridiculous that you can't help but enjoy it. In pure grindhouse fashion, Planet Terror is complete at its most incomplete. With skipping frames, damaged footage and horrible dialogue, Rodriguez gives the audience what it wants.
But the show is not over; after a series of hilarious fake movie trailers from directors like Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and Edgar Wright, it's Tarantino's turn to shine with his homage to road-rage movies like Duel and Vanishing Point.
Compared to Planet Terror, Tarantino is on another level with Death Proof. It stars Kurt Russell in a brilliant performance as Stuntman Mike, a guy who likes to use his "death proof" stunt car to terrorize unsuspecting victims.
But the tables are turned on Stuntman Mike when he encounters four women, including real-life stuntwoman Zoe Bell, who hunt down Stuntman Mike in one of the most gut-wrenching car chase sequences I've ever seen. This film should be a fan favorite regardless, but a fair amount of experience with 70s horror films will make the experience that much sweeter.
As a pair of movies, Planet Terror and Death Proof are both so good at being bad that they are ultimately good. But that doesn't mean that there aren't unintentional flaws. Both films could stand to have 15 to 20 minutes shaved off. In fact, if Grindhouse was trimmed down, I'd venture to say it might be one of the best-made movies in recent memory.
While both may be "B" movies in the truest sense of the word, the Grindhouse experience is definitely grade "A."
Planet Terror: B-; Deathproof: B+; Grindhouse: A
Originally published on April 13, 2006
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