Genre: Double Feature – Zombie Horror, Car-Chase Action
Director: Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Mary Shelton, Jeff Fahey, Michael Beihn, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoë Bell, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Poitier
Running Time: 191 minutes (plus trailers)
"A double feature that'll tear you in two!"
Back in 2006, beloved directors Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City) and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) announced that they would be directing a double feature called Grindhouse. An homage to 70’s exploitation films that would be screened in so called grindhouse theatres, the film is over three hours long, and features ridiculous violence, intentionally damaged film stock and a bevy of scantily dressed women. Unfortunately, due to its poor box office performance in the US in ‘07, it was released international as two films: Tarantino’s Death Proof and Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. I had been looking forward to the film for months, and was absolutely gutted when it was split up. Although I eventually saw both on DVD and enjoyed the hell out of them, it just wasn’t the same. However, last night, after two years of waiting, I attended a screening of Grindhouse at the Astor. And let me tell you…it was fucking amazing.
Just some of the beautiful ladies featured in Tarantino's segment
The first film shown in the sleaze-filled saga was Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, which tells the story of a group of survivors in a small town who band together after a mysterious toxin is released from a nearby military base, turning much of the surrounding populace into boil covered pus leaking blood lusting zombies. Rose McGowan stars as Cherry Darling, a go-go dancer whose leg is ripped off by the bloodthirsty fiends, only to have her missing limb replaced with an M16 by her former lover, the mysterious and deadly El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez). Meanwhile, Dr Dakota Block (Mary Shelton) is ready to leave her abusive husband (Josh Brolin) for…wait for it…her lesbian lover, when the infection rolls in and she finds herself caught up in the mayhem. Throw in real life B-movie stars Jeff Fahey and Michael Beihn and cameos by Bruce Willis and Stacey Ferguson and you have the complete blood splattered package. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is! Rodriguez took the projects concept literally and recreated the kind of balls out exploitation flick one would actually see at a grindhouse theatre circa 1972, complete with scratches, burnt film, a sordid saxophone score and even a missing reel (which is used to great effect.) This is a movie in which cars explode for no reason, limbs are severed in increasingly hilarious ways and a mad scientist collects men’s genitals as trophies. Hell yeah!
Planet Terror is not a movie that takes itself too seriously
This is followed by Tarantino’s Death Proof, which is definitely the more cerebral of the two films (although it is by no means less absurd). Rather than recreate a grindhouse film, Death Proof feels like a loving tribute to the kinds of movies that Tarantino worships. Kurt Russel stars as Stuntman Mike, a charming serial killer who murders beautiful girls with his death proof stunt car. However, when he targets a group of women played by Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms and real life stuntwoman Zoë Bell (appearing as herself) he finally gets a taste of his own medicine. After the insane mayhem of Planet Terror, audience members may find themselves as little surprised by Death Proof – characters actually talk in this film. In fact, this is Tarantino at his most self indulgent (and I'm not even counting his bizarre obsession with womens feet); the dialogue is great, but at the same time you can feel him masturbating behind every word. People who hate him will loathe Death Proof, but people who love him will adore it. For the record, I fall well and truly into the latter category. I think it could have done with some trimming, especially in the first act, but never the less the characters are great and the last twenty minutes features some of the most heart stopping action that I have ever seen. Tarantino takes a shot at directors who utilize CGI instead of real effects; in Death Proof the action is all real and he goes to enormous lengths to make sure you know it. The climax, in which Zoë Bell clings to the front of a speeding car as it is rammed repeatedly by Stuntman Mike, will have you on the edge of your seat.
"It's my mom's car"
But that’s not all. Because in order to completely replicate the grindhouse experience, this film includes four fake trailers by prominent directors. Planet Terror is preceded by a preview – also directed by Rodriguez – for a film called Machete. Danny Trejo stars as the titular character, a knife wielding Mexican assassin who is double crossed by his employers. Following the first feature and a brief intermission (yes, they actually have an intermission, and it’s awesome) we get three more glorious commercials for “coming attractions”. Rob Zombie (The Devils Rejects) gives us Werewolf Women of the SS, a tribute to Nazi films, featuring a cameo by Nicholas Cage. Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) gives us Don’t, a hilarious spoof of haunted house films with cameos by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. And finally, in what was possibly the highlight of the entire night, Eli Wroth (Hostel) gives us Thanksgiving, a gratuitously violent slasher film about a serial killer with a penchant for decapitating his victims. This trailer is horrifyingly funny, and features perhaps the most shocking stabbing you will ever see. What is even better is that all four directors have expressed interests in expanding their trailers into feature length films. Fingers crossed.
"They just fucked with the wrong Mexican"
Extended versions of both Planet Terror and Death Proof are available on DVD. Both movies are great, and if that is your only way of seeing them, by all means do so. But it is only when viewed together on the big screen that Grindhouse is revealed as the masterpiece it really is. This is a one of a kind film, and seeing it on a massive screen with great sound and an excited audience was a one of a kind experience. People of my generation will never be able to go to an actual grindhouse theatre, and so everyone should jump at the chance to see this film as it was intended to be seen; back to back, fake trailers, missing reels and all. It will screen one more time at the Astor theatre in Melbourne on May 13th, so I implore you: do everything in your power to see it. It is clever, it is gratuitous, it is ridiculous and it is bloody. And it is a hell of a good time.
Director: Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Mary Shelton, Jeff Fahey, Michael Beihn, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoë Bell, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Poitier
Running Time: 191 minutes (plus trailers)
"A double feature that'll tear you in two!"
Just some of the beautiful ladies featured in Tarantino's segmentThe first film shown in the sleaze-filled saga was Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, which tells the story of a group of survivors in a small town who band together after a mysterious toxin is released from a nearby military base, turning much of the surrounding populace into boil covered pus leaking blood lusting zombies. Rose McGowan stars as Cherry Darling, a go-go dancer whose leg is ripped off by the bloodthirsty fiends, only to have her missing limb replaced with an M16 by her former lover, the mysterious and deadly El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez). Meanwhile, Dr Dakota Block (Mary Shelton) is ready to leave her abusive husband (Josh Brolin) for…wait for it…her lesbian lover, when the infection rolls in and she finds herself caught up in the mayhem. Throw in real life B-movie stars Jeff Fahey and Michael Beihn and cameos by Bruce Willis and Stacey Ferguson and you have the complete blood splattered package. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is! Rodriguez took the projects concept literally and recreated the kind of balls out exploitation flick one would actually see at a grindhouse theatre circa 1972, complete with scratches, burnt film, a sordid saxophone score and even a missing reel (which is used to great effect.) This is a movie in which cars explode for no reason, limbs are severed in increasingly hilarious ways and a mad scientist collects men’s genitals as trophies. Hell yeah!
Planet Terror is not a movie that takes itself too seriously
"It's my mom's car"But that’s not all. Because in order to completely replicate the grindhouse experience, this film includes four fake trailers by prominent directors. Planet Terror is preceded by a preview – also directed by Rodriguez – for a film called Machete. Danny Trejo stars as the titular character, a knife wielding Mexican assassin who is double crossed by his employers. Following the first feature and a brief intermission (yes, they actually have an intermission, and it’s awesome) we get three more glorious commercials for “coming attractions”. Rob Zombie (The Devils Rejects) gives us Werewolf Women of the SS, a tribute to Nazi films, featuring a cameo by Nicholas Cage. Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) gives us Don’t, a hilarious spoof of haunted house films with cameos by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. And finally, in what was possibly the highlight of the entire night, Eli Wroth (Hostel) gives us Thanksgiving, a gratuitously violent slasher film about a serial killer with a penchant for decapitating his victims. This trailer is horrifyingly funny, and features perhaps the most shocking stabbing you will ever see. What is even better is that all four directors have expressed interests in expanding their trailers into feature length films. Fingers crossed.
"They just fucked with the wrong Mexican"Extended versions of both Planet Terror and Death Proof are available on DVD. Both movies are great, and if that is your only way of seeing them, by all means do so. But it is only when viewed together on the big screen that Grindhouse is revealed as the masterpiece it really is. This is a one of a kind film, and seeing it on a massive screen with great sound and an excited audience was a one of a kind experience. People of my generation will never be able to go to an actual grindhouse theatre, and so everyone should jump at the chance to see this film as it was intended to be seen; back to back, fake trailers, missing reels and all. It will screen one more time at the Astor theatre in Melbourne on May 13th, so I implore you: do everything in your power to see it. It is clever, it is gratuitous, it is ridiculous and it is bloody. And it is a hell of a good time.
