Grindhouse

Year: 2007

Running time: 105 minutes (Planet Terror), 127 minutes (Death Proof)

Certificate: 18

Language: English

Screenplay: Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror), Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof)

Director: Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror), Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof)

Starring: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews, Stacy Ferguson, Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Tracie Thoms, Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Jordan Ladd

Things aren't looking good for Dr. Block.

Grindhouse was a smart idea that failed to gain a decent amount of traction with the movie-going public and became a bit of failure for Quentin Tarantino; arguably his first and only so far. Inspired by B-Movie double bills of the 70s, Tarantino worked with Robert Rodriguez to craft a gonzo double bill that paid homage to those old shoddy pictures that would play in drive-ins, right down to the problems caused by cheap film and even missing reels. Following the failure of Grindhouse, the pictures were released as two separate films. I never got the chance to catch Grindhouse in cinemas, as it arrived at the UK already repackaged after a Stateside box office debacle, so I'll be writing about the films as separate entities, but still putting them in the same review as a double bill.

First, to the Rodriguez entry, Planet Terror. A bio-weapon is released in Texas, creating an army of flesh-craving undead. A small group of survivors band together to fight back. That's the entire concept, giving Rodriguez plenty of chance to go for full on excess. He surely doesn't hold back.

Planet Terror is a riot and undoubtedly the star of the show is exotic dancer-turned-zombie slayer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), opening the film by quitting her underpaid job and running into her ex El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez). The zombie outbreak is caused by a bio-weapon created by chemical engineer Abby (Naveen Andrews). The chemical is released when a military unit led by Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis) attempts to force Abby to give it into their control. Cherry is injured, losing her leg, during an attack and the outbreak really gets out of control while they are recovering at hospital.

Let's be honest; Cherry Darling is pretty damn iconic.

There are some really out there events after this point, and some weird characters, not least Dr. William Block (Josh Brolin), who decides to lock his wife Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) in a hospital cupboard in revenge after finding out she was having an affair. But not before injecting her hands with anaesthetic, as you do. While William is infected, Dakota manages to escape and get back to her son Tony (Rebel Rodriguez) breaking her numbed hand along the way. And then a really unpleasant turn of events happen involving Tony shooting himself in the face after Dakota gives him a gun to protect himself and telling him not to point the gun at himself. It's really jarring in tone after the horror/action/comedy aesthetic the movie was going for both before and after the event. I'm assuming it is the kind discordant story turn the grindhouse pictures of yesteryear we're paying homage to used to trade in, but I didn't like it.

Cherry, now with a stick attached to her stump serving as a makeshift leg, Dakota and El Wray are taken prisoner by Muldoon's goons, who are now infected and staving off mutation by hording and inhaling Abby's supply of the gas. They are looking into the possibility of a cure by rounding up survivors, who appear to be immune. During the fight to escape, Cherry and El Wray replace her wooden leg with a machine gun/grenade launcher combo, allowing her to lay waste to zombies. We end with Cherry leading the effort to set up a new society in the midst of the now-international outbreak, sporting a mini-gun on her stump.

While I wasn't loving it, Planet Terror certainly doesn't hold back with its gruesome concept and you've really got to hand it to it for committing to its bizarre premise to the end. The watchword here is excess, and it does cause me to slightly lose interest before the end. Worth a look, but I wouldn't say it's worth a second one.

Stuntman Mike has murder on his mind.

Maybe I'm biased towards Tarantino (although I am a fan of Rodriguez too), but Death Proof did quite a lot more for me than Planet Terror did. Although it has some of the same look that Planet Terror did (the deliberate attempt to make the picture feel a little 'drive-in') it is still most definitely recognisable as a Tarantino film. Filled with music, and taking long stretches of time to establish the characters with loads of dialogue, lingering shots of women's feet all punctuated with explosive moments of action and intense violence.

Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) is a serial killer, stalking women and murdering them using his 'death proof' car, which is specially outfitted as a stunt car, protecting Mike as he orchestrates deadly crashes. Pretty grim subject matter all told, but again feels like it was probably par for the course with those grindhouse flicks of the past.

Local radio personality Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) is out for the night with her friends Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) and Shanna (Jordan Ladd) for a drink before heading away for the weekend. Unfortunately for them and for Pam (Rose McGowan), also at the same bar that night, they run into Stuntman Mike. The night ends badly for all of them as Mike arranges a fatal 'accident' for all of them, only to survive thanks to his death proof car.

More than a match for Mike.

Once he's recovered from his non-fatal injuries, Mike then begins the whole process again with a new quartet of women: Abernathy (Rosario Dawson), Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Kim (Tracie Thoms) and Zoë (Zoë Bell). Zoë is essentially playing herself, being an accomplished stuntwoman both in the film and in her own right.

The climax of Death Proof is an impressive car chase set piece where Mike chases the women with poor Zoë strapped to the bonnet of the girls' car. It has quite a satisfying ending with Mike getting his comeuppance, which involves him getting the shit kicked out of him by the rightly furious women.

It is, to be honest, lesser Tarantino, but still worthy of a spot in his collection for his trademark shooting style, dialogue, music and brief moments of shocking violence.

Overall it's diverting enough, but not a stand out in the filmography of either Rodriguez or Tarantino.

Score:
Planet Terror: 6/10
Death Proof: 7/10

Despite the relatively poor box office performance, reviews out there are generally positive. Andrew at Den of Geek wasn't overly wild about Planet Terror but it seems he vastly prefers it over Death Proof, and Nick at Empire thought it was pretty good. Death Proof is generally better reviewed, when considering reviews like these ones from Damon at Empire and Chris at Eye for Film.