Another great picture (pictures) from Rodriguez and Tarantino

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2007)

"Grindhouse" is the utterly off-the-wall visceral experience that viewers have come to expect from directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
There is plenty of blood, guts, and gore and don't forget the blatant exploitation of women and minorities. "Grindhouse" has everything that a film paying homage to 1970's drive-in B-horror movies requires.
"Grindhouse" is a horror movie double feature. The first film is "Planet Terror" directed by Rodriguez. The film is about a military team who accidentally releases a toxic gas into the air of Texas. This gas just happens to turn everyone in the town into zombies. Residents of the town, especially El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), Cherry (Rose McGowan), and Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), must stick together and try to survive this zombie nightmare.
By the way I'm so happy to see Biehn back on the screen. Even though he is the most typecast actor I have ever seen. Seriously, go to IMDb.com and look him up. You will be hard-pressed to find a film where he does not play a police or military officer. He is so good at it though, and he has played those parts in some great modern classics.
In between the two films are three fake trailers made by other horror directors including, Rob Zombie (The Devils Rejects), Eli Roth (Hostel), and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead). These trailers are hysterical. They do such a fine job by poking fun at trailers for movies that you probably would not see because they look so goofy. Honestly, one of them is called "Werewolf Women of the S.S." Hilarious.
The last film is Tarantino's "Death Proof." This film is about two groups of girls that are terrorized by a stunt car driver. The driver, Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), has some unknown vendetta against these girls and attempts to kill them with his death proof stunt car. This film is the only weak point of "Grindhouse." The double feature opens with an explosion then slows down to a crawl; never bringing you back to the same point of excitement.
Tarantino has always been known for having films that are driven by witty and clever dialogue, but this causes "Death Proof" to be a slowly unwinding movie. After the non-stop thrills in "Planet Terror," "Death Proof" pales in comparison. It is like going to a concert and having a heavy-metal band open up for jazz band. The viewer gets revved up in the first movie only to be slowed down for a smooth, cool second film. The order of the movies should have been reversed.
"Grindhouse" ultimately suffers from the abrupt change of pace. Rodriguez and Tarantino even dirtied the picture quality in order to give all the films an aged and well-worn visual look. Plus, I enjoyed how the theater even put a flier on the entrance on the specific "Grindhouse" entrance doors telling all patrons that the film is supposed to look that way so don't go and complain to them.
The directors even went as far as to leave out missing reels from the films so a part from each movie is missing. These reels are conveniently left out at the sexually exploitative parts, so even though they are paying homage to the classic films, "Grindhouse" does not become exploitative itself.
Be forewarned, "Grindhouse" literally is a movie double feature. Expect the length of two movies combined together with some trailers because this film clocks in at about three hours and 15 minutes. This is time well spent though, as "Grindhouse" is a roller-coaster ride of pure gruesome fun and humor.