If anything see it for Planet Terror

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2007)

I love these kind of movies, there is just no greater thrill for me than to watch a great gory 70's or 80's splatter film pretty much anything from Death Race 2000 to Cannibal Holocaust. So the movie starts off with a bang, there is a trailer for a fake movie called "Machete" which I really think should have just been filmed to replace Death Proof. Machete was this really great cheesy and gory action story almost like a Mexican variation on the black exploitation action films.
Anyways Planet Terror really made it worth while. This movie is just a great action packed, gore soaked, and even humorous thrill ride. It's pretty much a zombie story and the body count is huge and there is enough gore to satisfy a hardcore gore hound (sure it isn't Dead Alive but this is an R rated movie after all.) The plot works well, the characters tend to be over the top but they have great charisma. Also the special effects are really well done, although to look like a Grindhouse movie the effects were a bit too good to really feel like a cheap 70's gore film. But it never gets dull for a second. I'd have to give it a 10/10.
After that we're treated to some great trailers that are really funny. The Thanksgiving trailer is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while, also the very great parts where people get beheaded at impossible circumstances is really funny to see. So again the trailers are just a real treat, I have to say some of these could work as great horror comedies.
Then Death Proof comes on, I have really high hopes for it. It starts with shots of some very beautiful women's feet and legs then you see a group of women talking about their sex lives. There is this weirdo (played by Kurt Russell) who is stalking them. So for a while not all we see is the women talking and some moments of the killer who we find out is a stunt man. All the talking really gets tiresome fast and I want some action. Eventually after way too much talking (and I'll also add that most of it has nothing to further the plot) they drive home. The killer has a passenger that he kills by doing sharp turns to bump her head into the car. He then drives in front of the group of women and crashes into them head on, it shows how the all die in the crash (pretty cool looking.) Then it cuts to the killer as the only one left alive (just a little banged up) and then our next group of women.
We meet a group of very obnoxious women, I swear I wanted to strange them so I'd never have to hear them speak ever again after just 5 minutes of them. At least I should be able to watch them all turn into road kill. They end up talking and doing some car stunt for the rest of the movie. Later on the killer shows up and starts ramming the women until the diver shoots him in the shoulder and he becomes a coward who all of a sudden refuses to seek any form of vengeance. The women become the road warriors and bump his car until the cars stop and the women beat him to death. That is Death Proof, a movie that has only one car crash and 89% talking. I give it a 2/10 because it was just so slow paced, boring, and nothing really happened. Just rent Duel, The Road Warrior or Death Race 2000 if you want a quality driving thriller.
In the end seeing Death Proof really took away a lot of my fun. But up until Death Proof I was seeing one of the best horror movies I've seen in recent years and I was having a great time. If it wasn't for Death Proof I'd give it a 10/10 but that just isn't the case.