Two movies for the price of one!

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2009)

My Take: Takes on Z-grade sleaze with style, panache and over-the-top glee, GRINDHOUSE is great night at the movies.
I wasn't born when Grindhouse cinema was in fashion, yet judging by the terrific time I had with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's GRINDHOUSE special, I guess I didn't have to. Bursting with the love and at the same time mockery of the directors to their inspiration, GRINDHOUSE is a wild ride, a fun and surprisingly original time at the movies. Anyone wanting to dust off some nostalgia will absolutely feel at home here. But even others only wanting a swell movie-going experience won't feel so alienated. Okay, so I didn't exactly see the actual full GRINDHOUSE double-feature, but I did see each film separately (now on DVD) and I manage to pick up the rest of the fake trailers myself on the internet, completing the Grindhouse experience.
"The Fake Trailers": In addition to two full mock-Grindhouse features, there are four fake trailers to add to the Grindhouse experience. They're authentic, yet self-mocking at the same time. And that's the treat. However, like the two features, there have their differences. Finally, I get to review a trailer (sort of) instead of simply including them in a review of some movies, saying they are sometimes better than the films they endorse.
"Machete": Robert Rodriguez's fake trailer comes first, "endorsing" a hit-man movie, the sort of hit-man flick now considered as curiosity pieces just because of their awfulness. Rodriguez knows that, so he picks Danny Trejo to play a Mexican assassin-for-hire who is framed, left for dead and now demands revenge. Rodriguez truly captures the feel of an old, sleazy 70's trailer (complete with the typical announcer) with a welcome sense of mockery. It's pretty violent of course, but starts becoming hilarious when Cheech Marin as a priest appears with a shotgun. A terrific take, but like most trailers to real bad movies, it's better left a trailer. Rating: ****.
"Werewolf Women of the SS": My favorite of the fake trailers, Rob Zombie's take on soft-porn exploitation films is often sick and sleazy on one hand, but has its share of hilarious mockery on the other, while having an authentic feel of the actual thing. Udo Kier is a welcome face as a Nazi officer (what else?!) and Nicolas Cage in a hilarious appearance as (I hope you're sitting down!) Fu Manchu! Who knew? Rating: ****1/2.
"Don't": The trio of one of my favorite funny men (director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) bring what ironically is the spookiest of the four. Wright's take on B-haunted house movies is alternately funny and scary attempt, but the "scare" part seemed more evident to me. Nonetheless, Nick Frost makes a welcome (if pretty disturbing) cameo and Wright's mockery is still evident. But if you think this is the best of the fake trailers, don't!! Rating: ***.
"Thanksgiving": The worst of the trailers in my opinion. A sick, violent take on the slasher sub-genre by the one-and-only Eli Roth. His trademark gruesomeness is evident on-screen in a montage of one gruesome scene after another, presented in trailer form. I don't really know when this film stops being gross and starts not taking itself seriously. Though, he does capture the feel of the authentic trailers in was inspired from. That alone might inspire a small giggle, but then, in comes another stab with the knife! And don't get me started on how this thing ends! Rating: *.