Good entertaining schlock movie fare

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2007)

Grindhouse is not what I expected it to be, which probably begs the question: what did I expect it to be? Well, I was looking for nearly non-stop action and pacing, combined with snappy Tarantino dialogue and hilarious Rodriguez setups and jokes to boot. The good news is that both films possess these elements to some degree, the bad news are the somewhat boring segments you are forced to sit through while waiting for more ridiculous action, blood, gore and violence. First up on the bill is Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a zombie film through and through, though subtly imbued with fresh new ideas in some places. Freddy Rodriguez portrays El Wray, a tough-talking man with a dubious past, who comes across his old flame with a new name, Cherry (Rose Mcgowan), at a barbecue pit. Meanwhile, Abby (Naveen Andrews) accidentally releases a dangerous chemical weapon into the atmosphere, and thus regular Texans start mutating into horrible brain eating zombies, and thus Planet Terror starts following the course of every zombie ever: a lot of people die and a small group of survivors bands together and survives, or doesn't. Yet, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Planet Terror does indeed take the zombie movie to the next level in its over-the-topness. There are some really hilarious and somewhat disgusting moments in this movie, which is basically why you're watching it; however, there are also some somewhat slow-paced scenes of pseudo-sentimentality and plot-building that seem rather out of place in a movie that is otherwise filled with exploding heads, brainless heads, headless heads and other such wonders. Ultimately, Planet Terror turns out to be a who's who of stable Rodriguez actors with a few interesting newcomers, and a lot of great zombie killing action mixed with some boring scenes.
The tagline for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof says that "A New Terror is Coming at 200 mph!" But it's not so much terror as it is terrible, yet awesomely so. It looks as if ol' Quentin knowingly set out to make a craptacular spectacle of a movie, and if this was indeed his goal, he certainly succeeded. Kurt Russel as Stuntman Mike and two different packs of dizzy dames take center stage here, as Mike stalks the two sets of girls and engages them in trials and tribulations of an automobile nature. The idea of a stalker executing his kills with a car certainly seems like a great fresh take on the slasher genre, but for all I know Tarantino borrowed it directly from an old movie, and there have certainly been highway terrors on film before (Duel anyone?). But, regardless of the origin, the stuntman idea works really well here, allowing for interesting character dynamics and some pretty funny scenes. The dialogue is of course typical Tarantino, chock full of pop culture references and even a few nods to Pulp Fiction. But sadly, given the true nature of this movie, anything happening on screen that isn't high speed highway hijinks just feels lacking, I couldn't shake the feeling of just waiting around for something more interesting to happen.
Frankly, the best part of Grindhouse, in my opinion, are the faux-trailers that play in between the two features. Although they're all essentially one-note gags, they don't get old in the two minutes each roughly lasts and thus these trailers provide a hilarious break from some of the monotony of the features. In the end, Grindhouse is by far an entertaining film, and although I eagerly await Tarantino's 5th film, as well as Sin City 2 and the Machete spin-off from Rodriguez, this campy fare fills in nicely for the meantime.