This Rodriguez/Tarantino Double-Feature Successfully Revives The Long-Dead Grindhouse

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2007)

"Grindhouse" (2007)
Directed By: Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, Stacy Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Naveen Andrews, Michael Biehn, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Ferlito, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jordan Ladd, & Bruce Willis
MPAA Rating: "R" (for strong graphic bloody violence and gore, pervasive language, some sexuality, nudity and drug use)
GRIND HOUSE (n): A theater playing back-to-back films exploiting sex, violence, and other extreme subject matter.
In the 1970's, Grindhouse theaters became quite popular. They showed the films that most regular theaters would not show due to their extreme subject matter. Two of Hollywood's best directors, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, team up to direct a double-feature reminiscent of those old theaters with fake trailers put in between. For the trailers, Rodriguez and Tarantino recruited Eli Roth (director of "Hostel" and "Cabin Fever"), Edgar Wright (director of "Shaun of the Dead"), and Rob Zombie (director of "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects"). Robert Rodriguez directed the first film, "Planet Terror", while Quentin Tarantino directed the second film, "Death Proof". I'll break this review into three parts: "Planet Terror", "Death Proof", and the trailers.
PLANET TERROR: Robert Rodriguez's segment is easily the superior of the two films and will probably end up being the best horror movie of the year. He strives to make a gloriously bad movie and it works because it acknowledges the badness and uses this knowledge to inject humor and fun into the film. The plot is simplistic: a chemical is released into the air and begins to turn the world's population into a horde of flesh-eating zombies while a small group of people try to survive. It is, surprisingly, one of the best zombie films I have ever seen, delivering plenty of gore and tons of entertainment. On the slight downside, I thought there were a few too many survivors by the end of the movie and that Rodriguez could have knocked off a few more.
DEATH PROOF: Quentin Tarantino's segment suffers predominately from a heavy, dialog-drenched beginning that stretches all the way to the last twenty minutes. At first, I wondered if perhaps Tarantino missed the point of Grindhouse cinemaand then the last scene kicked in and I completely understand. What started off as a character-driven melodrama became a high-octane thrill-ride that's success or failure ultimately rested on whether or not we could relate to the characters on the screen. Due to Tarantino's seemingly weighty first half, we could feel for our characters and we did care about what happened to them. The only problem is that all of the dialog became quite dull while it was all happening and could have been taken up a notch with a bit more gratuitous violence (after all, that is what made Grindhouse theaters famous).
FAKE TRAILERS: The fake trailers that played in between the two films are probably the highlight of the movie with Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving" being my favorite. It was deliciously over-the-top and inappropriate and kept me chuckling the entire time. Edgar Wright's "Don't" is another very entertaining one, though it obviously has no plot and no real point. Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" (starring the always cool Danny Trejo) is also a very fun trailer that captures the Grindhouse edge. The low point of the movie, surprisingly, is Rob Zombie's trailer for "Werewolf Women of the SS", which didn't capitalize on the werewolf angle enough. However, it was still entertaining enough to work. It just isn't up to Rob Zombie's standards (at least those set by "The Devil's Rejects") and is more on the level of his disappointing "House of 1000 Corpses".
Final Thought: Overall, "Grindhouse" is a great movie and far more fun that any movie released so far this year. It delivers bloody action and tight thrills with that Grindhouse grunge as only Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino could do it.
~ "Planet Terror": 10/10 (A+) ~ "Death Proof": 9/10 (A) ~ Fake Trailers: 9/10 (A)
Overall Rating: 9/10 (A)