An Unrivaled Movie-going Experience

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2007)

With countless remakes, sequels and rehashes seen at the movie theaters in recent years, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse", an over the top double feature, is a very refreshing movie going experience that actually warrants a ten to twelve dollar admission fee. With two suspenseful full length feature films and several hilarious fake trailers in between, this movie is guaranteed to satisfy both the nostalgic fan boys of 1970's and '80's grind house theatergoing experience as well as anyone who is up for some non-stop entertainment that manages to keep audiences intrigued even with an over three hour running time.
Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" is the first of the two films and starts the grind house experience off incredibly. This zombie movie is a violent, laugh filled saga about a town that becomes overrun with contaminated, undead humans. The film never takes itself too seriously, as unbelievable plot lines are necessary in creating Rodriguez's almost spoof-like experience of 70's and 80's horror movies, with missing reels and all. A main character with an automatic machine gun for a leg would seem ridiculous at first, yet is surprisingly cool, unique and funny.
The gore, action and humor of "Planet Terror" is followed up by Tarantino's "Death Proof", an intelligent slasher flick where the murderer uses his car instead of a knife. A huge change from the previous film, this one is all about suspense and anticipation, riddled with witty, clever dialogue that is humorous and entertaining. The car stunts throughout this portion of "Grindhouse" are done completely without CGI and will make your jaw drop because of how impressive they are.
While both story lines differ substantially, the overall feel of each separate film remains the same. The prestigious directors actually went as far as to "age" the films by adding scratches, dirt and dust, which creates a movie viewing experience unique to any other seen in past years. Tarantino and Rodriguez's faithfulness to the late 1970 grind house theaters is remarkably enjoyable and so different from any other type of movie which has been released recently that the intentional B-movie scripts are overlooked.
The fake movie trailers in between the "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" are brilliantly made, spoofing the way trailers use to be thirty years ago, and do so with such hilarity. Also created by famous horror directors such as Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and Edgar Wright, trailers for the "Thanksgiving", "Don't", "Machete" and "Werewolf Women of the S.S." are purposely vulgar and ridiculous in order to have audiences laughing the entire time they preview what is suppose to be an actual movie.
It has been an incredibly long time since a movie has been released that manages to escape every set genre of film and create its own personal identity. "Grindhouse" does this by not only being two horror movies in one, but also by never taking itself too seriously and incorporating such unique elements as missing reels and fake trailers. This underrated, over the top double features is truly something to behold, and most definitely worth the price of an admission ticket.