Just fantastic!!!!

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2007)

Incredible 3 hours+ double feature by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino with fake coming attractions mixed in. First up is "Planet Terror" by Rodriguez which has a hot shot guy (Freddy Rodriguez) and his tough as nails girlfriend (Rose McGowan) fighting flesh eating zombies with others. Among other cast members are Michael Biehn and Josh Brolin. It successfully imitates a stupid sleazy grind house horror film with large does of (purposefully) fake-looking gore and plays it straight while poking fun of itself. And wait for when McGowan gets the weapon for a leg! Next is Tarantino's "Death Proof" with Kurt Russell as a stuntman who uses his indestructible car to kill people. It starts off slow but all leads up to a climatic battle which is just incredible and had my audience cheering and yelling along! In between there are fake trailers for movies such as "Werewolf Women of the SS" (great to see Sybil Danning again) and others.
These movies were supposed to look cheap. Rodriguez' does with rips and tears (and a whole missing reel) but Tarantino's doesn't. It's virtually crystal clear with shots that no grind house movie would ever have. Still all is forgiven with that incredible final battle. I can't remember the last time I've seen an audience so whipped up by a movie! The cast for both movies play there roles completely straight. McGowan (who's in both) is lots of fun and Russell is a scream in his role--I LOVED it when he winked at the camera! Also Rodriguez was really good (and very attractive) in his role. Nobody is bad but those three stand out.
I can only give this a 9 for a few reason--"Planet Terror" does have its slow spots and "Death Proof" starts off very slow. Also one of the coming attraction done by Eli Roth ("Thanksgiving") was overly gory and just sick (it had to be cut to get an R rating). Roth obviously doesn't know how to do comedy...or movies for that matter.
Still this is a fun and rousing film. The 3 hours+ plus just flew by. Highly recommended.