The Good (Bad) Ol' Days

Rating: 7/10 (25 September 2007)

Grindhouse is Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's loving tribute to 42nd Street, back when it was known as The Deuce, before Rudy Giuliani and Walt Disney ruined everything. Grindhouse is two films in one: Planet Terror, a zombie spoof; and Death Proof, a more serious stalker/car chase flick. Both films are artificially stressed to make them look aged, with scratch marks and missing reels (the sex scenes, natch). In between are fake trailers for other psychotronic fare, and commercials for disgusting concession stand food. You can almost smell the weed in the air, and feel the chewing gum underfoot.
Unfortunately, audiences didn't get the joke, and the picture bombed. To recoup their losses, the studio is re-releasing Planet Terror and Death Proof as two separate movies, in extended director's cuts. Of the two, Death Proof can best stand alone as its own movie; Planet Terror is too much part of the gag to work by itself. Tarantino seems to be realizing a lifelong dream to become the world's greatest B-movie auteur. There are worse ambitions.