A Review of the Film Grindhouse

Fresh off the creative and commercial success of their most recent film projects, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have teamed up to create their homage to 70's-era exploitation films, the double-feature Grindhouse. When last we saw them, Rodriguez offered up the great film-noir romp Sin City, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, while Tarantino was wrapping up his two-part revenge series, Kill Bill. Grindhouse offers up much of the same, with the film-makers putting a fresh spin on some of the genres that have inspired them.

The Grindhouse experience involves a complete transportation back in time, complete with era-specific content warnings and preview music, as well as altering the film stock to give the appearance of a imperfections.The pair even recruited some of their friends to create fake trailers to add to the experience. Rodriguez starts the experience with the trailer for Machete, a "film" featuring Danny Trejo as an assassin who is double-crossed on an assignment, and subsequently goes on a revenge-fueled rampage with Cheech Marin at his side as his priest. The trailer is an appropriate beginning to the Grindhouse experience.

The first feature on the bill is Robert Rodriguez's George Romero-inspired zombie flick, Planet Terror. Featuring wall-to-wall action, Planet Terror features Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling. Fed-up with her career, Darling walks away from her nightclub dancing and ultimately teams up with a band of small-town Texas misfits seeking to fight off what seems to be a zombie infestation. Freddy Rodriquez is featured as McGowan's ex-boyfriend, a bad boy who's run afoul of the law. Also in the cast are Marley Shelton and Josh Brolin (who channels Nick Nolte) as doctors who are trapped in a strained and unhappy marriage while also treating infected townspeople.

The joy of Planet Terror comes from almost nonstop action, featuring lots of gore and dry one-liners. The beauty of it all is its absurdity, from a small part for Bruce Willis as a leader of a secret military operation, to a humorous use of machine gun replacing and unfortunately amputated leg. You can tell that both cast and director are having a blast in this violent and bloody, yet funny zombie flick.

The next set of "trailers" is used as an intermission for the two features. Among these are Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS, about a secret Nazi plan. This trailer features a bizarre and funny cameo by Nicolas Cage as a character named Fu-Manchu. Edgar Wright's trailer Don't, is featured second, which appears to be about a possessed house. Lastly, we see Thanksgiving, by Hostel creator Eli Roth.

Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof follows the trailers and rounds out the twin bill. Death Proof derives its name from the way 70's-era stuntmen would "death proof" the cars that they drove in their films. Death Proof follows the exploits of Kurt Russell, a stuntman who goes by "Stuntman Mike" and terrorizes young women in his "death proof" car.

Tarantino's film features less wall-to-wall action than Planet Terror and more of Tarantino's trademark dialogue. The film starts out in Austin and follows Sydney Poitier and her pals. Poitier plays Jungle Julia, a local radio personality looking to show an out-of-town friend a night on the town. The Austin portion of the film features cameos from both Tarantino and Planet Terror's McGowan, as well as some brief scenes by a few overlapping characters from the Austin-based Planet Terror. After stalking them around town, Russell's character eventually catches up to the girls before the scene shifts to Tennessee. Without giving anything away, the film wraps up with an exhilarating action sequence straight out of some of the era's best car chase scenes.

Ultimately, what makes the two films so enjoyable as a package are the same things that make most of the two directors' best films work. Planet Terror is more of a thrill ride full of blood and gore, a little suspense and lots of campy humor. Death Proof combines classic Tarantino dialogue and music interwoven with the climactic sequence, providing both humor and a little shock along the way. Each film works as a fun love letter to a bygone era of cinema, while still providing a backdrop for rich and interesting character development. I give the films, rated together, 4 and a 1/2 stars out of 5.