After all the talk about Grindhouse being a tribute to the low-budget action films of the early Seventies, the film, in total, is a mixed bag. The closest approximations to the kinds of stuff I actually saw on 42nd Street back during those years is to be found in the hilarious previews by Robert Rodriguez, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie. Of the two actual features by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, Rodriquez’ Planet Terror is the stronger, more sustained work.
What is a bit jarring are the anachronisms running rampant throughout the films. Both features have contemporary settings but a filmed, more or less, with drive-in aesthetics. The big difference is that Rodriguez maintains the look of an old film – the colors occassionally fade in and out, and at one point the film appears to have been caught in the projector and burns up. The story about a virus that turns people into man-eating zombies never lets up. The narrative doesn’t always make sense either, but Rodriguez simply keeps moving forward as we watch the members of a small Texas town shoot their way out of an impossible situation.
The main attraction of Planet Terror is watching Rose McGowan as a former go-go dancer. There is a visceral thrill when McGowan, to put it bluntly, lifts her leg, that is the one that has a machine gun in place. Planet Terror may also prove that Robert Rodriguez has spent a bit too much time looking at medical books, the kind illustrated with the most disgusting diseases ever photographed. There is enough blood, guts and goo for at least ten drive-in classics. It’s enough to make a film like Humanoids of the Deep look like the paragon of good taste.
Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino at his laziest. The film starts off reasonably well, especially after Kurt Russell invites Rose McGowan for a ride, and she finds herself trapped in the passenger seat of a car that is “death proof”, but only for the driver. Their is a jump to a scene of four women talking. And talking. And talking. There is a great movie about women talking, and it’s called The Women. It’s directed by George Cukor. Grindhouse tries to play with the audience by having missing reels in the two features, but if there was ever a scene by Tarantino that should have been cut, this is it.
After the laborious set-up, the women test drive a 1970 Dodge Challenger. One of the women does a stunt involving riding on the hood of the car. Russell reappears to ram his car into the Dodge, terrorizing the women. It’s fun to watch battling cars, but given a choice, I’d rather watch Fireball 500 or the original Vanishing Point.
The biggest problem is instead of trying to make a grindhouse film from start to finish, Tarantino uses Death Proof to show off his pop culture frames of reference. Using an instrumental by Jack Nitsche is a nice touch. I even enjoyed looking at the vintage movie posters on the walls of a bar. Tarantino shows off his pretensious side by having characters quote Robert Frost. Silly is when Russell discusses how the television series “The Virginian” evolved into “The Men from Shiloh”. Sillier is a discussion of the mostly forgotten 60s British band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
For a truer grindhouse experience, there are plenty of DVDs with built in double features and previews, with the films that actually played grindhouses and drive-ins. As for the movie Grindhouse, wait for the DVD. I suspect that we will be able to see a special edition, one that includes the “missing reels”.
Piper said
April 6 2007 @ 5:32 pm
I would agree that Tarantino’s movie is less of an homage, but I found it the more interesting of the two due mainly to Russell and Poitier and the the fact that I really didn’t know where it was going.
Grindhouse Rodriguez thrills, Tarantino… said
April 6 2007 @ 6:16 pm
[...] Grindhouse Rodriguez thrills, Tarantino… [...]
Screen Rant said
April 7 2007 @ 2:42 am
Ack. “Death Proof” abso-fricken-lutely SUCKED. I was SO pumped after “Planet Terror”, thinking the fun was only halfway over, but if I hadn’t planned on writing a review I would have walked out of the second feature. Boring with a capital “B”.
Man, was I disappointed!
Vic
Gandalf Mantooth said
April 7 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Isn’t it interesting how many of the critics in print chose the Tarantino segment? Such fanboy-ism at play. Tarantino was mostly name checking himself in his segment. I didn’t hate “Death Proof” as much as you all did, however I did find “Planet Terror” to be the infinitely more enjoyable experience.
Piper said
April 7 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Planet Terror is the more entertaining, but I think Death Proof is the better movie. Planet Terror is nothing more than a spoof and that’s easy territory.
Gandalf Mantooth said
April 7 2007 @ 5:35 pm
Both Rodriguez and Tarantino would want to slap you for calling Planet Terror a “spoof.” “Airplane” is a spoof.
Piper said
April 7 2007 @ 7:39 pm
Hmmmm. Interesting. Have you read an article written about the movies? They refer to it as a spoof or a parody.
Gandalf Mantooth said
April 7 2007 @ 11:33 pm
Who are “they?” I watched the “making of” video I downloaded from the weinstein company web site and listened to both directors talk about the movie, and don’t recall either using the word “spoof.” I recall tribute, homage, love, etc. Never spoof.
Richard said
April 8 2007 @ 7:27 am
I think any film that mixes horror with comedy is being called a “spoof” these days, Gandalf.
After all, people called “Shaun of the Dead” a “spoof”, and that film was the clearest homage to Romero I’ve ever seen, right down to the music!
Its funny, in a way. We have so many genres now a days – dramedy, black comedy, etc., etc., – but the idea of a “horror comedy” still seems a novelity – +20 years after Evil Dead and +30 years after the Grindhouse days, and people still can’t get their heads around “horror comedy”.
Plus, spoof is only five letters long, and “horror comedy” is ten, and critics are a lazy bunch.
Piper said
April 8 2007 @ 8:49 am
Planet Terror has fun with the category. The acting is bad, the blood is extra gory on purpose. It is a conscious effort and in my book and I think quite a few others that is called a spoof. The definition is: A gentle satirical imitation; a light parody.
The Evil Dead movies are not spoofs. They are horror comedy. You are right there.
And I think I was mistaken on the interviews. I thought that Rodriguez had come out and said it was intended to be a spoof. I can’t find it. I think that Death Proof is more of an homage, although it goes too far in the dialogue. But whether Rodriguez wants to call it a spoof or not, it is. And based on the reviews he’ll have a lot of slapping to do.
Richard said
April 8 2007 @ 5:23 pm
Well, as a Death Proof liker and (hopefully) a critic of the non-snobish variety, I think Tarantino does what he does best with the dialogue – its his strong suit. Just like Planet Terror does what Rodriguez ultimately does best – awesome, over-the-top, yet still downright-cool action sequences.
Piper said
April 8 2007 @ 5:55 pm
I couldn’t agree more. I liked both movies, but enjoyed Death Proof more and I didn’t think I would. Russell is excellent and Sydney Poitier was amazing.
Screen Rant said
April 8 2007 @ 8:46 pm
I guess if you’re a Tarantino fan, you’re a Tarantino fan. I found the dialogue in “Death Proof” to be mind-numbingly boring. The kind of conversation I would have tuned out if I had been sitting in the same room with the characters. I don’t know, maybe it takes skill to simulate the conversations of ignorant people who have to use the f-word in every single sentence.
Vic
Piper said
April 8 2007 @ 8:52 pm
I’m a Tarantino fan, but you’re right about the dialogue. I enjoyed the first part of the movie a lot more than the second. The dialogue involving Zoe Bell et all seemed at times forced, boring and a tad too long. It ain’t no foot rubbing story from Pulp Fiction and I think it tried to be. In my review of the movie, I accused Tarantino for feeding his ego too much.
But nonetheless, I enjoyed Death Proof’s non-linear storytelling because I knew exactly where Planet Terror was going I had no idea where Death Proof was going to end up and for that I enjoyed it better.
ChillyWilly said
April 9 2007 @ 3:34 pm
The dialogue in “Death Proof” was a bit long and almost too much, but then at the end of the movie, I realized the how much the dialogue added a lot to delve more into the lives of the girls.
The action in “Planet Terror” was top notch, but I was more on the edge of my seat during the whole car chase at the end of “Death Proof”
Tarantino still has what it takes to make a great film and to remind us how bad films were still fun to watch.
Lee said
April 16 2007 @ 11:18 pm
There comes a time in all our lives that no matter how badass we are, we stop being cool, or just really fall on our face trying. This was Tarantino’s time.
My only hope is that he did such a hatchet job on the film as an homage to the craptacular b-movies that led viewers who only love films for the few amazing snippets, to overlook the crap that is the rest of the movie.
Grindhouse flicks were just plain bad movies, either bad in production quality (Planet Terror) or bad with a few redeeming qualities, like their concept, or a couple lines, or a cool scene.(Death Proof)
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Hellraiza81 said
October 22 2007 @ 3:31 pm
I give planet terror an 8 and half out of 10. I give death proof a 1 out of 10. Death Proof sucked so good I should pimp it and put it on a street corner to make me some money.
Planet Terror had action. Death proof had a bunch of boring conversation. a car crash, followed by more boring conversation, a mediocre car chase, stuntman mike dies.. The end.