"Grindhouse" Review

TwitchGuru caught an advanced screening of the new film "Grindhouse," which opens this weekend. Editors Rob Wright and Travis Meacham present their takes on the two-part film in a double feature review. Click on the image below for the video review or read on for the written review.

Travis Meacham's Review

There was a time when movies challenging the limits of sex and violence ran rampant in select theaters throughout the United States. These films were notorious for their poor quality both artistically and in the audio / visual category. Many times these films would be shown in a double feature booking in theaters commonly called grind houses, and they toured the country like forbidden rock bands. It is this era of film that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez hope to capture with their double feature release entitled "Grindhouse." The showcases two new films from the directors ("Planet Terror" from Robert Rodriguez and "Death Proof" from Quentin Tarantino) as well as some fake trailers from the likes of Rob Zombie ("House of 1000 Corpses"), Eli Roth ("Cabin Fever"), and Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead"). The assignment was simple enough: to each create a modern grind house-style exploitation movie complete with sex and violence, damaged footage, and awkward jump cuts. Unfortunately only one of the directors passed the course.

View the "Grindhouse" Slide Show (16 images)

Planet Terror

This is the first movie in the double feature show (coming after the exceptional trailer for "Machete" starring Danny Trejo which brilliantly sets the tone for the whole spectacle). "Planet Terror" is a basic zombie movie except these aren't dead-rising-from-the-grave zombies. They're closer to alien infestation or plague zombies complete with exploding pus sores and liquefying appendages. This segment stars Rose McGowan as a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling and Freddy Rodriguez as the mysterious El Wray. As the zombies grow in number and start picking off or infection hapless townsfolk, Cherry and Wray are joined by a collection of survivors who have to battle their way to the military compound that originated the zombie problem.

Honestly, the story is not important, and if you've seen any zombie film from the past 30 years you already know it. The draw here is the presentation. Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" has the requisite exploitive shots of smoking hot women, over-the-top gore, and classic B movie mistakes to make it an absolute party of a movie-going experience. "Over-the-top" gore may not even cover it. Just when you think he's gone too far he just keeps going and going and going, but it isn't squirm gore like what "Hostel" and "Saw" deliver. This is that old-fashioned funny gore akin to "Evil Dead 2" and "Return of the Living Dead."

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the main cast in this. It's great to see 80s staples like Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey in a theatrical release rather than Sci-Fi channel and straight to video trash. Both actors turn in fantastic performances, and without parodying themselves or playing it all for camp. Rose McGowan opens the movie with a delicious dance number through the opening credits, and even though she loses a leg early on she remains "horror" sexy throughout the film. Despite showing some action star promise, Freddy Rodriguez cuts a diminutive silhouette which hampers his threat level a tad. Nevertheless, he fills El Wray with enough mystery and danger to keep him interesting.

"Planet Terror" is an absolute blast right up until Quentin Tarantino shows up in a predictable cameo. How is it possible that he's gotten worse at acting and funnier looking? When Quentin appears the movie all but stops, and that early momentum is nearly lost. His scenes feel like many and they go on way too long, but it all gets back on track soon enough and closes with a good ending. All in all, "Planet Terror" is filled with old-school horror fun, action hero moments, and enough John Carpenter inspired synthesizer score to give you flashbacks. It sets the bar for Tarantino's segment pretty high, unfortunately for him.

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