(Long Island, N.Y.) Grindhouse is, if nothing else, an interesting experiment. It’s a testament to two men’s love of the Exploitation film genre and a throwback to the 70’s when sleazy, violent, sex-filled movies used to play paired as double features to packed urban theaters, commonly referred to as “Grindhouses.” Exploitation movies spanned sorts of genres- Kung-Fu, Zombie, Slasher, Women In Prison, Blaxploitation…any film where there was a chance to show some blood and skin was included.
I was a bit too young to have experienced going to a 1970’s grindhouse, but as someone who has always had a soft spot for the over-the-top B-movies, I was looking forward to the new collaborative effort by directors Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill), appropriately titled Grindhouse. Two feature-length films, one by each director, played back-to-back in one sitting, with faux trailers advertising fictional films preceding each one. But much like when your Mom used to make that casserole using random weird leftovers from the fridge, the end result is a mixed bag. However, the good outweighs the bad and the overall experience is unusual, yet fun. Let’s get our hands dirty, shall we kids?
Grindhouse opens up with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a zombie movie. The story involves go-go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) as she encounters the end result of a rouge military unit’s bio-weapon experiment gone awry- flesh-eating zombies, of course. A gas that transforms normal humans into the undead is accidentally released into the air, and soon her entire town is swarmed with the ugly, rotting, badly-mannered creatures. Cherry is attacked and loses a leg, but is saved at the last second by her boyfriend, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez). He takes Cherry to the local hospital, where they discover it packed both with people affected by the toxic gas and their many unfortunate victims. Barely escaping with their lives, the couple bands together with a rag-tag group of survivors, all of whom are strangely immune to the effects of the zombie gas. Armed to the teeth (by this point Cherry has had her leg replaced by a high-powered machine gun/grenade launcher), the group must escape the hell their community has become while also contending with the aforementioned military unit, lead by Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis).
As a director, Rodriguez is a true jack of all trades- his credits commonly include director, writer, producer, musical composer, film editor…you name it, this guy does it. He’s always been known for his charismatic, high energy film-making, but (in my opinion) has fallen into a bit of a slump lately, quality-wise. However, Planet Terror is an excellent return to form and a great movie. It’s fun and fast paced, in addition to being incredibly violent, sick, and gory. It strikes the perfect balance of cheesiness without going too far over the line and becoming an outright parody of itself. A great opener for our double feature.
On we go to Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, and the fun almost comes to a “grinding” halt. The movie’s premise looked great on paper- Stuntman Mike, played by the always awesome Kurt Russell, is a serial killer who preys on beautiful young women with his “death proof” stunt car. By “death proof,” we mean that the car is reinforced so that Mike can walk away from any crash- however, his passengers or the people in the cars he hits aren’t quite so lucky. After a string of successful kills, Mike picks a group of girls out test driving a muscle car to stalk and soon finds the tables turned on him. Who will come out on top?
In my opinion, Quentin Tarantino is probably the most overrated director in history. 80% of Death Proof consists of long, bland, uninteresting dialogue scenes that are so bad that they almost ruined the Grindhouse experience as a whole. I’ve seen movies that were dominated by talk and they’ve managed to be quite engaging, but Death Proof is NOT one of those movies. Tarantino used to be able to write snappy dialogue- go and rent Pulp Fiction to re-visit a time then Quentin could do so- but after watching the recent Kill Bill 1& 2 and now Death Proof, it’s clear that time is loooong past.
Anyway, all of Death Proof’s blathering eventually leads to a pretty cool car chase scene, but it’s almost not worth sitting through the set-up. It’s a shame too- the concept of a Slasher movie where the killer uses a car is brilliant.
Also of note are the phony trailers that I mentioned in the first paragraph, which play before each main feature. There are four in total: Machete (also directed by Rodriguez), Werewolf Women of the S.S. (by Rob Zombie), Don’t (by Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright), and Thanksgiving (by Hostel director Eli Roth). All four trailers are hilarious and an absolute blast to watch, and their inclusion really serves to tie Grindhouse together into a cohesive package. They left me wanting more.
I’m known for hating unnecessarily long movies, but personally I LOVED the whole concept of Grindhouse and I was totally buying into the length- it seemed completely warranted, given what they were trying to do. I greatly enjoyed Planet at Quentin Tarantino for mucking up Death Proof so badly and partially spoiling the experience. When a movie’s total running time is over three hours, you can’t have a large chunk of it drag like that. But if one of the segments does, at least put it first instead of second. Believe me, I was ready for a 3+ hour movie. Death Proof made it feel like 7 or 8.
Nonetheless, even with that glaring problem, Grindhouse remains a very cool and unique experience- go watch it. Just feel free to take unlimited bathroom breaks during the first 2/3rds of Death Proof.
