Spirk Suggests: Grindhouse
What do you get when you take two of the greatest writer/directors in the world and let them do whatever the hell they want? You get the movie Grindhouse. Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, From Dusk Til Dawn, The El Miriachi Trilogy) join forces once more to take you through a tour de force of the classic Grindhouse exploitation movies of the Seventies. The film features two full length movies back to back that include evrerything you would find in an old seventies exploitation flick. Noise pops, scratches on the film even missing reels and skips.
Things start out with a ‘fake’ trailer for the movie Machete. Danny Trejo stars as the mad Mexican killer Machete and in joined by his priest/brother Cheech Marrin (Cheech and Chong). After the two minute trailer the first movie, Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror begins.
Set in Texas Planet Terror is an over the top gorefest that slaps you in the face with it’s rediculous plot and stereotyping of women as sluts and lesbians…Except for Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan). She’s got a chip on her shoulder and doesn’t like much of anyone. Our Heroine set we meet the rest of the cast. Freddy Rodriguez as El Wray, Micheal Biehn as the Sheriff and Jeff Fahey as his brother J.T.
The story really cranks when Naveen Andrews (TV’s LOST) and Bruce Willis (Do I even need to mention what HE’s been in?) Show the audiance that there’s a mysterious gas that turns people into flesh eating zombies. Without giving too much of the plot away things go sideways and the gas is released. Mayhem ensuses (Including Fergie getting eaten by Zombies). Things spin quickly out of control and people are attacked left and right as the gas spreads. It all comes down to El Wray and Cherrie Darling to save the day and yes this does include Cherry sporting a new leg that happens to be a machine gun. It sounds corny as hell but while you watch it everything just seems to make sense.
With roles from actors of past and present by the likes of Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead), Josh Brolin and Marlie Shelton Planet Terror was an in your face visceral blow shit up fest that keeps you bouncing back and forth from lauging to going COOOOOL!
The movie ends…..and new ‘Fake’ Movie Trailers begin to play. The first being Werewolf Women of the SS by Rob Zombie (Devil’s Rejects, Halloween) followed by Edgar Wright’s(Shaun of the Dead) Don’t! Then came the trailer that gave the MPPA fits. Thanksgiving was perhaps the sickest and most disturbing of the fake trailers and it was brought to you by Eli Roth (Hostel). The clip from the trailer where there is a girl bouncing up and down on the trampoline, flash to the killer sticking a long knife up through the bottom of the trampoline, flash to the girl jumping high and coming down doing the splits….Right onto the knife. A definite ‘cringe’ moment.
After the second set of trailers the second movie begins. This one is called Deathproof and is Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to the Grindhouse. Also set in Texas this is the story of an aged stuntman who goes by the name Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell). He seems nice at first, smooth talking and easy to get along with, but once you get him in his ‘deathproof’ car you find out that he’s actually a serial killer who enjoys killing young ladies with his monster machine.
As with most Tarnatino films this one starts off slow, a lot of dialouge and refferences to pop culture. Even though it’s not as ‘in your face’ as Planet Terror Tarantino has a way of getting you to like the characters, even the bad guy.
The first foursome of girls that he meets up with are local girls, the most noticeable ones played by Syndey Tamija Poitier (Daughter of film legend Sidney Poitier) and Vennessa Ferlito (CSI:NY) Afte Stuntman Mike does his thing (Including offing his passenger Rose McGowan) he heads to Tennessee where he tracks another set of girls (Stuntwoman Zoe Bell as herself, Rosario Dawson as Abernathy, Tracy Thoms as Kim and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lee). These girls are more then he expects. One of the greatest High Speed Chases ever is the result. Granted the ending of the movie is as sudden as it is brutal but well worth watching.
3 hours and 15 minutes of non stop in your face gratuity and you leave the theater wanting more. I plan on seeing Grindhouse again in the near future because I know there is a lot of things that I just flat out missed because so much was happening. I can’t recommend this movie enough, especially if you’re an action/horror junkie because this movie has EVERYTHING you could possibly ever want.
Go see it, you won’t be disappointed.
Richard Carroll is an avid movie viewer and all around fanboy. You can probably find him at his computer playing Guild Wars when not watching,writing, reading or roleplaying something (Oh and then there’s the real world and work). Check out some of his written works at www.ficofthedead.com. A website in need of a webmaster to ensure it gets updated. (Any takers? Anyone? *grins*)