Grindhouse

2007 / USA/  190 minutes

Director:  Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay:  Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
Starring:  Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Freddy Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Michael Biehn, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Genre:  Action, horror, crime, science-fiction

This film is a homage to the world of "grindhouse" cinema.  Grindhouses were cinemas that specialised in low-budget exploitation films in the 1970s.  The movies they showed were usually not very good quality and often released in damaged prints, and they were often shown in double bills are all night marathons.  Here we have what you might be letting yourself in for at a double feature at the grindhouse.

The program kicks off with Planet Terror, directed by Robert Rodriguez, in which the residents of a small Texan town struggle to survive against a virus which turns people into hideous, flesh-eating zombie like monsters.  Next up is Death Proof, directed by Quentin Tarantino, in which women are pursued by a psychopathic stuntman who kills his victims with a customised "death proof" stunt car.  To add to the fun, the films are preceded by trailers for fake movies:  Machete (which did become a feature film in 2010), Werewolf Women of the SS, directed by Rob Zombie, a homage to the Nazi exploitation sub-genre,  Don't, directed by Edgar Wright, a tribute to the Hammer Horror films, and Thanksgiving, directed by Eli Roth, a tribute to the holiday themed slasher movie sub-genre.

It's a very entertaining show, and certainly full of action, however the excessive violence and callousness, as well as the plot holes and bizarre quality of the films will not be to everyone's taste.  The film is made to look like a grindhouse show, including scratched film, washed out colours, missing reels, out of focus images, and at several points the film seemingly burning up in the projector, which adds to the authenticity, but at times does become quite irritating.

Grindhouse underperformed at the US box office and so Planet Terror and Death Proof were released internationally in extended versions as separate stand alone movies.