Brilliant Junk Food Double Feature

 GRINDHOUSE (2007)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally viewed in 2008

"Grindhouse" is a reminder of the low-budget flicks of the late 60's
and early to mid-late 70's - the kind of genre pictures that had an
anything goes mentality. From everything like "Mondo Trasho" and its
infinite kin of bizarre "Mondo" titles to those Pam Grier
blaxploitation flicks to everything else in between, "Grindhouse" aims
to remind us of those double features, that is two features for the
price of one. In 1978, I recall seeing a martial-arts double feature
with Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon" preceded by "Five Fingers From
Death." There were the usual trailers followed by those colorful,
rainbowesque signs that read "Coming Attractions" or "Your Feature
Presentation." And naturally, these movies were delivered from one
theatre to another without much care, thus bad splices, hair scratches on the frame

or bad sound were a part of the experience. Not only is "Grindhouse" a fitting
reminder of all that, it is also far more entertaining than most
recent, supposed grade-Z material that is given the A or B treatment.

The first feature is "Planet Terror," directed by Robert Rodriguez, a
truly nasty, disgusting pile of drivel that is as dirty and violent as
one might expect, in addition to dementedly funny and frantically
deranged. Rose McGowan is a stripper named Cherry Darling, who quits
her job since she gets too emotional on stage and really wants to be a
comedian! Before you can say Elizabeth Berkley in "Showgirls"-mode, 

there are flesh-eating zombies running amok in this movie, thanks to some military
experiment gone wrong, presumably. Oh, who cares about a plot when you
have an evil doctor (Josh Brolin, who acts and sounds just like his
father) who has a way with thermometers; his wife who has a way with
syringes; Tarantino as a serial rapist who gets one of the best
comeuppances in movie history; Bruce Willis as some colonel or
sergeant who holds a secret about Bin Laden; a crazy chemist who has a
fixation on collecting severed testicles; Jeff Fahey as J.T., with the
best barbecue sauce in town (this actor has improved with age), and
Michael Biehn as a sheriff who has almost seen it all. Oh, yes, and
let's not forget the deliberately drawn-out syllables of Michael Parks

in his recurring role as Sheriff Earl McGraw, future Texas Ranger.

We then get some deliciously funny trailers after "Planet Terror" is
over, which are better seen than described. The second feature begins
as Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" (also known as "Thunderbolt" if
you look closely), a less deranged and far more talky exploitation
picture that exceeds anything anyone might have expected. Kurt Russell
is the "Stroker Ace" former stunt car driver, Stuntman Mike, who has
an obsession with women, their feet, and killing them with his deadly
car that comes emblazoned with a skull on its hood. I have reviewed
the film "Death Proof" in its extended cut, so what we miss in this
slightly abbreviated version is a hell-on-fire, hypnotic lapdance that
is almost as good as the one in "Femme Fatale" and perhaps more
refined than the laughable one in "Showgirls" (the latter, a favorite
of Tarantino's).

The rest of the film is a demonic ride chock full of the usual
Tarantino flourishes, including pop-culture referential talk about
"Vanishing Point," lapdances, the TV series "The Virginian," foreign
fashion magazines, relationships, etc. All this builds some tension
before Stuntman Mike pounces on his latest female victims, including a
celebrity hairdresser (Rosario Dawson); two stuntwomen (Zoe Bell,
playing herself, and Tracie Thoms, from TV's "Cold Case") who speak
adoringly of the cult classic "Vanishing Point"; and an actress (Mary
Elizabeth Winstead) who loves John Hughes movies. Rose McGowan also
appears, albeit as a different character, a blonde who takes a liking
to the daredevil stuntman. Big mistake.

Some critics have lashed out at Tarantino's film for having too much
dialogue and little of the pleasures that one might expect from
"Planet Terror." I see "Planet Terror" as a more conscious,
straightforward homage to exploitation pictures and zombie classics
like "Dawn of the Dead," whereas "Death Proof" is closer to what some
horror/serial killer movies such as "Deranged" and even "Last House
on the Left" offered - dialogue and some character exposition before
settling in to the violence and a slasher mentality. Though Tarantino
and Rodriguez have done their conscious homages to their favorite
movies of the 60's and 70's for well over decade now, this is the
first time they have truly approximated the look of those films. If I
nitpick at all, it is that this double feature movie-movie, over three
hours long, might prove to be exhausting but it is clever and it will
give you a major adrenalized high that you don't get from a lot of

Hollywood product.

Some audiences have never lived through the grindhouse experience to
know what it felt like to watch such movies on a double bill in a run-
down theatre, with audiences hooting and hollering. "Grindhouse" may
be the first and last time we get to experience it in retro-style. The
audience didn't turn out for this pure entertainment in theatres, but
I have a feeling it will be a cult classic.