Grindhouse (2007)
Greatest homage to dead exploitation genre.
From Wikipedia:
Grindhouses were the cinema halls known for non-stop programs of B movies, usually consisting of a double feature where two films were shown back to back.
About 10 years ago I remember going to a B-grade movie theatre in India with my cousin and my brother in law to watch a sexploitation flick. I remember looking away from the screen for some shocking scenes. Today I sat through Grindhouse and yes I did look away because of some ugly and disgusting scenes. I guess Tarantino and Rodriguez pretty much brought everything back in Grindhouse, a two-movies-back-to-back feature film.
Planet Terror.
Written and Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.
Starring: Naveen Andrews, Rose McGowan.
This is the first offering of the “Grindhouse” directed by Robert Rodriguez. This is a Zombie movie. They always have a doctor whose experiment goes wrong and people walk who were assumed dead. They either have slashed faces or some skin irritation the size of coconuts. They always march together and always have a thirst for human blood. So some good looking women who never got lucky enough to get to the Big Banners, always wear exotic clothes bought from a Dollar Store and carry machine guns along with some legendary B-grade actors with shotgns on a killing rampage. This time there is a slight twist that the chick has lost a leg and apparently her co-star has found a way to use the “leftover” to install a gun that can be used to point and fire so as to add a factor of action to the sleazy body. Wow, now that is a sensational innovation that can be sold which fits an exploitation cinema’s definition. There are some scenes that can make you sick to the stomach but at the same time are hillarious.
Death Proof.
Written and Directed by: Quentin Tarantino.
Starring: Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell.
This is the second offering after few fake movie trailers. This redneck car-chase genre movie is directed by Quentin Tarantino. This one actually is a lot better than the first offering. Tarantino does make this one look like a B-grade, but at the same time he does not forget to use hiw own styles and techniques. May it be ‘this-converstation-has-got-something-to-do-with-the-next-half-hour’ screenwriting technique, very typical Tarantino, or high pop culture references. Death Proof IS a Tarantino movie. The camera angles by QT himself during the car chase are quite fascinating. Last 20 mintes or so are the peak of sensational values. Zoe Bell’s stunt is the key aspect of this chase. For these minutes the movie is recommended.
Both the directors have ‘aged’ the reels purposely. They also added ‘missing reel, sorry for inconvenience-thetre manager’ slides during the movies. In Death proof at one point the camera starts to zoom out and in a second starts zooming in as if to specify “unskilled cameraman”. Go Enjoy this movie. Oh yeah, I strongly remember not taking any females with me during my visit to a Grindhouse in India.
My Rating: 8/10.
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I have mixed feelings. Saw this last friday.
First things first. I was highly highly highly irritated when Rodriguez blurred the screen for more than 15 f-ing minutes. No one in the theater watching the movie was sure if it was the movie or the theater that was doing it. Only after I walked out while the stupid blurring was playing, and talking to the theater manager that I found out that it was being done on purpose.
It’s then I understood that the whole idea of Grindhouse was not to focus on the movie but reliving the decades old American experience of a day at the movies.
Coming back to the content neither of the two stories in the movie were my kind of movies. Except as you mentioned the last twenty minutes of the second story done by Tarantino.
As Tarantino did it in Kill Bill so it is done here in Grindhouse.
This is nothing but REMIXING MOVIES (just like remixing music)… under the garb of “Salute to those old blah blah blah…”
Salute or no salute… remove the name of Tarantino and Rodriguez and keep the entire movie the same… no change…now replace the directors’ names with some one else.
What do you see?
A shitty F grade movie.
And that was it. Tarantino’s rum-punch dialogues seen till Jackie Brown are lost and gone for a toss. Now it was a drag to see the characters keep talking on and on.
Rodriguez - I don’t have much to say, since he directed a story that is so not my type.
Honestly, many who will see Grindhouse will see it for the duo - Rodriguez and Tarantino, which is sad cause they just took us for a ride in this one.
It’s time for Tarantino to stop writing and keep directing other writers’ stories.
MASTERPIECE - loved GH…
probably the best zombie movie / slasher movie / car chase movie EVER!!!
JMD - MSK
Oz,
It WAS meant to be a homage to the dead culture of sleazy movie theatres. In my comment I did not say anything about stories anyway. The gross zombie images, blood squirts and chicks in Planet Terror was all I was expecting. What surprised me was Tarantino’s ability, and I still feel that he is a good writer, to stay with his techniques. When those girls talk about Zoe’s invulnarability to the stunts, I was yawnning. It was only after the car chase I was convinced that it is possible in the context of this particular story. Sort of like Pai-Mei’s training in Vol 2 to make the bride punch thru a hard wood helps us believe that she can break the coffin and come out of her own grave. Tarantino does make you believe his extraordinary stories and he continued to do so in Death Proof as well.
= Manan, Masterpiece? Please explain. What other movies do you call a masterpiece?
= Jateen, “Homage” is Tarantino’s 21st century phrase for giving credibility to his dried out stinking ideas. “Homage” in my books is “REMIX” nothing else.
Oz, totally agree with u !
Just coming back from Grindhouse…Spellbound.
This is amazing. Loved it to the core. Respect Tarantino and Robert for having the balls to make this movie. It was such an experience….going through so many emotions one movie is something i have not gone through for a long time.
The subtle humor, the overtly gory scenes, the feel good factor…everything was in it plus the trade mark Tarantino camera angle placements(movements).
I had never watched a zombie movie before and i must say, i had a good movie to start with. Absolutely loved Grindhouse…..
Love or hate QT, his movies seem to work with critics and people alike. I call him a ‘hack’, so you guys can go ahead and call me a sucker :d
Hail the master of couch-potatoes! :)>-
Jateen,
You bring up a point I forgot to mention in my review - the missing reel footage is a tribute to not only old Grindhouse films, but to Kentucky Fried Movie, a not-so-cult classic from the 70s that was a play on the sexual mores of the day here in America…
And, I kept wondering if the Robert Frost poem that was quoted in Death Proof was a reference to “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane”, one of my favourite childhood horror/thriller films starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen…
nah, i wouldnt know that. But thanx for the Kentcky Fried movie homage.
I agree with Jateen on GH. The last 20 minutes of DEATHPROOF only is worth all the money.