GRINDHOUSE Review
Written by: DeathbyHighKick
This is my first review on this site, I hope you all can read it and decide whether or not this is a worthy review. "Grindhouse", as we all know....is a combo of two great minds in attempt to bring back the feel of the Times Square latenight showing of low-budget blood infested, sex filled films that so many people have enjoyed. Let me tell you first hand; they succeeded. Now, I'm only 22, but I've been watching every type of horror movie since I was 3 years old, and the theatre in my hometown used to play late night horror shows every single Friday and Saturday....I can clearly remember the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Death Race 3000", "Intruder:, and the Evil Dead being showed on the neon signs outside the building. Nevertheless, this made me get a very nostalgic feeling, as well as an excited one.
"Planet Terror"
Rodriguez begins "Grindhouse" with an awesome film......and it starts out with an ultra sexy Rose McGowan, named Cherry Darling, shaking her tight little body on a stripper pole....in front of an ultra silent audience in a scummy looking place. Rodriguez keeps the camera on her for the duration, pretty much letting you do nothing but stare at the way Rose moves about.....I enjoyed it, even though it was very PG-13. The dance ends with a very well done close-up of Cherry sitting down on the stage with tears in her eyes, which her manager doesn't like. Now, the movie takes off with Cherry leaving her place of work, walking home alongside a desolate road...nearly run over by a humvee followed by 7-ton trucks filled with Military Soldiers and one individual whom makes immediate eye contact with Cherry. Blah blah....the humvee drives to a "Military Base", where you find out a little more on their shady standing.....a deal goes bad, someone loses their balls (no joke), and ultimately...the product, a green gasous substance...is dispersed throughout the air, turning people into boil infested zombies.
Onto the hospital, where we meet an evil Doctor (Josh Brolin), and his swavy wife (Marley Shelton), who have their own interesting side story....we also get a first hand feel of the effects of this gas, as one particular scene has the evil Doctor squeezing a man's tongue, only to have a boil burst and red goo shooting on the Doctor's glasses (I laughed uncontrollably due to the the shock factor of it). We also meet Wray, a shadowy hero who drived a wrecking truck and who frequently visits the "Bone ShacK", a highly famous Texas BBQ joint owned by a dirty, but likeable JT (Jeff Fahey of the Lawnmower Man). Wray finds a lonely Cherry sitting alone, they make small talk...she's wearing his Jacket that he looked spent two weeks looking for, and he continues to let her know it...I found it humourus. Cherry asks for a ride home, Wray obliges....they get in his vehicle and begin to drive, when Wray begins talking about how you gotta keep your eye on the road for deer, and if one's about to hit it, you need to hit it and not try to evade, or slam on the breaks...when WHAM!!! he evades and slams on is breaks, sending his truck spiraling out control, flipping it upside down. Everyone's OK, but then whattaya know...Cherry is pulled out by some unknown things and taken away....Wray opens up a compartment to reveal a tricked out M4 with Night Vision scope (hmmm...wonder why he has that?) and goes to find a group of zombies eating away at her....he shoots, he scores...they run away and he's now left with a one legged stripper.
I'm stopping right here, the rest of the film is a complete treat watch and I don't want to give anything away. The rest of the film is a violent, gore soaked bloody romp through the hospital, the BBQ place, and finally...the Military Base where in all began. The humour is not the obvious "ha ha", but you'll find yourself laughing at the smallest dialogue and laughing even harder at the over-the-top amounts of gore and original death scenes. Rodriguez also does an excellent job of developing the characters enough to make you actually care for them even if it's a zombie movie. The ending of Planet Terror is predictable....but nonetheless, completely enjoyable and completely rewatchable.
"Death Proof"
Now, after PT...you get a few trailers...and finally "Death Proof" begins....which I felt shined over PT, due to the extremely talented cast and overall original but unoriginal plot. I mean, ultimately, it's a movie about a guy who plays Mr. Nice, but deep down is deepy psychotic and loves to stalk and murder girls with his suped up car. The guy, Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), rivals his roles as Snake Plissken and MacReady. He does an excellent job of pulling off a completely believable Stuntman....you honeslty like the guy when you first meet him.
The rest of the cast consists of women, hot ones, and a few fuglies that are of no importance. Again, I don't want to get ahead of myself.....but I will say this; after the first incident with the trio of girls....we meet 4 others, two stuntwomen, one black and one from New Zealand, an ultra hot makeup artist (Rosario Dawson), and a nieve little actress in a cheerleading uniform. These girls are badass, well...the cheerleader is just whatever, but the others...are over the top harcore and filled with enough energy to power up a junkyard of muscle cars. The inevitable car chase in the end between the Death Proof car and a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 440 engine, that same from "Vanishing Point" (which, if you love this film, you'll love that) is so well done, no CGI, just an all out war on the road that looks like it belongs in a Mad Max movie. The chase gives off a very "Dukes of Hazzard" 1970's feel....taking place in the countryside on a nice sunny day.
"Death Proof" ends with a bang, nothing to showy, but enough to stand up and want to cheer or shout a "Hell YEAH!!!"....you'll enjoy this film, as well at Planet Terror.....and everyone on this site needs to see this movie, for gods sake don't be the one not too.