Grindhouse (Death Proof/Planet Terror) (2007) – Nostalgia Central

Step right up for two movies for the price of one: Death Proof, directed and written by Quentin (Pulp Fiction) Tarantino, and Planet Terror, directed and written by Robert (Sin City) Rodriguez.

Grindhouse is a double dose of lowdown, dirty, blood-splattering fun that pummels you with sluts, slashers, serial killers, zombies and killer cars that all serve to reveal a soul of the purest scuzz.

There is not a minute in this three-hour-plus tribute to all that’s unholy in cinema that is good for you.  And that includes trailers (placed ahead of and between the two features) for a quartet of movies — Thanksgiving, Machete, Don’t and Werewolf Women of the SS – that have yet to be made but make you weep for joy at the prospect.

Hostel‘s Eli Roth directed the trailer for Thanksgiving, a horror flick for the only holiday not yet slimed. As screams fill the air, a voice promises, “White meat! Dark meat! All will be carved!”

Tarantino and Rodriguez are in love with (make that in heat for) the cheap exploitation flicks that filled the grindhouse cinemas on Times Square and Hollywood Boulevard in the 60s and 70s.

They simulate scratches, sound pops, even missing scenes (what happened to that lap dance?) to make you feel you’re watching a movie battered by time.

And they don’t skimp on the sex and violence.

Rodriguez’s Planet Terror kicks off first, with Rose McGowan pole dancing as the camera moves in to catch an ambiguous tear in her eye – Nice start.

McGowan is dynamite as Cherry Darling, a stripper who dreams of being a stand-up comedian. But before the night is over in this Texas town, Cherry won’t be able to stand up, since one of her shapely stems gets gnawed off by zombies.

Actually, these creatures are victims of government chemical experiments led by Bruce Willis, in Army drag, and his henchman (Tarantino), who finds Cherry’s lack of a leg no detriment to rape (“Easier access”).

Luckily, Cherry’s true love, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), fixes her up with a machine-gun/grenade launcher limb that’s a go-go weapon of mass destruction.

It’s quite a night.

At the local hospital, Dr Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) finds her plan to run off with her lesbian lover (Stacy Ferguson, Fergie to you) foiled by her evil medico husband (Josh Brolin).

The kick is watching Rodriguez (serving as his own director of photography, as does Tarantino) try to top himself with gross-outs. Of course he goes too far. Eye gougings are one thing, but a jar of human testicles?

Rodriguez, shooting digitally, keeps his camera on the run, and you can feel him flying from the sheer glee of it. Except for the iconic image of the gun-legged Cherry, Planet Terror doesn’t stick to the wall dramatically. But it sure as hell keeps you hanging on for the ride.

Tarantino’s Death Proof is exploitation of a different sort. While Rodriguez revels in grindhouse, Tarantino salutes and subverts it.

In Act One, a muscle car is driven by a serial killer –  that would be Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike – who uses his “death-proof” vehicle to destroy the dreams and lives of a group of women friends.

In Act Two, he gears up to destroy four more women, who decide they’re not going to play victim. That’s it.

But with Tarantino, you know that’s never it. He spends as much time developing his characters as he does his stunts, though the film ends with a doozy of a car chase that sets a new gold standard.

And look, ma, no computers!

Death Proof bubbles over with rich, juicy chunks of Quentinese, a Niagara of bravado, camaraderie, sex talk, pop culture references and aching vulnerability. His first image is feet, a Tarantino speciality. The ten painted toes hanging out a car window belong to Sydney Tamiia Poitier, daughter of the acting legend.

As Jungle Julia, a DJ in Austin, Texas, Poitier shows rare gifts. But she and her girls (Jordan Ladd and Vanessa Ferlito) are unprepared for Stuntman Mike. You may be, too, since Russell, starting with a slow hand of lethal charm that escalates to battering-ram berserk, hasn’t been this killer-good since his days as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York (1981).

Movie references pepper the film, especially the Dodge Challenger from 1971’s Vanishing Point. It’s the Challenger that brings four women together in the film’s second half.

Zoë Bell, a New Zealand stuntwoman (she doubled Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Kill Bill), is in Tennessee on a movie gig.

After seeing a for-sale ad, Zoë (a truly infectious spirit) rounds up her friends, a makeup artist (sassy Rosario Dawson), an actress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and fellow daredevil Kim (ghetto-fab Tracie Thoms) and heads for the hills to test-drive the Challenger – That means strapping herself to the hood (bonnet) while Kim revs it up on deserted roads.

Deserted, that is, except for Stuntman Mike. From the moment these sisters decide to do it for themselves and tap Mike’s ass with their own heavy metal, Death Proof holds you in a grip that won’t let go.

Tarantino stages the chase with an immediacy that makes you feel every whiplash turn.

But it’s the characters, so artfully written and acted, who make you care. That’s right, care – pretty much a no-no in this allegedly disposable genre – In Death Proof, Tarantino sticks it to the naysayers who dis him and Rodriguez as movie brats smoking a budget of $50 million (some reports double that) to get off on their own adolescent wet dreams.

As Cherry might say, double fuck to that. By stooping low without selling out, this babes-and-bullets tour de force gets you high on movies again.

The film was a major commercial flop in the US, largely due to the three-hour running time. Outside North America, the movie was split into two separate films (Planet Terror and Death Proof).

Both directors provided extended, unrated cuts of their respective movies for the international versions. Tarantino added about 25 minutes of dialogue and the missing lap-dance scene back into Death Proof, while Rodriguez lengthened several action sequences in Planet Terror.

Many of the faux “scratches” and damaged-film effects were also cleaned up for the separate versions.

Stuntman Mike
Kurt Russell
Zoë Bell
Zoë Bell
Abernathy
Rosario Dawson
Butterfly
Vanessa Ferlito
Jungle Julia
Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Kim
Tracie Thoms
Pam/Cherry
Rose McGowan
Shanna/Judy
Jordan Ladd
Lee
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Warren/Rapist #1
Quentin Tarantino
Marcy
Marcy Harriell
Dov/Tucker
Eli Roth
Nate
Omar Doom
Omar
Michael Bacall
Lanna Frank
Monica Staggs
Jasper
Jonathan Loughran
Punky Bruiser
Marta Mendoza
Tim the Bartender
Tim Murphy
Venus Envy
Melissa Arcaro
Earl McGraw
Michael Parks
Edgar McGraw
James Parks
Dr Dakota Block (McGraw)
Marley Shelton
Babysitter Twin #1
Electra Stone
Babysitter Twin #2
Elise Avellan
Lanna Frank Friend #1
Eurlyne Epper
Lanna Frank Friend #2
Jamie L. Dunno
Butterfly Foot Double
Shannon Hazlett
El Wray
Freddy Rodríguez
Block
Josh Brolin
JT
Jeff Fahey
Sheriff Hague
Michael Biehn
Tony
Rebel Rodriguez
Muldoon
Bruce Willis
Abby
Naveen Andrews
Romy
Julio Oscar Mechoso
Tammy
Fergie (Stacy Ferguson)
Joe/Store clerk
Nicky Katt
Dr Crane
Hung Nguyen
Paramedic #1
Cecilia Conti
Paramedic #2
Tommy Nix
Deputy Tolo
Tom Savini
Deputy Carlos
Carlos Gallardo
Skip
Skip Reissig
Rapist #2
Gregory Kelly
Soldier #1
Troy Robinson
Soldier #2
Derek Southers
Ramona McGraw
Jerili Romeo
Dr Felix
Felix Sabates
Patient
Doran Ingrham
Sax Survivor
Johnny Reno
Machete
Danny Trejo
Padre
Cheech Marin
Franz Hess
Udo Kier
Eva Krupp
Sheri Moon Zombie
Lt. Boorman
Tom Towles
Gretchen Krupp
Sybil Danning
Dr Heinrich von Strasser
Bill Moseley

Director
Robert Rodriguez
Quentin Tarantino