GRINDHOUSE

GRINDHOUSE is a double feature simulating the experience moviegoers received going to see R-rated exploitation movies in the 1970s. Interspersed with extremely violent fake trailers, the first movie, PLANET TERROR, is a gory horror movie and action thriller about a group of people battling disease-infected zombies written and directed by Robert Rodriguez (SPY KIDS and ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO). The second movie, DEATH PROOF, is a chase thriller about a serial killer who stalks two groups of young women with his car, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION and KILL BILL).

PLANET TERROR is a boring, outrageous exploitation flick starring Freddy Rodriguez and Rose McGowan whose main intent seems to be to gross out the audience with sickening scenes of oozing, decimated body parts. People were wildly cheering the first movie’s violent gore, which reminded the MOVIEGUIDE® reviewer of what it must have been like in the Roman Coliseum when the pagans cheered the brutal death of Christians.

DEATH PROOF is a more interesting, provocative thriller. It stars Kurt Russell as a charismatic, macho ex-stuntman calling himself Stuntman Mike. Stuntman Mike mesmerizes a group of young women at a bar in Texas, then stalks and kills them with his car. Cut to a group of women working on an action movie in Tennessee. One of the women, a stuntwoman named Zoe from New Zealand, privately wants to perform a dangerous stunt with a famous muscle car she finds. Stuntman Mike is secretly watching her and her friends. Mike gets more than he bargained for when he tries to run them off the road and kill them.

DEATH PROOF would have been a much less unacceptable vehicle were it not for all its crude, foul language and its theme of violent revenge at the end. The violence and sexual elements in DEATH PROOF are much less extreme, though there is supposed to be an extended version of the movie in Europe and, later, on DVD. PLANET TERROR is totally unacceptable viewing and listening, however. It should be rated NC-17 instead of R. It also contains brief nudity and a scene of depicted fornication. Both movies have a feminist perspective enticing viewers into rooting for strong women who violently defend themselves, but, as culture-wise families know, feminism ultimately is fatal. Also, both movies have a very strong pagan worldview with a kill or be killed and a hedonistic “enjoy life” mentality. There is also brief nudity and extreme violence in the fake trailers in GRINDHOUSE.

The total MOVIEGUIDE® rating for GRINDHOUSE as a whole? Two stars, Minus Three.

Apparently, according to the filmmakers, whom MOVIEGUIDE® interviewed recently, the two movies will be released separately overseas, with additional footage. The additional footage will also be on the DVD release and reportedly contains more sexual content.