GRINDHOUSE is the most fun I've had at a movie in a very long time. It intentionally emulates those double features of the 70's yet wisely keeps the stories in a contemporary setting (people have cell-phones, et cetera). There's even previews to other exploitation movies such as MACHETE, Eli Roth's THANKSGIVING and a Rob Zombie Nazi werewolf movie, WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE S.S., starring Sherri Moon Zombie. To complete the experience are "missing reels" so that in the midst of the movies fifteen or twenty-minutes are just skipped (I suspect the "missing" reels will show up on the dvd release) and you have to fill in for yourself what happened.
Robert Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR takes all the elements from the "Science gone awry scenario", with an infection that starts on a military base and soon infects the local populace. It turns them into horrible looking cannibalistic monsters. Rose McGowan holds this movie together as Sherry Darling, who ends up losing a leg to one of the creatures only to have it replaced with an automatic machine gun by her boyfriend, "El Rey". The scenes with her shooting down the mutants are worth the ticket price alone. There's also a subplot involving a female doctor (Marley Shelton - "the girl next door" from BUBBLE BOY) and her jealous, Dr. Husband (Josh Brolin). There are also appearances by Jeff Fahey (BODY PARTS), Michael Biehn (ALIENS) and Tom Savini.
Quentin Tarantino's DEATH PROOF is about a crazy former stunt-man (Kurt Russell) who kills women with his "Death Proof" car, for fun. That is, until he messes with the wrong group of women. This movie is action-packed, contains some great car sequences and offers a different type of role for Kurt Russell.
These two movies, with the faux trailers and intermission segments, are some great entertainment. I highly recommend GRINDHOUSE.
GRINDHOUSE is the most fun I've had at a movie in a very long time. It intentionally emulates those double features of the 70's yet wisely keeps the stories in a contemporary setting (people have cell-phones, et cetera). There's even previews to other exploitation movies such as MACHETE, Eli Roth's THANKSGIVING and a Rob Zombie Nazi werewolf movie, WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE S.S., starring Sherri Moon Zombie. To complete the experience are "missing reels" so that in the midst of the movies fifteen or twenty-minutes are just skipped (I suspect the "missing" reels will show up on the dvd release) and you have to fill in for yourself what happened.
