HallowScream - Grindhouse (2007)

     Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we have just a couple of reviews left in HallowScream, and for today's review, I'm taking a look at a film, or rather a film experience that hit theaters in 2007. I'm  talking about the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino double feature released theatrically as Grindhouse. Produced as a throwback project to the old Grindhouse theaters, which were noted for showcasing exploitation films in the action and horror genres, and often paired up films in the double feature format. So the question remains: how the hell am I going to possibly review Grindhouse? Well, I'll be dividing it into three sections: the fake trailers, Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. So, let's take a look at Grindhouse. 

    Okay, so starting with the four fake trailers. First off, there's the fake trailer for Machete. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Machete stars Danny Trejo as an ex-Federale, here in the US illegally, hired by Michael Booth to carry out a hit against the new Senator of the state of Texas, only to be double crossed by the men who hired him, sending him on a vengeful rampage against the men who betrayed him. The second fake trailer is Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the S.S. A nod to World War II films and women-in-prison films, in particular, Ilsa: She-Wolf of the S.S, this trailer sets up a premise of a German mad scientist's experiment to produce an army of werewolf soldiers, only to be superseded by the "She-Devils of Belzac." The trailer starred Udo Kier, Tom Towles, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, Sybil Danning, and features Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu. The next fake trailer is Edgar Wright's Don't. Starring the likes of Jason Isaacs, Mark Gatiss, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Lucy Punch, and so forth, Don't is a nod to Americanized trailers for British-produced horror films; the trailers were often over the top, and featured hilarious narration by an American narrator in an attempt to mask the fact that it's a British film with British actors. And finally, we have Eli Roth's Thanksgiving. A nod to holiday-inspired slasher films like Silent Night Deadly Night, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween, and so forth, Thanksgiving tells of how a knife and axe wielding murderer is stalking the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts during a celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday, killing many people in town. Okay, so all of these fake trailers are great, but my favorite is easily Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the S.S, if only for the ridiculous premise and an over-the-top performance by Nicolas Cage. Now, there are some foreign releases of Grindhouse that also feature a fake trailer called Hobo with a Shotgun, but I don't really have a comment on it, because it isn't featured in the American release of the film, which is the version I'm taking a look at. But, the Hobo with a Shotgun trailer is pretty decent, and I recommend checking it out on YouTube. Now, onto the two main films of the double feature. 

    First up is Robert Rodriguez's over-the-top zombie action-horror film Planet Terror. After a deadly biochemical agent, DC2 aka "Project Terror," is released in a small town in Texas, people across the town start turning into flesh-eating zombies, leaving only a handful of survivors, including Sheriff Hague, his brother J.T., Dr. Dakota Block, El Wray, and Cherry Darling. Cherry, whose leg got torn off by one of the zombies, walks around, at first, with a wooden leg, and is later is given a custom-made machine gun leg. Aside from the zombies, the survivors, particularly Dakota, are pursued by Dakota's psychotic husband Dr. William Block aka Doc Block. Meanwhile, the survivors are taken in by an Army squadron, led by Lt. Muldoon, who also has the creator of DC2, a scientist named Abby, locked up on the Army base. After breaking out, the survivors escape on a helicopter, save for Abby, who is killed, the Hague brothers, who sacrifice themselves to detonate an explosive, and Wray, who dies saving Cherry from an attacker. The remaining survivors, led by Cherry, set up a base in Tulum, Mexico, where they are joined by more survivors of the DC2 plague. Planet Terror isn't the best zombie film I've ever seen, but it's certainly entertaining. The main cast, from Rose McGowan as Cherry, Freddy Rodriguez as El Wray, Jodh Brolin as Doc Block, Marley Shelton as Dakota, Michael Bien as Sheriff Hague, Bruce Willis as Muldoon, and Naveen Andrews  as Abby, are all fantastic. Heck even Fergie as Dakota's ex-girlfriend Tammy was fun to watch. I also like that Dakota turns out to be the daughter of Michael Parks' character of Earl "Quickdraw" McGraw. With Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez made an entertaining, over-the-top action movie and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

    And now, we come to Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Starring Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike McKay, Death Proof focuses on the psychotic stuntman, who uses a "death proof" car, in this case a 1971 Chevy Nova, to stalk beautiful women and uses the car to kill them. The first group includes Jungle Julia, Arlene aka "Butterfly," and Shanna, all of whom are hanging out, eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and eventually make their way to a local bar, where they're hanging out with the likes of Nate, Dov, and Omar. Also at the bar is Pam, who is offered a ride home by Stuntman Mike, who claims to be a teetotaler. After a night filled with beer, nachos, comradery, and so forth, everyone leaves, Mike kills Pam while driving her the opposite way of her home, and he eventually catches up with the other ladies, and driving head on at their car, kills them. Some months later, Stuntman Mike, who wasn't charged with the murder of the other ladies earlier, is now stalking a new group of women: Lee, Kim, Abernathy, and Zoe, all of whom are in Lebanon, Tennessee filming a new movie. During a test drive of a 1970 Dodge Challenger, identical to the one driven in the film Vanishing Point, Stuntman Mike, now driving a 1969 Dodge Charger, goes after Abernathy, Kim, and Zoe, who left Lee with the owner of the Dodge Challenger. After a high-speed scuffle, Kim, Zoe and Abernathy fight back, reversing the chase on Stuntman Mike, bringing his car to a stop, and eventually beating him to death. Death Proof is an exciting thriller with an entertaining cast, Aside from Kurt Russell, the film includes the likes of Rosario Dawson, Jordan Ladd, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Ferlito, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Zoe Bell, and Rose McGowan, along with Eli Roth, Michael Bacall, Omar Doom, and both Michael and James Parks as Earl and Edgar McGraw, with a brief appearance by Marley Shelton as Dakota, and Jonathan Loughran as Jasper. To me, however, the real stars of Death Proof are the cars. The Chevy Nova, the Dodge Challenger, and the Dodge Charger, are all classic American muscle cars, and it's awesome that Tarantino, who appears in the movie as a bartender named Warren, included all three. 

    On their own, the movies, and fake trailers, of Grindhouse are just okay on their own. However, both movies combined with the fake trailers make for a truly unique film viewing experience. Planet Terror gets a 3/5, Death Proof gets a 3.5/5, and the complete Grindhouse experience, which is both movies combined with the fake trailers, gets a rating of 4.75/5.  This is Chuck signing off. See you guy on Saturday, when I take a look at the last movie for HallowScream: the 2018 version of Halloween.