Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

http://www.grindhousemovie.net/

Two full-length feature films directed by Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof) combined to make one double feature experience recreating the feel of classic grindhouse cineplexes of the 1970s.

Though I'm sure all of you are well aware of this flick by now. Who else is seeing it this weekend?

Here goes:

The first movie in this double feature is Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. This is a great tribute to old school zombie movies and old horror movies. It had the perfect mix of gore, character development, cool special effects, action, and dark humor (and some nice inside jokes for fellow horror movie buffs). It was awesome. Its a zombie movie and I'm usually picky about zombies but Rodriguez did a FANTASTIC job. Its faithful to the old school movies like Night of the Living Dead, but his take on zombies is also new and original enough to breathe new life in the zombie genre. I thought it was great the way he mixed old school zombies with David Cronenberg-esque body horror stuff... I thought that was a brilliant mix and what the zombie genre as a whole needed.

The fake trailers were great. All 4 of them. Machete by Robert Rodriguez, Werewolf Women in the SS by Rob Zombie, Don't by Edgar Wright, and Thanksgiving by Eli Roth (this fake 2 minute trailer is better than any of Eli's crappy full length movies... that guys sucks but Thanksgiving was awesome).

Now onto Tarantino's Death Proof. My review for this one is way more complicated than my Planet Terror review. This movie WISHES it could be even a thousandth of what Planet Terror was. Seriously, it pains me to say this since Tarantino is one of my favorite directors. But his buddy Rodriguez completley outdid him here. Death Proof is the biggest love letter from a director to himself that I've ever seen. The movie itself is bassically John Carpenter's Christine mixed with Steven Spielberg's Duel..... only its not nearly as good as either of those films.

The idea of Kurt Russell playing a CRAZY "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" killer who kills chicks with his car is quite possibly the most bad ass idea for a movie ever. All the killing is done in like one scene, and the rest is lame dialogue filled with those stupid pop culture references that Tarantino loves to fill his movie with (only this time they aren't entertaining like they were in ANY of his previous films... here they are just tedious filler.) Just about every scene could have been chopped in half, particularly the scene with the girls in the diner talking. It lasts about 10 minutes (at least) and it does NOTHING to advance the story or the character development (which is something Tarantino used to be a master at). There are a ton of scenes like this. They go nowhere and have nothing to do with the movie at all. Tarantino is a master of dialogue, but a movie about a crazy dude that kills chicks with his car DOESN'T NEED ALL THAT CRAP. A horror movie/b-movie whatever you wanna call it is probably the last type of movie that needs Pulp Fiction-esque conversation scenes. Gangster, crime, and action movies are what he's good at, and that type of writing SUITS those movies best. It just doesn't fit or make sense in a horror film (if you can even call it that). The last few minutes of the movie pick it up a little more with a nice tribute to old Chixploitation movies like Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Kill!, but even then it comes up as an out of place wannabe of movies like that.

I have to hand it to Kurt Russell though as this is easily his best performance since John Carpenter's the Thing. He's a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" loon in this movie and he kicks ass... There should have been more of him. Whatever, I always thought Tarantino was overrated anyway. I mean he's a great writer and his use of a camera is brilliant, and the guy knows how direct actors, but he's never come up with an original idea for a story... but even without the originality, at least his previous movies showed that the guy knew how to tell a GOOD story. NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS MOVIE. The one scene of Russel going nuts killing people rules. The rest of the movie is annoying characters talking about annoying things that have nothing to do with the rest of this annoying movie.

Tarantino must have completly exhausted all of his creativity and his writing/directing skills with his epic 2 part Kill Bill... cuz Death Proof blows. When I get Grindhouse on DVD, I can see mysefl watching Planet Terror and the fake trailers over and over. I don't think I could put myself through Death Proof again..... at least not for a LONG time... its that bad. They should have played that first so the audience would get a bigger payoff in the end with Planet Terror. If Death Proof is any indication, he should stay out of sci fi and horror and stick with what he knows how to do: Crime, action, and gangster movies.

"Boring dialogue"? You kids today; raised on music videos, video games and only caring about the money shots... I'm not putting anyone down, just saying that there's a lot more to movies than action scenes/money shots. Dialogue is important, it's what binds a film together, propels the story and establishes the characters, and molds them into real human beings. I'm sure if you couldn't relate to what was said in the dialogue, it could be more of an issue of the viewer, rather than the writer/director. Just like when Kurt Russell says to the girls in the bar (who are members of a local Texas Roller Derby team), "Do you even know who I am talking about?"

I grew up watching Grindhouse films in real Grindhouses (and Drive-Ins), and have to say that they really captured the spirit of those days. With that being said, I actually liked QT's DEATH PROOF a bit more than RR's PLANET TERROR, but I throughly enjoyed the entire package (two great tastes that go great together). When DEATH PROOF opened with Jack Nitzsche's "The Last Race," it gave me goose bumps! When I was a kid, I recorded the this great Duane Eddy-styled instrumental, when a local station aired Bert I. Gordon's VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS (1965), which used this as the movie's theme -- and started my love of surf and instrumentals. (I'd always wanted to use this theme in a movie of my own, as well as some of Eddy's and Link Rays' cuts.)

Anyhow, there are a lot of cross-references in both PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF (you'll have to catch them yourselves), as well as some expected in-joke gags (a pack of Big Apple cigarettes, etc.). Also, I do have to say that, and have been saying since I saw her twelve years ago in Greg Araki's DOOM GENERATION, Rose McGowan is freakin' spectacular... Ouch. Sorry, I'm a push-over for her. It's also great when the girl you see the film with says, "Yeah, she's hot."

BTW, the theater we went to yesterday -- an old neighborhood one-screen hardtop -- The Bridge, a home for "Art Films" and Midnight Movies here in San Francisco, was running a trailer reel of their own of actual Grindhouse films before the feature started (with such gems as GINGER, WOMEN IN CAGES, THE POLICE WOMEN and SAVAGE!). If you are in the SF Bay Area, you might want to check it out.

Speaking of which, all of the trailers were pretty damned funny -- especially DON'T and THANKSGIVING. SHE WEREWOLVES OF THE S.S. deserves an entire film of its own. If you ever liked the films that QT & RR were inspired by, you should enjoy this loving tribute to those bygone days of the gritty Grindhouse experience (sticky floors not included). Your milage may vary, depending on your age and previous Grindhouse experience.

"Nicolas Cage is Fu Manchu!"

Man I just got back. I can't wait to see it again sometime. Just great fun.

If you didn't dig DEATH PROOF, that's cool, you are entitled to your opinion, which doesn't negate mine (or make me an idiot) for liking it. Personally, any film that name drops titles VANISHING POINT will put that bug into the ears of a lot of kids, who will search it out. That's a good thing. Japanese cult cinema got a tremendous boost from KILL BILL VOL. 1, love it or hate it, and now I can find rare Japanese cult movies in Best Buy that aren't even available on DVD in Japan (like GIRL GANG BOSS: WORTHLESS TO CONFESS). Then again, some of us can b*tch and moan about GRINDHOUSE, while Hollywood is cranks out cr*p like UNDERDOG. Talk about bankrupt.

Personally, I'd rather see a homage-filled exercise from Tarantino than another "high concept" Hollywood redux of sh*tty musicals, bad television shows, old cartoons and kids shows. Isn't LAND OF THE LOST, starring Will Ferrell, on the fast-track in being remade, too? What's next? HOGAN'S HEROES? GRINDHOUSE is like a breath of fresh air, compared to what Hollywood has been forcing down our throats, generally speaking (with the exception of the "thinking man's" action films like BLOOD DIAMONDS and CASINO ROYALE).

Even the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, THE DEPARTED, was adapted from a HK film (INFERNAL AFFAIRS); Tarantino isn't the only one who is "borrowing" -- Hollywood has been doing it for decades. But as long as that "borrowing" is well done, and draws the viewer's attention to the source material they would have otherwise ignored, more power to them.

As for "tanking," GRINDHOUSE is only screening in 2,000 theaters nationwide (according to Tarantino) and each screen can only do four screenings per day (about half of a normal-length film; so, that's like its only playing on 1,000 screens). That doesn't mean that the film is bad (which is a relative concept), it means that either the public isn't connecting to the concept or doesn't understand what the package is all about. While that's not the fault of the potential ticket buyers, I think that RR and QT went into this project with their eyes wide open... Lots of great movies didn't find an audience in their day, like John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1982), and now they are beloved.

As the Old Chinese proverb goes, "It all comes out in the wash."