Saturday, October 29, 2022

Bonus Halloween Blog #41 Planet Terror (2007) & Death Proof (2007)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I want to talk about the movies that started a movie franchise based on an old movie location concept. Directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino came together to make Grindhouse. Essentially Grindhouse itself is two movies with each director making their own horror film.

This led to other directors like Jason Elisener to make Hobo with a Shotgun. Despite things, it's surprisingly a good film. But I'm here to review the very movies that kicked off Grindhouse franchise. Thus I wanna talk about both Planet Terror & Death Proof, two vastly different movies. I'm actually excited to revisit these classics not many people mentions as much anymore.

Before I get to the actual reviews, I got an interesting story relating to Grindhouse. A couple years ago, I went to Bengies Drive-In Theatre with my cousin as well as a friend. Usually they play three movies then we go home. For one particular time, we ended up staying for four movies. The last two being you guess it both halves of Grindhouse film.

I didn't get home until 3 in the morning, my friend already fell asleep. I might've been the only person who didn't feel asleep during the long night. It's quite an experience to watch movies on a huge screen. Bigger than those in movie theatres including IMAX but the audio comes through your car's radio. Man, I never forgotten that night ever since.

Planet Terror (2007)

First half of Grindhouse film is Planet Terror which was done by Rodriguez. I gotta mention something at the time I reviewed a movie called The Faculty. I was very surprised, that was the same director responsible for this. He later made two entries in Machete series which are also part of the franchise they built together.

This has some of the most disgusting zombies in just parts of the appearance you'll ever see. Some of them wears a particular mask to maintain their mutation. Which can get difficult to watch in some scenes. You may be surprised by some of the stars featured in this movie. We have Rose McGowan whose in a lot of great roles.

Josh Brolin who later played both Thanos in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies as well as Cable in Deadpool 2. He's also in a lot of movies including Men in Black 3. Tom Savini whose in a lot of horror films appears too. Quentin Tarantino appears in the movie too. Not to mention, Bruce Willis yeah!!!. More recently Willis retired from acting but for a good reason.

The special effects are surprisingly effective at times. This movie is widely known for a chick having an assault rifle for a leg. Which reminds me of the Scotsman from the show Samurai Jack. Also do expect a huge body count as well. Planet Terror is a movie that may suddenly become a little difficult to watch. Simply because of the zombies not in check kept getting more disgusting in their appearances.

Of course, this being a zombie movie it doesn't get The Return of the Living level crazy. I do think this was a good movie with the cheesiness of the movie concept. I felt, this turned out way better despite more zombie stuff kept coming out. Planet Terror is a movie that doesn't hold back in any sense of the word.

A group of survivors goes through hell with what's left of the military already infected. Sadly, you can't rely on help here. Unless you have that chick with a rifle leg. Honestly, Planet Terror was a good entry for Grindhouse franchise. I even preferred it over our next movie but I still have respect for Tarantino. I should also mention, Planet Terror has a difficult to watch attempt at rape in a scene too.

Death Proof (2007)

Directed by Tarantino whose responsible for such classics as Reservior Dogs, Kill Bill: Volume 1 & Volume 2 and Pulp Fiction. Death Proof centers on a crazy stuntman that preys on women with his modified stunt car. A notable amount of the movie is a reversal car chase. Sure the ending is quite cheesy too.

There's a few notably stars in the movie as well. Like Rose McGowan, yes her again. Eli Roth whose responsible for two Hostel films, Death Wish and a producer on a movie called Clown. There's also Mary Elizabeth Winstead whose in Final Destination 3, The Thing (2011) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Of course, the legend himself Kurt Russell. He's in a lot of movies like The Thing (1982), The Christmas Chronicles series and Escape from New York as well as Escape from L.A. respectively. I actually loved his stunt car but I still preferred the show Supernatural's car more though. Death Proof isn't as much about the kill count.

It's more about things that became clear someone was assaulting women. A small group of them surprised him while out on the road. Not to criticize the director, he could've made it more rememberable than it actually was. Honestly, it's not one of my favorites he's done. Planet Terror lives up to the hype it built up in comparison.

At least, you see some brutal car kills right? Which I felt those were given amazing special effects. Especially the most impressive thing about the movie. I just wish the movie had a different story with more of that thrown in. Of course, some horror movies involves killers that drives or actually vehicles themselves killing people.

I'm not saying Death Proof was a bad movie. No I am stating the fact you could easily expected more crazy things to happen in the actual movie. We have a crazy stunt man played by Russell. It felt like he doesn't get rip fully loose enough to get the job done. Maybe I held on to that disappointment for years but I still respect the film.

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