Death Proof / Planet Terror

I'll get this out of the way now, since I find the Grindhouse 'play them together/separate' debate ____ing tedious. Grindhouse was split in two for the UK release, with both films enjoying separate and extended releases a couple of months apart. So I saw Death Proof on DVD a couple of months ago, and watched Planet Terror last night.

I've slated Quentin Tarantino in the past for being an unoriginal hack. In this case, I think he really hit the nail on the head and produced the smarter, funnier and more entertaining of the two films. Snappy dialogue was employed to great effect, letting the plot build on two occasions to a climactic scene. A little unorthodox to utilise two completely different casts, but it's been done before to a similarly good standard, such as in Chungking Express. Indeed, it's typical of Tarantino to reference other work in this way.


Planet Terror on the other hand suffers from having too many characters to develop within the first 45 minutes before the action really starts. Four concurrent plots is a bit much and makes the film loose, rather than tense and claustrophobic, like it should've been. When the action does start, it's very satisfying. Freddy Rodriguez as Wray is a true, badass Grindhouse star, secret past and all. He, with Sheriff Hague, works to really end some zombies, as blood, flesh and bones fly. There's plenty of gut munching goodness and then there's Cherry.

I guess the thing that you know going in to Planet Terror is that a chick ends up with a machine gun for a leg. I thought it sounded pretty cringeworthy, but it works impressively well to add to a frantic, and explosive climax to the film.

Stylistically, both films work well, with scratched, dusty, broken and even missing film stock creating that effect of an overused and poorly kept film in a run down theatre. Again, I'd say that Death Proof used the effect more subtly and with greater results.

I get the feeling that this kind of thing might be tried again. I just hope that directors and producers remember that re-creating quick and dirty shock cinema doesn't have to be at the expense of good film making techniques. Keep it simple and keep it fun.

Death Proof: 7 out of 10 / Planet Terror: 6 out of 10