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Grindhouse (Planet Terror & Death Proof)

Blu-ray
2-disc Collector's Edit

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$26.99 (10% off)
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Skinopsis

Fake trailers (including one by Rob Zombie for Werewolf Women of the S.S.!) link this double feature homage to exploitation cinema from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodrigues.

In Rodriguez's Planet Terror, Rose McGowan uses her machine gun leg to ward off bloodthirsty zombie-like "sickos" who are attacking her town.

In Tarantino's Death Proof, Kurt Russell uses his killer car to murder numerous young ladies.

Interestingly, neither feature includes nudity, unless you count some partial side-views of Rose McGowan shortly before the curiously placed "missing reel". However, the fake trailers (which are also the best parts of the film, period) do contain topless ladies — including the infamous cheerleader-on-a-trampoline-who-takes-her-top-off-before-doing-a-split-and-getting-a-knife-in-her-twat during Eli Roth's Thanksgiving. Yeah!

-- Handy Reed

Review

An unambitious epic, a carefully orchestrated piece of trash, an auteurist brain dump... whatever you want to call it, this unapologetic pulp is nonetheless the most entertaining three hours you're likely to spend at the cinema this year. If you're going to watch two brilliant directors squander their talent, this is probably the way to go.

In watching Tarantino and Rodriguez recreate the seedy Times Square style of late-night filmgoing, it's important to remember that there were no rules in these movies. It was a genre created out of economics, not form, with budgets so threadbare that only two results were reliable: There would be exploitation, and there would be peculiar auteurist visions that creep out, with producers interested more in churning the fare out than reshooting and making the films perfect. On those counts, Grindhouse succeeds beautifully.

In a way, Robert Rodriguez has been making grindhouse films for most of his career. From the fake trailer for Danny Trejo in Machete (please turn this into a feature!) to the obsession with balls and pus in Planet Terror, he obviously would have been right at home in the '70s. Yet he uses digital photography and special effects to great effect, and has a blast turning as many actors as possible into bubbling pools of blood. Rose McGowan stays in wry, campy "Charmed" mode as a peglegged stripper (strike that... go-go dancer) with unlikely superpowers. And how wonderful is it to see Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn and Josh Brolin taking on iconic roles so late in their careers.

The trailers that follow are pure brilliance. Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS has an air of familiarity about it... hard to believe no one thought of it sooner. Edgar Wright's Don't would make William Castle proud. And Eli Roth's deeply sick Thanksgiving makes Texas Chainsaw look like a Beach Party movie. Ironic that critics are eating up this trailer, whereas if it were actually a feature they would tear it to pieces.

Tarantino took a different tack, making a self-indulgent car-chase movie in the Monte Hellman realm. And if Two Lane Blacktop was self-indulgent, at least it was never boring. Unfortunately, Quentin decided to make about 70 minutes of his 80-minute movie filled with realistically mundane dialogue, mostly surrounding young women with little to say (Godard he ain't). Thank goodness when his girls get on the road, chased by a merciless Kurt Russell, he delivers the most exciting car chase since Ronin. Yet he's so enamored with his own images, he neglects to scratch up the print in the same way as Rodriguez. Good thing there are no rules, eh?

-- David Gorgos

Product Format Information

Blu-ray : $26.99 (2-disc Collector's Edition)

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Region Code: 1
UPC: 883476029115

Studio : Vivendi, Weinstein Company, Dimension

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Primary) , French Dolby Digital 5.1 , English SDH Subtitles , Spanish Subtitles
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen, 2.4
Features:
Featurette: Robert Rodriguez's 10-Minute Film School
Featurette: The Badass Babes of Planet Terror
Featurette: The Guys of Planet Terror
Featurette: Casting Rebel
Featurette: Sickos, Bullets, And Explosions: The Stunts of Planet Terror
Featurette: The Friend, the Doctor, and the Real Estate Agent
Featurette: Stunts on Wheels: The Legendary Drivers of Death Proof
Featurette: Quentin's Greatest Collaborator: Editor Sally Menke
Featurette: The Guys of Death Proof
Featurette: Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike
Featurette: Finding Quentin's Gals
Featurette: The Uncut Version of "Baby, It's You" performed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Featurette: Introducing Zoe Bell
Double Dare Trailer
Photo gallery: Planet Terror and Death Proof Poster Gallery
Featurette: Robert Rodriguez's 10-Minute Cooking School
Featurette: The Makeup Effects of Planet Terror
Featurette: The Hot Rods of Death Proof
Featurette: From Texas to Tennessee: The Production Design of Death Proof
Original theatrical trailer
Extended Trailers for Werewolf Women of the SS, Don't, and Thanksgiving with Director Commentary
Featurette: New York Times talk with Quention Tarantino and Lynn Hirschberg at Comic-Con 2006 featuring the directors and cast of Grindhouse
Bonus footage: Grindhouse Trailer Contest Winner: Hobo with a Shotgun