“Grindhouse” is exhausting. It’s not just a movie – it’s a three-hour test of your fortitude as a filmgoers. Can you persevere through the intestine-spilling violence of Robert Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” and the head-scratching dialogue of Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof?”
- Sarah Royce
- Tarantino, Rodriguez deliver on promise of two nauseous epics of blood, gore and horror. (Photos courtesy of Dimension)
While the average audience member may not have what it takes to go the distance, movie buffs, film critics and fan boys alike will revel in the horror, suspense and sheer badness of it all.
Billed as a double feature, the term “Grindhouse” refers to the old cineplexes that back in the day would screen two rather awful movies for the price of one. Rodriguez and Tarantino have infused elements of these ’70s era films into their respective pieces, including choppy reel transfers, scratched film and overexposed color. The most show-stealing inclusion, however, has to be the creation of several trailers for fake B-movies including Eli “Hostel” Roth’s cringe-inducing “Thanksgiving” and Edgar “Shaun of the Dead” Wright’s cautionary faux-horror flick “Don’t!”
So two films, two reviews. There’s much debate even among ourselves about which film is better, but we agree that the experience of “Grindhouse” as a whole is incomparable.
PAUL TASSI
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Grindhouse
At the State Theater, Quality 16 and Showcase
Dimension