Grindhouse (2007) – Film Review

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie
Starring: Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Freddy Rodriguez
Certificate: 18

by Dan Berlinka

Rodriguez and Tarantino’s print-damaged love letter to exploitation movies is patchy, but enjoyable if you like that kind of thing.

I can’t imagine either film working particularly well on its own, but as a double bill (complete with fake trailers, the best of which is Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’) it’s good nostalgic fun for anyone whose teen years coincided with the home video boom.

Planet Terror is the better of the two, and delivers what it promises, though may be a little too tongue in cheek for us to care very much about what’s happening.

“Creative dead end”

Death Proof is overly talky and self-referential (we are treated not only to a cameo by Tarantino but also one by his own personal jukebox), with curiously little action to punctuate the relentless film geekery of the dialogue. However, it’s still done with tremendous conviction and is not without its moments.

Taking the two together as one movie, you may wonder what the point was (q.v. Stanley Donen’s Movie Movie) and I have a sneaking suspicion that all this pastiche and homage may be a bit of a creative dead end. But for genre fans it’s definitely worth a go.
7/10