Warning: this article contains reviews of graphic bloody violence and gore,
pervasive profanity, high sexual content, gratuitous nudity and hard-core
drug use.
Grindhouse. It's the latest work to come from the extreme minds of Quentin
Tarantino and collaborator Robert Rodriguez, of El Mariachi fame.
A double feature that harks back to the days of late night splatterhouse
cinemas of the 1970s that would screen some of the nastiest, blood-soaked
b-grade schlock fests ever made.
Released in the US a week ago, the double feature - Death Proof by Tarantino
and Planet Terror by Rodriguez - has left critics divided and numerous
cinema patrons totally grossed out.
"Your feature presentation: two movies made entirely of awesome," says David
Cornelius from efilmcritics.com. "An epic exercise in cultural necrophilia,"
says the appropriately named David Fear from Time Out New York.
The two movies - complete with fake previews of other b-grade flicks - take
on the two most important sub genres of the b-grade movies scene, the
slasher flick and the zombie horror movie.
Planet Terror is about a small town having to deal with a sudden outbreak of
diseased locals who want to eat everyone - and features Rose McGowan as a
one-legged stripper who attaches an automatic rifle to her severed limb.
Death Proof stars Kurt Russel as a psychotic stuntman who stalks and kills
beautiful young women in his suped-up car.
Many critics are divided on the relative merits of the two films, with some
saying Tarantino's effort drags the double-feature down.
"[Planet Terror] is the bomb, while the other's simply a bomb," says Matt
Brunson from Creative Loafing.
Stephen Hunter from the Washington Times doesn't have much time for either,
but does award Rodriguez the bragging rights: "The films are bloody, stupid
and buoyant in a kind of infantile way, celebrating mayhem, flesh and gore.
Planet Terror is by far the livelier."
A large part of the critical debate was over whether the movies were simply
parading a childish obsession with an exploitative and long-dead genre, or
whether the two directors had managed to reinvigorate a political incorrect
film style and turn it into art.
"Both gentlemen have a palpable affection for the kitsch factor at work
here, the energy of working on the edge with a low budget, and for the rush
of seeing something so bad that it's good," says Andrea Chase from Killer
Movie Reviews.
"Too often the films fail to separate what made drive-in shockers good
(unapologetic bad taste and an ability to generate excitement on a
shoestring) from what made them bad (the kind of self-indulgence that
homogenised studio products filtered out)," writes Colin Covert in the
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"It's nowhere near as much fun for fans to watch as it was for these fan
boys to make," comments Chad Greene in Box Office magazine.
"Setting aside the dubious coherence and suspect nostalgia of the
enterprise, Grindhouse is a fascinating exercise in genre reinvention, a
showcase for two radically different approaches to homage," write Dennis Lim
in the Los Angeles Times.
In the end the critics and reviewers are so divided on the relative merits
of both films, and the success of the venture as a whole, it seems we're
going to have to wait for the double feature to hit Australian screens on
May 31 and decided for ourselves.
Make sure you bring lots of popcorn, and possibly a sick bag.