"A double feature that'll tear you in two!"As the tagline says, it will tear you in two. The film is a double feature of Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino. Released in 2007, this film was a take back to the old grindhouse films of the 70's. Filled with gore and more, this is an excellent film to see.
First up, Planet Terror. This film is based on the old Military, Underground Secret Weapon, and Zombie films like Dawn of the Dead (1978). In it, a secret military weapon (see what did I tell you?) is let loose on a Texas town. These are no ordinary zombies, these ones are vicious and will tear you apart. A shady militia of army men, lead by a cameo by Bruce Willis, arrive for this and the creator of the toxic chemical is obsessed with balls that he keeps in a jar. It coincides with the quitting of a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling, played by Rose McGowan, and the arrival of a mysterious woman, played by Fergie, who is here to help her lover leave her husband and take the kid with them, the kid played by none other that Rebel Rodriguez, Robert's son. At an award winning BBQ shack arrives El Wray, played by Freddie Rodriguez, who has had a past relationship with Cherry. The main whole action in the film occurs when Cherry looses her leg to the monsters and the crew of survivors being captured and taken to a military base where her leg is soon replaced from the wooden table leg from the hospital to a kick ass machine gun leg. I like this film for the goriness, the babes, and the cameos by Tom Savini (Special F/X master of such films as From Dusk Till Dawn and the original Dawn of
the Dead.) and Michael Biehn (who played Kyle Reese from The Terminator). An underplot occurs at a hospital, where a major point of the outbreak occurs as a conflict of two doctors, played by Josh Brolin and Marley Shelton. I give this film, you know what, let's save it for later.
The second feature is Tarantino's Death Proof, a film about a group of friends that include a local DJ known as Jungle Julia, go to a bar to hang out. It just so happens that a psychotic stuntman known only as Stuntman Mike is there to crash the party. It leads to a multi scene shot of one of the most amazing crashes ever. The second half leads up to a group of stuntwomen now the targets of the sadistic stuntman, but there's a little something something that he doesn't know. This film also features McGowan as a minor character who gets her face smashed in by the dashboard with the famous quote by Stuntman Mike, "Remember when I said this car was death proof? Well, that wasn't a lie. This car is a hundred percent death proof. Only to get the benefit of it, honey, you REALLY need to be sitting in my seat." This is one of Tarantino's best films he has ever made, and I have seen Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, AND Reservoir Dogs. I know that this one is shorter than Planet Terror.
I give this film a full 6 jack-o-lanterns out of six for plot, casting, F/X, writing, directing, and a whole lot more.
