Review of Grindhouse (2007) by Kevinn. — 11 Apr 2007

I can't quite understand the buzz surrounding this double feature. If you want to see a bad b-movie, why do you need the biggest directors and clearly largest budgets to painstakingly recreate things which already exist? Planet Terror was a typical gross-out gorefest.

It features more explosions than I've seen in recent memory. And Rose McGowan is great to look at. But we've seen this zombie movie 100 times already. As for DeathProof, it drags at first and features a good car chase.

Ultimately, however, DeathProof is ONLY a car chase. That the vengeance is enacted by a carload of sexy swomen seems somewhat new, but they are ultimately as barbaric as men could be--It just wasn't satisfying.

I also object to the presence of Quentin Tarantino in both films for roles more than just cameos. He looks like a bloated baby and has the screen magnetism of balsa wood. Both of the films use "wink-wink" gimmicks which make the copies seem old: like scratches, burning, mismatched edits and sound at times.

But these two very good directors clearly spent much time and effort trying to get effects which I'm glad are largely gone. I did like the trailers;they were short and funny. In my mind Rob Zombie's two previous films are of the same genre as this film but rthey espect their heritage without trying to completely imitate them.

If Grindhouse had been truly scary or exciting or provocative or insightful, I would feel differently. Maybe it will stand up to other art pieces in the style of Rene Magritte's famous pipe canvas, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

" Grindhouse is not really a bad, old film; but it sure looks an awful lot like one.