Other movies in this series:
Deathproof

The tyranist's thoughts
Over the years I've become a big Robert Rodriguez fan. I thought the guy was capable of a lot when I first saw The Faculty and as I've seen more and more of his movies, he quickly became a favourite of mine for his direct manner of storytelling and for dark and rough settings for his stories. With the exception of Spy Kids 3 and Shark Boy and Lava Girl in Love I can't think of a movie of his I haven't loved. And those two were hurt by the 3-D as much as they were by pandering to an audience that is incredibly young.
But enough about his past successes. Planet Terror tells of a small Texas town that is quite suddenly besieged by zombies. In the usual zombie movie manner, our heroes emerge out of the most unlikely characters, including a go-go dancer, an anaesthetist, a tow-truck driver, and a scientist. The fight for survival is grim, but can they prevail against a relentlessly hungry menace?
The pace of this one was nearly frenetic at times. The characters are all well-played. I was pleasantly surprised by how good Rose McGowan was. Freddy Rodriguez was good, as was Marley Shelton. At times the dialogue was a bit corny, but for the most part, the spectacular amount of gore distracted me from any other failings.
And that's what this movie was all about: action and gore. It manages to pull off the whole thing while still having characters just sympathetic enough that we really want them all to live. As gimmicky as this thing looked in the trailers, it manages to be a fine movie. But one that must be seen in the theatre with an enthusiastic crowd. You'll hate yourself for not seeing it that way. The Grindhouse movies were meant to be seen with people who love their particular quirks and they aren't as much fun without it.
So even though this one will stand up on its own, you owe it to yourself to get out to the theatre while you still can. And maybe if we're lucky, we'll be watching this one at midnight screenings for years to come.
Posted: April 10, 2007

Rish Outfield's reviews
Planet Terror was a lot of fun. It felt more like a low-budget, but entertaining horror movie from the Eighties than the Seventies to me, but for this reviewer, that was all the better.
Unlike the cheapie drive-in schlock the film was emulating, we had ourselves a great cast: Michael Biehn, Freddy Rodriguez, Tom Savini, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews, that Fergilicious woman, Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Tarantino, Nicky Katt, and Rose McGowan in a star-making performance.
There was a lot of clever stuff going on, and the story moved along quite briskly, throwing everything into the mix that could delight or disgust an exploitation-hungry audience.* Sure, it was over the top, but it was just about as much entertainment as a movie can get, plus a little bit extra on the side in the form of fake trailers.
It was offensive, tasteless, and gross, but in a good way. And the shot with the helicopter (literally) mowing down zombies was pretty priceless.
While I didn't like the second feature, Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof in the slightest, I got my money's worth from this film alone.
Note: Tyranist and I debated for a while about how to review these two films, which you could technically call one film, if you wanted to. In the end, we felt we would better serve the two features if we treated them as two separate movies on a double bill, and give them separate Skulls and entries. That way, if somewhere down the line, they make a second Grindhouse (which seems unlikely given the poor box office over the weekend), we could have a page like our "Masters of Horror" and "HorrorFest" pages, with links to all the reviewed films in that series.
Best Scare: There was lots of gory, oozy stuff, with the kind of violence that either makes you groan or laugh out loud. But there were never any scares.
I'd Recommend It To: Well, here's the thing: though I hated the Death Proof section of the film, the experience of seeing Planet Terror and the fake trailers was so great that I have to recommend the movie to anybody who can appreciate the exploitation cinema of the past. I'm not so sure how the movie(s) will translate to DVD and television release, but my guess is that a lot of folks who wait for video will say to themselves, "Damn, this would've been great to see in the theatre."
*Except nudity. It's strange, there was more nudity in any of the fake trailers than there was in either of the two Grindhouse features. That had to have been intentional, but I'm unable to figure out why.
Posted: April 10, 2007

Total Skulls: 18

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?