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It’s taken me a week to get around to reviewing Grindhouse, because I had to sort out exactly what I thought of this weird beast. This double bill by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino seeks to emulate the vibe of an old sleazy B-movie (or maybe that should be Z-movie) theater, down to the “MISSING REEL” notices that replace sex scenes in both features and the fake trailers at the start and between the main attractions. These trailers are possibly the best part of the whole spectacle: Eli Roth goes so far as to film “Thanksgiving” in precisely the low-budget, cheesy style of a 70’s horror flick, and Rodriguez’s opening “Machete” trailer perfectly captures the outsize machismo and unintentional (or is it?) humor of one-man-army action films. (Rob Zombie’s “Werewolf Women Of The S.S.”, on the other hand, is a little too stiff to be really funny.)

So the presentation is great, but what of the movies themselves? I found Rodriguez’s Planet Terror to be the less impressive of the two, mainly because it didn’t really seem to take much pleasure in its excessive, way over-the-top violence; while it follows the general pattern of a good zombie flick-- botched military conspiracy results in locals getting infected by experimental samples and turning into crazed flesh-eaters-- something just seemed a little off about its pacing and attempts at humor, and I was disappointed that Rose MacGowan’s character didn’t get her famous machine-gun leg until the last fifteen minutes of the film. But there are still entertaining things to be found in it, mainly in the subplot involving an evil doctor (played with suitable menace by Josh Brolin) who confronts the zombie infestation in his hospital at the same time he’s trying to off his wife (Marley Shelton) because she’s having a lesbian affair. Tarantino also appears onscreen in Planet Terror, and while that’s normally cause for concern, the sheer creepiness of his part-- augmented by some genuinely disgusting special effects-- works well for him.

Tarantino also has a small, quieter role in his own Death Proof, which wouldn’t stand on its own as one of his masterpieces but is still a hell of a lot of fun. It follows the murderous rampage of Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), a washed-up movie stuntman who kills women with his “death proof” stunt car… at least until a trio of potential victims turn the tables on him and seek revenge. Death Proof is full of Tarantino’s usual pop-culture-stuffed dialogue, and some viewers may feel it takes a while to get going compared to Rodriguez’s more immediately brutal contribution. But for me, part of the pleasure of watching a Tarantino film is listening to his characters talk about whatever the hell comes into their minds, and the extended sequence where Stuntman Mike lurks in the background at the bar while his second set of potential victims discuss filming mishaps and classic American car movies is one of the film’s highlights. The final car chase is fantastic, and the ending is hilarious… but I won’t spoil the surprise by describing it further.

Planet Terror- 7/10
Death Proof- 9/10
Trailers- 9/10
Overall rating- 8.5/10