Sunday 25 September 2011

Death Proof (Grindhouse Pt 2)

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Year:2007
Country of origin:USA
Director:Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Genre:Exploitation double feature
Starring:Too many to name
Rating:5/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/
Tagline:The sleaze-filled saga of an exploitation double feature.
Favourite line:"White meat, dark meat. All will be carved. THANKSGIVING."

Well, what do we have here.
A movie that it's own film studio seems utterly unable to comprehend, resulting in some of the shoddiest treatment of a 'major movie' for quite some time.
Released in America initially in its original form, the rest of the world has had to see the film shorn in two.
The idea is simple - wouldn't it be great to make a movie that attempts to recapture the glory days of exploitation cinema?
To this effect we have grainy film stock, garish colour schemes, mock audience laughter and the like, as well as two complete movies in their own right, and a bunch of fake trailers for movies that don't exist, but Christ I wish they did.

First up is 'Planet Terror', Robert Rodriguez's zombie sci-fi pastiche, which sees a group of incompetent miltary types (are there any other sort?) unleashing a deadly gas which causes anyone that comes into contact to turn into a slavering zombie.
Yeah, we've seen it all before, but it's pulled off with some style, and the big budget allows for some extraordinary set pieces - the machine gun leg, and helicopter rotor blade zombie slicing fun being the two standout moments.

Tarantino's movie, Death Proof, is an altogether different beast.
A jaded stuntman with a psychotic streak uses his stuntcar as a weapon to ram groups of women off the road, revelling in the death and destruction he causes. Unfortunately for him, he chooses the wrong group one fine sunny day and payback is due.

Critically panned, mainly by people who wouldn't know a quality exploitation flick if it came up and chewed their face off with unrealistic looking werewolf fangs, this is wickedly good fun.
Superb.

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