Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Culture

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As soon as I heard that Grindhouse was on DVD, I geeked out. Unfortunately, I also heard that the three-hour pile of exploitation ecstasy was being split up on DVD. Planet Terror, the first feature in the experience, comes from sci-fi / noir / spaghetti western filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

In this ridiculous action and horror extravaganza, we see a zombie breakout plague the citizens of a small Texas town, and then we see the larger-than-life survivors battle against the creatures, fighting their way to freedom. It's a brilliant flick. I'll just say it. Brilliant, why? Because Rodriguez takes everything that makes this genre fun, and discards the things that make it unbearably stupid.

The cast is a great concoction of underused actors. It includes the director's usual go-to people (specifically, his wife Rose McGowan, Bruce Willis and Marley Shelton), and several people that were forgotten by movie fans, but were the most qualified to do a blood-soaked, makeup-heavy sci-fi picture (like Michael Biehn from the Terminator and Alien movies, and Josh Brolin from The Goonies). They play purposefully cliché characters with so much energy and zeal that we forget that they are clichés. Of particular note is Freddy Rodriguez playing the mysterious and deadly El Wray. He truly is a hero in this movie…the kind you read about.

The script was pretty rudimentary when it came to the zombies-running-amok stuff, but the humor and the built-in catch phrases were splendid. Every time I heard, "Best in Texas," from J.T. the barbecue guru, or, "I never miss," from El Wray, I grinned. Movies in old grindhouse theatres were like this; they had bad plots, and bad characters, and pretty lame dialogue, but people loved to watch them anyway.

The photography in this is well done, too, despite the intentionally scratched-up, faded effects that make it look like a film from 1973. The sets all seem to have an eerie green glow about them, like something isn't right in this neighborhood. There's also a point in the movie where we follow El Wray through a zombie-infested hospital, as he hacks and slashes his way to the girl he must save. The sequence is impressive, because it shows how vast Rodriguez imagined it, and it is one of the few times that a big budget is apparent.

I'll admit, this might not be the movie for everyone. It exploits women at times, paints stereotypes and tries to survive off of splatter alone, but the point everyone must remember when watching it is that it's a giant wink at the audience. All action movies are absurd and outlandish, but this one is fun because there's an understanding of that absurdist exploitation. I still recommend waiting to see the entire Grindhouse experience when it comes out on DVD, but this feature alone gets three out of five exploding zombie heads.

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