The coolest, sickest, dopest movie I've ever seen!!!!!


Synopsis: "GrindHouse" is a double-feature homage to the early 70s theaters that would "grind out" B-movies. It's directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and features two separate full-length movies, "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" respectively. At almost 3 and 1/2 hours long, "GrindHouse" is very time consuming. But, it's far from a chore to watch and actually goes by quickly.

The movie starts off with fake previews for other B-movies then goes right into "Planet Terror." This movie is high-octane and serves up tons of blood and guts for the gore-hungry. Rose Mcgowan, who is quite sexy in this movie, plays a go-go dancer who teams up with other survivors in a town overrun by zombies. The cinematography is quite cool because Rodriguez uses an effect to mimic the gritty, streaky, poppy films of the 70s. You would think this effect would get annoying, but it doesn't. In fact, there are a couple of moments when the scene unexpectedly halts and the message, "MISSING REEL" pops up. It had the whole theater laughing.

Once "Planet Terror" ends, more fake promos and previews run. NOTE: These fake previews are just as entertaining as the actual movie!!!!! Some were so sick and revolting, they had the entire audience jumping up at points.

"Death Proof," Tarantino's half, is decidedly slower paced than Rodriquez's roller-coaster ride. It's obvious Tarantino is the writer of the two, delivering a verbose script with a variety of characters. This is not by chance. Tarantino purposely includes lots of dialogue to build up the huge chase scenes in the movie. In effect, he wants us to actually care about the characters as "Stuntman Mike", the psychotic character brilliantly played by Kurt Russel, torments and terrorizes them. Here, Tarantino is highly effective and successful.

Conclusion: Some reviews have tried to compare Rodriguiz's part to Tarantino's, saying one is "better" than the other. I think this is a huge disservice to an otherwise brilliant film. "Death Proof" slows the pace down and simply offers a different flavor to an amazing dish of blood, guts, gore, horror, action, adventure, and sci-fi. It's clever and fun. And, to be honest, had "Grind House" ended after "Planet Terror," I would have been completely satisfied. But, it was knowing that I was going to be treated to another HOUR and A HALF of action that glued me to my seat.

This is simply the most fun you'll ever have at the movies.PERIOD.

Stars: 3 and 1/2 out of 4.

Worth a look?: HELL YES!