Planet Terror

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Horrorphile - April 2009

Planet Terror

April 22nd 2009 01:35

Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), a spunky go-go dancer with an ambition to do stand-up comedy, quits her job and hooks up with her ex-boyfriend El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) a mechanic with a secret past, at The Bone Shack owned by BBQ-lovin’ JT (Jeff Fahey). Meanwhile a group of military officials led by unhinged Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis) confront black market scientist Abby (Naveen Andrews) over his bio-chemical weapon code-named “Project Terror”, but things go seriously awry when the super-toxic gas is released and starts turning people into hideously ravaged, flesh-eatin’ sickos. It’s up to El Wray, Cherry, Dr. Dakota (Marley Shelton), Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn), the Babysitter Twins (Electra & Elise Avellan), and the rest of a rag-tag posse of survivors with attitude, to try and save the night ... so there's a morning to look forward to.

Rose McGowan as Cherry Darling

Robert Rodriguez’s half of the Grindhouse project he made with fellow deep trash-lovin’ cinephile Qunetin Tarantino is the better of the two, simply because it’s closer in look, feel, tone to the original grindhouse flicks of the 70s. Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007) reeked too much of Tarantino being, well, Tarantino. Death Proof started off okay, but quickly turned into a talk-fest, and then meandered off into an extended car chase that petered out altogether. Plus, Tarantino did away with the purposeful "weathering" (all those celluloid scratches, pops, discolorations, etc) as his movie went along. Rodriguez however embraced the grindhouse sensibility and rode that noisy fatboy all the way to deep trash heaven.

Planet Terror Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews

Cherry, El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), Dr. Dakota (Marley Shelton) and Abby (Naveen Andrews)

Bruce Willis as Lt. Muldoon

You gotta hand it to Rodriguez, he’s a one-man cine machine; not only did he write and direct, but he co-produced, was director of photography, camera-operated, edited, supervised the elaborate special effects, composed the music, and even acted as his own on-set chef! His own studio Troublemaker did the digital visual effects (and there’s plenty of them, but they’re executed in very clever B-grade style), whilst KNB (Greg Nictoero & Howard Berger) designed and supervised all the disgustingly brilliant and over-the-top special effects make-up (SFX makeup legend Tom Savini has a small role as a deputy).

Sickos on the loose

Dr. Block (Josh Brolin) about to get some from sicko Joe (Nicky Kat)

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie when I was lucky to see on the big screen as part of the originally-intended Grindhouse double feature when it had a brief theatrical season in Australia (and included the additional fake horror trailers). Whereas Death Proof had its own separate theatrical run, Planet Terror was denied one in Australasia (much to the fans dismay). The DVD version of Planet Terror on DVD is extended (as was the separate Death Proof theatrical release), with the most memorable addition being JT realising the missing ingredient to his BBQ sauce is his own blood, but also the sex scene between El Wray and Cherry is even more of a scorcher, resulting in the classic moment where the movie’s actual celluloid appears to melt within the projector (a semi-regular occurance with the cheap B-movie prints and the even cheaper grindhouse projectors), and a inter-title card comes up saying “Missing Reel – apologies from management”.

Stacy Ferguson provides a little voluptuous victimization

Rodriquez never shot the missing ten minutes and apparently isn’t interested in knowing, so suddenly the audience is thrust forward in the narrative action, and The Bone Shack is burning fiercely and the rag-tag posse has garnered several more uncredited survivors. But hey, it all adds flavour to this vivid depiction of blood-thirsty carnage and utter chaos.

Planet Terror Tom Savini and Michael Biehn

Deputy Tolo (Tom Savini) and Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn)

Tarantino makes a cameo as “Rapist #1”, but he’s never been much of an actor himself, and the irony is he sticks out like a sore thumb (make that a very sore schlong!) All the other actors are excellent in their respective roles, yet Tarantino’s performance comes across as forced, as if he’s gone out of his way to play the most repulsive character possible. I suppose in the bigger slimy picture that’s all hunky-dory, but it grates against the rest of the movie.

Planet Terror Marley Shelton, Rose McGowan, Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino as one nasty motherfucker

The other big irony is that for a “grindhouse” B-movie (which would’ve been produced with a skeleton crew on the smell of an oily rag) Planet Terror has a huge production crew. The end credits go on and on and on (that’s when I discovered Rodriquez does his own cooking, in fact, on one of the Sin City DVD featurettes he hosts a ten-minute cooking class!)

Planet Terror Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Rose McGowan and the Avellan twins

El Wray, Dakota Block, Cherry and the babysitter twins (Electra & Elise Avellan)

Planet Terror is unbridled ultra-violent midnight fun, with severed tongue-in-cheek, a shit-eating, pizza-smeared grin slapped on your spliff-ripped face, and an insatiable hunger for all things fleshy an’ drippin’ … Slurp! Grunt! Moan! Snap! Crack! Rodriguez has made an homage to those cheesy 70s Euro-zombie flicks (think Dr. Butcher MD and Lucio Fulci) that looks like a grindhouse movie, but it’s not meant to be exactly as one (the Weinstein brothers would never have released a genuinely-styled grindhouse movie). It’s a real shame the Grindhouse double feature bombed in the States (a depressing irony that Joe Average punter missed the point of it and didn’t want to sit through a three-hour movie session).

Danny Trejo as Machete in the fake trailer that precedes the feature

For more bang to your butt, I also reviewed the complete Grindhouse (2007) double feature experience.

Here's the excellent trailer:

But what I really wanna know is what the hell happened to Rose McGowan’s face?! I know she had a minor car accident which resulted in a little cosmetic surgery to her face, but she looks so damn different than the gorgeous rose from Scream-era. She’s lost a lot of weight, and it looks like she’s had a face-lift as well. A commenter on imdb.com described her as looking like “a cross between Michael Jackson, a bag of spanners, and a pitbull chewing on a wasp.” Harsh, I know, but he’s got a point.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

9 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Mistersmith

April 22nd 2009 02:10

MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME

This 'minor' car accident. It wasn't with a train was it?

Comment by Bryn

April 22nd 2009 02:48

Horrorphile

Mistersmith, yeah, you're telling me. Apart from having a flap of skin under her eye re-attached, she should've stopped right there. She was a beautiful girl, but now she looks like a middle-aged woman trying to look 20 years younger.

Comment by Mau-Medellin

April 22nd 2009 03:23

Mau-Medellin

hahaha this movie was so bizarre! I had to watch it a few times just to work out what was going on, and then I realised it was meant to be that way.

Have you seen Death Proof? Talk about car accidents!!

Comment by Bryn

April 22nd 2009 07:06

Horrorphile

Mau-Medellin (unusual handle),
so you must have been wondering what the fuck is this movie looking like this for?!
yeah, seen Death Proof, and yeah, amazingly staged car crash, but that was about the best thing in it, that and Sidney Poitier

Comment by Mau-Medellin

April 22nd 2009 11:32

Mau-Medellin

I think it's rather un-unusual Bryn

I should have looked over your old posts haha, but seriously I don't think you could say either of these films had a plot of any depth. Death Proof was just so much cooler... maybe because, even though I know it wouldn't happen in real life, Death Proof (the car scenes) just seem so much more probable than a testicle melting virus and machine gun leg.

They're both seriously cool films to watch stoned!!

Comment by Bryn

April 22nd 2009 14:58

Horrorphile

Mau,
But you've missed the point, grindhouse flicks were never about situations that were meant to be plausible, they were meant as pure escapism, or as serious confrontation, but basically removed from reality. Planet Terror is a far superior movie as far as pacing and consistency in tone and atmosphere is concerned. Death Proof's main weapon is Kurt Russell's performance. Zoe Bell (the stunt woman Tarantino cast) is so dreadful as an actor that she makes all the others look like thespians. But then the same thing can be said for Tarantino himself acting in Planet Terror.
I love Euro-horror and psychotronic movies, so that's one of the reasons why Planet Terror appeals to me, whereas although I dug the chicks rapport in the first half of Death Proof and Stuntman Mike was a cool character, I rapidly lost interest in the movie after the crash, as the movie started to meander. Tarantino spends too long dolling out his pseudo-hip referential dialogue which was okay in Pulp Fiction, but it's growing a bit thin now. Who knows how indulgent Inglourious Basterds will be ...

Comment by JohnDoe

April 22nd 2009 15:33

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,

Planet Terror is executed with such a passionate fervor i couldn't help but shit and giggle throughout...excessively revolting in all teh right ways.

As for Rose and her head, she needs to stop chasing parked cars.

Comment by Damo

April 23rd 2009 07:49

The true horror is the before and after shot.
I really need to see this flick.

Comment by Bryn

April 23rd 2009 08:22

Horrorphile

JD, hahahaha! Exactly!

Damo, yes the gruesomeness is so OTT that it's more absurdly comic than actually disturbing. The special effects are schlocklily superb, and the digital treatment to make the film look weathered is ingenious, especially in some scenes like when Lt. Muldoon transforms (which you see on the trailer). Yes, you do need to see this flick, though not one for the kids or the wife methinks.

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