Back in April of 2007 I was given free screening passes for Grindhouse. A bunch of friends and I went to the screening. Grindhouse was two movies: Planet Terror (directed by Robert Rodriguez) and Death Proof (directed by Quentin Tarantino). The double feature ran 191 minutes. People ran for the bathrooms when it was over.

No vampires here, just legions of zombies. It’s got bloody special effects, amazing action, and several over-the-top scenes. You have to suspend disbelief. If you can, there are a lot of great scenes for you to enjoy. Whether it’s Dakota trying to open a car door with limp hands, Cherry running around with a broom stick for a leg, or El Wray leading a caravan via a mini bike, you’ll find many moments to laugh. This film is truly a bloody comedy.

Two things on the production side of the film really stand out. Rodriguez ‘aged’ the film so it had the classic 70’s B-movie look. The film is full of lines, hisses, and pops. The soundtrack was written by Rodriguez himself. It’s a classic 70’s – 80’s horror score, full of orchestral music and cheesy 80’s synthesizers. The result is a truly convincing grindhouse replica.

Planet Terror is being released on DVD this week. The theater version was edited down because of the combined length of the two films. The DVD version is complete and features several new scenes.