Grindhouse

I just read a bit about this movie and it sounds pretty cool. Anyone else psyched for it?




Plot summary:

An homage to exploitation B-movie thrillers that combines two feature-length segments into one double-bill designed to replicate the grind house theatergoing experience of the 70s and 80s. In "Death Proof," a psycho named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) stalks and kills beautiful women with his car. In "Planet Terror," a small-town sheriffs' department has to deal with an outbreak of murderous, infected people called "sickos." A gun-legged woman named Cherry (Rose McGowan) and her martial arts-wielding partner (Freddy Rodriguez) take on the zombie army. The two films will be fused together by fake movie trailers.



TRIVIA:

Both directors 'aged' the films, adding scratches, dirt, and dust, to simulate the feel of the real grindhouse films.

As with the real grindhouse films, the directors intentionally added 'missing reels' in their movies.


F.A.Q.:

What is a "Grindhouse"?
A "Grindhouse" was a type of inner city theatre that would play all night marathons of low budget exploitation films in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. These down n dirty theatres would often show offbeat ultraviolent and sexually charged films under the categories of Kung Fu (Shaw Brothers films), Hixploitation (White Lightning, Gator Bait), Blaxploitation (Shaft, Coffy, Superfly, Dolemite, The Mack), Sexploitation (Supervixens, The Swinging Cheerleaders), Zombie and Cannibal films (Dawn of the Dead, Zombi 2, Cannibal Holocaust) Biker films (The Wild Angels, The Glory Stompers, The Savage Seven, The Losers) among hundreds of other subgenres.

In the suburbs during the 60s and 70s, Drive-ins were the equivalent to the inner city Grindhouses. You could see many of the same kinds of films but in more safer outdoor settings. The title of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's first collaboration "From Dusk Til Dawn" (1996) was named after the catch phrase for the all night Drive-in movie marathons.

Both Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino grew up watching these kinds of films in Grindhouse theatres & drive-ins in the 70s-early 80s. When they became friends in the early 90s they often held Exploitation film double features in their own home theaters (and also at QTs Film Fests in Austin, Texas). Flash forward to 2006, the two moviemaking pals decided to recreate these wild nights for movie audiences around the world by making their own traditional Grindhouse-Drive-In double feature extravaganza complete with two raunchy horror films, fake Exploitation film trailers, ads and other cool treats.


Who is directing what?
First: Robert Rodriguez brings us "Planet Terror" in which a town is overrun by disease infected sickos. Then comes Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof", in which a serial killer named Stuntman Mike murders people by the use of his stuntcar instead of a knife or machete.

"Robert's film is Horror, it couldnt happen, but mine is Terror because it could." - Quentin Tarantino

Before and/or in between the movies, there will be a series of fake movie trailers (as it was customary in old grindhouse theatres to show coming attractions in the double features). Robert Rodriguez presents a Mexicano themed Action film trailer starring the hard boiled actor Danny Trejo in the title role of "Machete". Edgar Wright (director of Shaun of the Dead) will be delivering a trailer for "DON'T", a "70s style British horror film". Rob Zombie will be directing a trailer for the Nazisploitation-sci fi-horror flick "Werewolf Women of the S.S." starring Sherri Moon Zombie, Sybill Danning, Udo Kier, Bill Mosely and Nicolas Cage as the legendary Asian mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu. Eli Roth's (Hostel) fake trailer will be an ultraviolent homage to 80s holiday themed slasher films called "Thanksgiving". Tarantino was said to be doing a sexploitation trailer, titled "Cowgirls in Sweden." Although, theres been no word on if this trailer is being added or not.


Which film is shown first?
Reportedly, the film will start with a fake trailer or two, then go right into Rodriguez' Planet Terror. A few more trailers will then be shown, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof will be the finale.



How long will Grindhouse be?
In the official theatrical trailer, Grindhouse is described as being 2 1/2 hours long. So, Planet Terror may be only 60 minutes and then Death Proof may be longer at 90 min.



What? Missing Reels?
Contrary to the GRINDHOUSE TRIVIA section, the missing reels idea in Death Proof and Planet Terror were NOT true staples of Grindhouse moviegoing. While many Grindhouse films would be missing frames, they were never missing entire 20-30 minute reels. The concept for this came from a film Quentin owns ("The Sell Out" starring Oliver Reed) which had a missing reel. He found he enjoyed watching the film with a chunk of the film's plot missing because it created an interesting mystery about what actually happened in that part of the film. This idea was then transferred to the two Grindhouse features.



What's all this about the movie being split up?
There's been some recent controversy in the distribution overseas for Grindhouse. Because most non-English speaking territories might not understand the tradition behind a double feature, the underlying concept might be lost. Hence, as April 6th comes closer for the US release date of both films, there are decisions being made as to which countries will get Grindhouse, and which will get "Grindhouse: Planet Terror" and "Grindhouse: Death Proof"

So far, aside from the US, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand will all be getting the film as one double feature.