A Review of the Movie Grindhouse

I wasn't sure what to expect when the lights went down in the movie theater. I was there to see Grindhouse, and I had been told that it was directed by Quentin Tarantino, but other than that I was clueless about the movie. Sure, I had seen the posters of the girl with a machine gun for a leg, but that picture doesn't explain much about the movie. I had never heard the phrase "grindhouse" before, and I was only vaguely familiar with what a B movie was. During the previews my date leaned over and explained "they spent a lot of money to make this movie seem low-budget." I didn't have time to ask any more questions, one preview in particular caught my attention.

The trailer was for a ridiculous upcoming movie about a Mexican immigrant and a priest who kill people. It took me a good 2 minutes to figure out that this preview was part of the movie, the grainy texture gave it away (and my ever-helpful date whispered "this is all part of the movie. It's supposed to look cheap.") It was so cheesy that it actually made me laugh, and I slowly started realize that it was intended to just that.

Grindhouse is a double feature, another new concept for me. Technically it is two separate movies, "Planet Terror" directed by Robert Rodriguez and "Death Proof," directed by Tarantino. The faux previews were part of the movie, and most featured guns, topless women, or both. Another important feature of these fake trailers, and both films, was horrible bloody violence. I had no idea how squeamish I was until I watched Planet Terror all the way through.