Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are two filmmakers that need no introduction; it is their respective body of work that says volumes about each director’s passion for their craft. In an effort that walks a fine line between spoof and ingenious homage, Grindhouse isn’t just a movie, it is an organic, vital and uproarious recreation of yesteryear cinema that will make you fall in love with movies all over again.

In the area I grew up we were lucky enough to still have a few sticky-floored grindhouse theaters that managed to avoid being demolished for most of my youth. That being said, my brief childhood memories of the holdovers from this era of cult filmmaking were reinvigorated upon seeing the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse, a three hour experience of cinematic dynamite, complete with faux trailers and vintage advertisements from Tarantino’s collection that come together to blow audiences away.

First on the bill was Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, an homage that cleverly blended zombies, gore and 1940s screwball comedies. Filled with buckets of witty dialogue and even more blood, Rodriguez has crafted an action packed survival horror story featuring over the top, cartoon-like violence that only the man behind Desparado and Sin City could produce.

In an example of melodrama in its purist form, Planet Terror lets the action drive the story. Though one could argue that the characters are paper thin, they are in fact entertaining, stereotypical archetypes of the genre that Rodriguez is paying homage to. When a biochemical weapon is released into the atmosphere above Austin, Texas the majority of the city’s population turns into, ravenous, boil infested zombies. A small band of survivors, led by El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), a weapons expert with a mysterious past, and Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), a go-go dancer who equips her missing leg with a high powered machine gun, must try to find safety, while simultaneously blowing the roof off the controversy behind this infectious outbreak, and everything and anything else in between.

The effects in Planet Terror are by far some of the most impressive practical effects scene in years. With guns blazing, explosions blasting and body parts flying everywhere, Rodriguez has made Planet Terror a gore-fan's dream. Just wait until you see some of the inventively horrific deaths in the film, especially Fergie’s, which is one that is sure to send little, teeny bopper fans of the pop star home crying. For the rest of us though, the humorous play on gore is “Fergalicious”.

When it comes to raw filmmaking ability you would be hard pressed to find a director as talented as Robert Rodriguez. Being the writer, director, cinematographer, editor and musician on Planet Terror, Rodriguez is a filmmaker that knows his craft inside and out. Having his actors play each of their roles with over-the-top perfection, Rodriguez makes distinct, deliberate choices which makes Planet Terror one of the most unique and refreshingly fun action films ever made. A tracking shot of El Wray wreaking havoc on zombies down a hospital corridor, plus a helicopter that decapitates an army of zombies in its path are just a smidgen of the fantastic action sequences lying in wait for those who visit Planet Terror, proving once again that nobody can blow stuff up quite like Robert Rodriguez.

Continue to Part 2

Six Exclusive Interviews with the Stars of Grindhouse