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Grindhouse

More than a movie, it's a gross-out, shoot-'em-up cinematic experience

By Eric Alt, Special to Metromix

April 6, 2007

Critic's Rating:

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"Grindhouse" comes off as more theme park ride than movie— and that's meant as a compliment. Be warned: A ticket buys moviegoers more than two back-to-back movies (Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof"). "Grindhouse" turns local suburban multiplexes into run-down, seedy bum hotels, churning out a crass, exploitative and balls-out-fun movie experience, complete with fake trailers for crass, exploitative and balls-out-fun movies audiences will be dying to see next.

Rodriguez and Tarantino hit all the right notes. "Planet Terror" is a gross-out zombie flick in the vein of John Carpenter (and we mean gross-out—don't plan on eating much for the first hour), while "Death Proof" is a slow-burn car fetish movie like "Gone in 60 Seconds" (the original, as one character points out, not "that Angelina Jolie bullshit").

From film scratches to infuriatingly timed "missing reels" to botched sound cues, this will be a nostalgic trip for anyone who ever saw a movie in the days before digital projection. Specially created interstitials and trailers, as well as the very different look and feel of each feature, help make the three hour-plus running time palatable.

Some of that additional content comes from Rob Zombie, "Hostel" director Eli Roth and "Shaun of the Dead's" Edgar Wright. Their teasers for other exploitation concepts add to the full movie-going experience, with the best being Wright's tribute to legendary British horror studio Hammer with a hilarious trailer for a movie called "Don't."

If audience members have half as much fun watching "Grindhouse" as the cast and crew appears to have had making it, they'll get their money's worth.

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