4 Pulses

Rated R

Where to begin with a movie like Grind House when there’s never been anything like it? A throwback to the exploitation films of the ’70s, Grind House is actually two movies in one?a double feature, complete with faux trailers, retro logos and a crackling soundtrack.

The first feature is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a bizarre pseudo-zombie flick with ties to biological warfare. Starring Freddy Rodriguez and Rose McGowan (and her already infamous machine gun leg), the movie lags and takes too long to develop the story. Though it’s fun and certainly exploitative, it’s absolute kitsch. Expect fountains of spurting blood and gruesome images coupled with a decent screenplay that makes you laugh and cringe. And that’s a good thing.

There’s no surprise when Tarantino’s feature, Death Proof, opens on a pair of tanned feet propped on a dashboard with perfectly manicured toes. The man is a creature of habit and anyone who knows Tarantino knows the man’s got a serious foot fetish.

He also has a tendency to tell stories about strong-willed, determined women and, though Death Proof might want you to think it’s the story of Stunt Man Mike and his sickly misogynistic manner, the women are the stars of this flick. And not for their beauty, talent, sensual feet or the way they seemed to have been directed to walk while forcing out their boobs and buns, Death Proof is a girl empowerment story at its gratuitous best.

Featuring proven talents like Rosario and Rose, while showcasing up and coming Hollywood royalty (the daughters of Cheryl Ladd and Sidney Poitier), QT captures a rough essence of female bonding and the lengths we’ll go to when threatened or to protect our friends.

Despite being modern stories, each film feels seeped in the culture of the era they’re trying to replicate. If they weren’t carrying around cell phones, the pair would be timeless. You could also call it self-fulfilling and macho, if only it weren’t so entertaining.

The two directors, who worked together on 1995’s From Dusk ’Til Dawn and 2005’s Sin City are going beyond filmmaking to create a movie-going experience like none other.

By taking hold of the entire process (except for the trailers, directed by Eli Roth, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie, respectively), each of them writing, directing and providing his own cinematography, they’ve managed to stay true to their own cinematic roots while honoring the work that got them into this business in the first place.

The films, though contextually and thematically different, complement one another and it would be a shame to see the studio separate them, as it threatens.