Planet Terror

(Movie Review)

I’m given to understand, via the magic of wikipedia, that in the U.S. this movie was released as part of a double feature under the name “Grindhouse”. In Japan, both movies were split up into two separate releases. I only saw this movie, so for the moment I’m only reviewing this half.

Watching this movie, I was reminded of words Roger Ebert wrote over 20 years ago when he reviewed the movie “Godzilla: 1985”. (I, uh, I look random stuff up on the internet when I get bored at work. Okay?)

“We all know that there are good movies and bad movies. And everyone is familiar with the convention of a movie so bad that it’s good. But there’s a catch. A movie has to try and be good first. And then the pleasure is in watching the movie try and be something it’s not.” (I'm paraphrasing)

As I watched “Planet Terror”, the Roger Ebert thesis was constantly ringing in my head. Is it possible to make a bad movie on purpose? (Well, obviously it is. But is it possible to make a bad movie on purpose, and then have it turn out to be a good movie?)

Roger Ebert himself, it comes as no surprise, is no big fan of “Planet Terror”. As for me, after debating the Ebert Thesis back and forth in my head, I decided: Kind of. It is possible to make a bad movie on purpose, provided the audience is in on the joke and the movie is chalk full of guilty pleasures. And even then it’s probably only good for one viewing. This is not a movie you’re going to want to own the collectors edition DVD and re-watch every week. Or at least it’s not for me.

For the first time viewing though, I thought it was pretty entertaining. It’s an excuse to engage in all sorts of guilty pleasures, and at the same time be able to laugh at yourself for enjoying these guilty pleasures. And at the same time feel (slightly) intellectual and sophisticated because you’re watching a Tarantino/ Rodriguez metafilm that is itself a commentary and parody of other films.

***********************************************

I’ve watched a lot of junk in my day, but I’ve been searching my memory, and I can’t ever recall having watched a genuine grindhouse film before. Probably very few of us have. That’s the whole point isn’t it? These grindhouse films are so obscure you have to travel out to a grindhouse theater in the 70s to be able to see them. Thus Tarantino/ Rodriguez’s quest to bring the experience to a larger audience.

And yet, large parts of “Planet Terror” evoked vague feelings of remembrance and nostalgia just the same. Probably a lot of little things I imagine. 1970s zombie movies I’ve seen like “Dawn of the Dead”. (I wouldn't consider “Dawn of the Dead” a grindhouse movie. It’s more of a classic. And yet the scenes of Zombies disemboweling people are almost exactly the same in “Planet Terror” as in “Dawn of the Dead”).
Or various B-horror movies I’ve seen. (“Friday the 13th", “Evil Dead”).
Or just all the old movies I’ve seen in general. (Rodriguez said in the directors commentary that he tried to get the lightening just like movies in the 70s, and the film does have a kind of retro 70s look).

…Either that, or it’s the Jungian collective subconscious at work.

*********************************************************

The film is such a mixture of genres that it seems to lack balance. Is it supposed to be a campy horror movie, or a campy action movie, or what?
In the directors commentary, Rodriguez says he killed off the kid and dog because grindhouse movies were famous for the director doing things you weren't supposed to do in a movie just to shock the audience. And yet when all the characters are magically reunited at the climax (including throw away characters like the crazy twin babysitters, and unlikely characters like the sheriff father) it seemed to me more reminiscent of a typical Hollywood twist of events. And the final happy ending also seemed quite Hollywood.

But, I’m sure Rodriguez would say a grindhouse film is supposed to be a sloppy mix of genres. That’s the problem with reviewing a movie that’s supposed to be bad on purpose. Any faults you find with it can be explained away with a shrug of the shoulders and the explanation, “Well, it’s supposed to be a bad movie”.

Link of the Day
Bleeding Afghanistan

Bonus Link: More Japanese music on Youtube

Speaking of the cheesy music (see previous post) this has always been another one of my favorites. "Kiiroi Sakuranbo" (Yellow Cherry) by The Three Cats
It's from the late 50s, and the first few times I heard it I could just imagine it coming over an old crackly radio on a Saturday night somewhere in the Japanese countryside. Or you can imagine the 3 girls singing it on an old black and white TV in Tokyo somewhere.

Planet Terror: Movie Review (Scripted)