Planet Terror (2007) starring Freddy Rodríguez, Rose McGowan, Marley Shelton, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Michael Biehn directed by Robert Rodriguez Movie Review

Planet Terror (2007)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Freddy Rodríguez and Rose McGowan in Planet Terror (2007)

A Different Planet

Whilst Gogo dancer Cherry quits her job trouble goes down between Lt. Muldoon and ball collecting Abby leading to toxic gas being let off. A Little while later Cherry meets her ex Wray at JT's diner and they end up driving together whilst at the hospital Dr. William Block and Dr. Dakota Block find themselves dealing with some sort of epidemic. As things go along all hell breaks lose as the toxic gas has caused people to turn in to flesh eating zombies. But never fear, having lost a leg Cherry ends up having a machine gun replacement and she is going to kick some butt.

When was the last time you heard someone say they missed the day of Grindhouse cinema where there was outrageous action, poor image quality, chunks of story missing, excessive blood splattering and poor dialogue. Nope I have never heard anyone say they wished for those days to return and it is why I would say "Planet Terror" and Tarantino's "Death Proof" didn't do that well at the cinema, ending up with a short run. And it is probably why "Planet terror" has done well on DVD because those who probably enjoyed Grindhouse the first time around are less likely to be queuing up to watch a homage to it 30 some years later but are more than happy to watch it in the comfort of their own home.

Jeff Fahey in Planet Terror (2007)

Now here is the thing, I was too young for Grindhouse during the 70s and whilst I remember poor quality movies full of scratches and choppy edits there is not a single part of me who would want to watch a movie like that again. As such I know that "Planet Terror" was not made with me in mind but I hoped there would be something about it which I enjoyed. I didn't and that is down to the simple fact the movie is all about Rodriguez giving us his homage to the violence and style of 70s Grindhouse and not about the story which is a zombie one.

But whilst I can't say that "Planet Terror" entertained me like it was intended to I can appreciate that technically Rodriguez has recreated the look of 70s Grindhouse with not just the scratched up image quality but the whole low budget yet over the top violence. In fact whilst in some scenes the gore was too much for me I sort of have to perversely admire anyone who can come up with some of the sick scenes in this movie.

What this all boils down to is that as entertainment I didn't like "Planet Terror" and am convinced it is really only for those who enjoyed Grindhouse the first time or those who think they come across as cool for saying a movie is cool. But at the same time I have to admire what Robert Rodriguez has done as he has captured the low budget aspects and the extreme violence of the movies he is paying homage to.


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