Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this tongue-in-cheek zombie gorefest -- half of the Grindhouse feature film that came out in theaters -- celebrates and partially re-creates the brutal sex-and-action "exploitation" movies that played in bad-neighborhood theaters from the 1960s through the '80s. That means it luxuriates in blood-soaked violence and sexually suggestive sleaze and has loads of swearing, carnage, and erotica (though actual nudity is brief). It's a campy takeoff, but the humor is quite gruesome, not the goofy silliness found in Scary Movie-type parodies.
Families can talk about the movie's intentionally shocking material. Why would the ultra-violence and butchery of this film be considered entertaining? At what point do viewers become desensitized to this type of barrage of violence and gore? Is the excess meant to be funny? Do you think films like this one only appeal to a certain audience? Who is that audience, and why are they drawn to material like this? Are the vintage '60s and '70s exploitation movies that this one was inspired by still relevant today? How would you characterize the women in the movie? Are they victims or heroines? How does their sexuality work for and against them?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
Would you leave your kids at Quentin Tarantino's place for day care? PLANET TERROR originally visited theaters in a two-part concoction called Grindhouse that was an attempt by directors Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to re-create a double-bill of the shabby exploitation movies of bygone days -- or, more specifically, the experience of sitting in Tarantino's home theater, where he projects tattered old prints and trailers of vintage zombie and slasher movies for friends.
Patrons either didn't get the joke or didn't feel like they were missing out on the Tarantino Home Theater experience, and Grindhouse died at the box office. Supposedly, many moviegoers didn't realize it was a double feature, and they left during the end credits of Planet Terror (which ran first), missing Tarantino's segment entirely. Ouch! So, in the spirit of the old exploitation filmmakers -- who never lost a chance to make a buck -- the separate halves of Grindhouse were expanded with outtakes and released as independent features on DVD.
Planet Terror is Rodriguez's contribution, a campy tribute to zombie-horror gorefests of the 1970s and early 1980s (the same time that smart-alecky filmmakers started making campy tributes to the horror/sci-fi films of yesteryear, like Young Frankenstein). After a quarter-century, the joke's getting a bit old.
But Rodriguez puts his typical high energy into the exercise, as well as indulging in what makes grindhouse movies so fascinating to their adherents. Lots of people die in excruciating and tasteless fashion. Pets die. Children die. (In his DVD commentary, Rodriguez states that exploitation filmmakers would do anything to get a reaction from their audience, chucking out all sense of right and wrong in the process.)
Though shot digitally, Planet Terror re-creates the look of ultra-cheap, mismatched, faded film stock; emulsion scratches; bad splices; and missing footage. It's set in Texas, where a group of military men under the command of Bruce Willis try to steal some kind of gas bio-weapon, which is released into the air.
People all over town wind up infected and crowded into a hospital, where they mutate into pus-oozing, cannibalistic, zombie-like psychopaths. A number of untainted civilians then come to fore as the main characters -- chiefly a tow-truck driver named Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), who's actually some sort of legendary commando-gunfighter living under an alias, and his foulmouthed, estranged lover Cherry (Rose McGowan), a bitter go-go dancer.
Early in the film, Cherry's leg is torn out by the zombies, and Wray comes up with some inventive replacements (including weapons). As dysfunctional as it is, theirs is a loving, supportive relationship compared to that of Dr. Bill Block (Josh Brolin), the hospital's nasty chief surgeon, and his medic-wife Dakota (Marley Shelton), who appears to be having an ongoing lesbian affair behind his back.
Even though the action is chaotic, Rodriguez ties his characters and narrative strands together rather cleverly, as though Planet Terror was a trashy Gilbert & Sullivan gore-opera. And -- as he has throughout his career -- Rodriguez gives equal time to his Hispanic characters, who are usually relegated to the sidelines in Anglo-centric Hollywood fare.
But the continuous mutilation, mutation, attempted rapes, and some rather unnecessary shock-for-shock's-sake elements make this movie a lot like "The Vomiter" and its fellow sadistic amusement-park rides, which Rodriguez parodied in his kiddie flick Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams. There's no distinction between thrilling and just sickening.
More sober-minded zombie movies include 28 Days Later and the original Night of the Living Dead. For a zombie-thon that actually combines slapstick action comedy, tender romance, and ghastly dismemberment in an entertaining mix -- if such a thing is remotely possible -- check out Peter Jackson's Dead/Alive and Shaun of the Dead.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentBrief toplessness early on in the phony trailer for Machete and in strip-club dressing room. "Artful" near-explicit nudity in a love-scene montage (interrupted by a "missing reel"). Female characters dress skimpily in shorts and tight tops, and there are glimpses of what are supposed to be diseased, decayed, and mutated male testes. Lots of suggestive exotic dancing. Discussion of lesbian relationship. |
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ViolenceAlmost every possible mutilation is on display (including actual forensic photos). Pus-oozing zombies eat people, get dismembered, and burst into bloody messes. One of the victims is a little boy who accidentally shoots himself accidentally; a pet dog is run over by a convoy. The female lead loses her leg to zombie cannibals and replaces it with a gun and rocket launcher. Attempted rape. |
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LanguageLots and lots of "s--t," "f--k," and other expletives and clinical terms. |
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Social BehaviorWhile the Hispanic and white characters are treated equally (a Robert Rodriguez trademark), they're still B-movie caricatures of rogues, strippers, outcasts, maniacs, etc. The women are as tough as the men (though they're also heavily sexualized). The movie's murderous military marauders turn out to be military troops. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSocial drinking in a bar scene; talk of drugs. |
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