Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 19: Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror
The last time we had a joint Rodriguez/ Tarantino flick we got one of the most original and awesome vampire flicks ever, From Dusk Til Dawn! This time around we have the dynamic duo sporting their love of Grindhouse cinema! Exploitation movies of the late seventies and early eighties were shoe string budget, gory, nudity filled, profane, ludicrous or extreme X rated films that most regular theatres wouldn't carry. The producers of these films usually only had one print of the film and would drive it around America showing it in the seediest and grimiest theaters, Grindhouse theaters! One print being driven around going from theater to theater would mess up the flick pretty badly, if your town was the tenth stop for the film, the film would be scratchy, color would be messed up and even some of the film reels might've burned up. Such films include Pieces, I Spit On Your Grave, Gore Gore Girls and most of the films on the video nasties list! Some would even consider Last House on the Left and Evil Dead to be exploitation/Grindhouse films! Of course Robert and Quinton being purveyors of schlock and over the top they had to do one! A two for one Grindhouse double feature complete with fake trailers and commercials! Today I am here to talk about my favorite and one of my top ten zombie movies, Planet Terror!
This movie is all over the place with stars and actors and each character has their own unique background that Rodriguez sprinkles lovingly throughout with great one liners that reveal who these people are and even at times can bring a tear to your eye! The story involves a deadly gas developed to take out a populace as it is unleashed overseas on an elite unit of soldiers led by Bruce Willis! The soldiers leader swears to keep his men alive and seeks out the inventor of the gas to keep him supplied and find a cure lest they turn into molting monsters! Unfortunately the gas is unleashed in a little town in Texas and some of the zombie specimens have escaped into the night! On this particular night it seems a lot of different characters have their own agendas for changing their lifestyles. Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) a go go dancer has had enough of her night life and quits in a rage to go become someone better, when she runs into her old lover, Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) He offers her a ride in his rig, the killdozer, when he swerves off the road to miss hitting someone and the zombies attack and take off Cherry's leg! Rushing her to the hospital, we discover a foul scenario is taking place there as well. It seems a husband/wife pair of doctors have had it with each other. Dr. Block (Josh Brolin) is possessive and crazed about his wife Dakota (Marley Shelley) who has called an old girlfriend Tammy (Fergie) to come and take their son away so they can all elope together. Unfortunately this zombie outbreak has derailed those plans as Tammy turns up at the hospital dead and Dakota's plans are discovered by her husband who drugs her and paralyzes her. Unfortunately due to the crazy shenanigans going on he doesn't have time to deal with her and must help his grotesque looking patients. All this insanity brings in the sheriff who basically has the most badass police force ever! The Sheriff is played by Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese from Terminator) and his deputy's are Carlos Gallardo (El Mariachi himself) and the legendary Tom Savini. Tom Savini even punches a zombie in the gut and face with a gun while firing it. Greatest police force ever. Well we come to find out that good ol' Wray may have a dark past that the cops want to know about so they arrest him and take him into questioning. The night descends into hell as half our characters turn into pus spewing zombies, and the rest fight to survive and make it through the end of the world.
Rose McGowan plays one of my favorite fem fatales of all time in this movie. Throughout the beginning she has great sarcastic dialogue about life observations that hide her true pain and sorrow throughout the film, constantly trying not to break down but still adapts to every terrible situation thrown at her. She survives a zombie outbreak half the movie with a wooden peg leg! She has help of course from her lover Wray as they fall into a perfect back and forth repertoire and compliment each other throwing rude remarks at one another until it is revealed why they broke up in the first place and why they should still be together. Cherry constantly is talking about becoming somebody and doing something great. How she has all these useless talents that won't help her with anything. Dakota is the one who helps her come out of her shell and says one day all of your useless talents will come in handy in random life situations and they do. What really sets her up to achieving her true greatness is when Wray finally says he believes in her, something she's always wanted. He tells this not to Cherry Darling, but to his love, Palomita. "I do believe in you. Always have. I believe that you can be better. You deserve better, even better than me. Right now I need you to become who you're meant to be." It's one of my most favorite lines in a Rodriguez film and honestly tears me up. Then to make it even better he straps a giant gun to her leg and Cherry goes to town taking out monster/soldiers and zombies left and right becoming the savior we needed!
There are a lot of moments in this movie that shouldn't but do bring a tear to my eye. The Sheriff has a brother named JT played by Jeff Fahey. JT runs the best barbecue restaurants in Texas and the two hate each other because JT will never give his brother the recipe. In the end of the movie these two legendary actors will bring you to tears as they share a beautiful moment together where in the end of all things they remember what family is about. Cheesy? Maybe. But I eat cheesy up like a fat guy eats nachos and damn are these nachos good! That's the magic of Rodriguez characters though, no matter how much screen time you usually get so much from their little bit of dialogue you feel like you know these people and care about them.
Now remember this is a Grindhouse film and Grindhouse films look nasty but Rodriguez turns nasty into an art form. The film is filled with scratches and holes that pop up everywhere, discoloration and choppiness authenticate the era it is referencing. Several scenes even use the horrible quality of the footage to enhance the scene. Quinton being the creepy weird guy he is has a cameo as one of the soldiers who wants to get really rapey with Cherry and Dakota. He turns his psycho killer factor on high as he has a little scary monologue directed at Cherry. As he is talking, a discolored red hue comes over the screen and encompasses the picture almost like a character itself. It's amazingly done and because Cherry is a badass she breaks off her peg leg into the soldiers eye and with Dakota's help kicks the living crap out of the soldier for an extreme badass girl power moment!
The zombies are pustulous abominations reminiscent of those in Nightmare City! Berger and Nicotero join Rodriguez again to create some of the most grotesque and pus filled zombies ever. Each creature looks more and more insane filled with blood and gore as if they are all about to explode any minute! Throughout the film the soldiers are breathing the gas to keep their sickness at bay but several times they run out and the disease of Terror overtakes them as Berger and Nicotero deliver us some of the most revolting explosions of guts and gore with practical FX that you haven't seen since John Carpenter's The Thing! I cannot recommend this movie more! If you like Rodriguez and you like horror than this is your Nirvana of gore, emotion, and over the top shenanigans!
12 more days til' Halloween Halloween!
12 more days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
