I Watch 'Em So You Don't Have To

The Drive-In Experience

Grindhouse: Planet Terror (2007)

Ah the drive-in. If you are too young or if no drive-in was near the place you grew up, you truly missed something special. Whether it was the scratchy speakers, the worn-out movie reels with scratches and skips, trying to watch the movie from the back seat without the rearview mirror being in the way, being too hot or too cold, sneaking in your own popcorn, being in your pajamas, or trying to watch the movie through windshield wipers when it rained, a drive-in movie was a - well it was a pain in the butt however I am so glad I got to experience it.


Grindhouse, while not presenting its movies in drive-ins, tries to capture some of those experiences. This movie contains the worn-out sequences, scratches, even missing reels and posters from management 'apologizing for the inconvenience'. Classic. The movie is great anyway but this just seems to make it that much more special.


We're talking about a zombie movie here too, so we've really got a treasure. First we get the first trailer of the unreleased movie Machete (Which, darn it, was not done in Grindhouse style but regular blockbuster movie style. Rats.). The plot: A military unit, having been sprayed with - something during (pick the war) are now dependent on the substance to live as humans. Without it, they, well, become something like what you see below. Stars pop up all over in this thing: Bruce Willis is here as part of the military squad buying (or stealing, whatever) as much of the substance as they can get from a biochemical engineer looking only for the amount of money to be made. When the engineer is betrayed, he releases the gas they need into the atmosphere. 'Normal' people exposed to the gas become ravenous zombies.

I feel a little bloated...

There are about four or five subplots (maybe more) so to list everything going on here is impossible, and would take pages to explain. Let's just say that great talents such as Quentin Tarantino, Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn, Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin, Freddy Rodriguez, Tom Savini and a pack of others make appearances and have their own little worlds revolving around the main story of zombies gone wild. But it is a real kick to watch a movie, have it skip completely to a new scene, get to an explanation of a character then see 'reel missing' and then the actors thanking the character for sharing the story we never get to hear (that might be really frustrating to some, but I found it funnier than hell).


To say this is action packed is not inaccurate - in fact it calls itself an 'action horror' film, something you don't often see. And action packed it is. Where else on earth are you going to get to see a zombie film with a stripper with one leg and a machine gun strapped to her stump? That was truly a piece of work (although in reality it probably wouldn't work but... it was fun to watch).

If this comes up on your movie choices, Netflix, whatever try it out - and get a taste of what seeing movies was all about when I was young. Yes, they made movies in colors when I was little, you smarties. Try it, you just might like it. Oh, who wins? Watch and see.