Planet Terror

In my opinion, Planet Terror only started to get going when Rose McGowan (Cherry Darling) got her machine gun leg, more than halfway through the film. I have no idea how she managed to pull the trigger; in fact, no triggering device was apparent, to me anyway. That didn't stop her from blasting the infected zombie-like dudes to smithereens with lots and lots of blood splatter.

I suppose if you are trying to emulate a grade b film, you have to go for the outrageous gore factor. Heads get blown off; one man's genitals melt away into a pool of bloody flesh; Cherry loses a leg; a helicopter is used to julienne some unfortunate diseased people (who look fairly disgusting). And, there is enough bad dialogue to please the most demanding b movie enthusiasts out there.

Rodriguez even tried to approximate the look and sound of a slightly beat up film. And so, we have blips and pops in the soundtrack, visible lines on the image to replicate a film that had been shown about 4000 times. And then there is the sound, the slightly muffled sound. I appreciate the effort, but I found this realistic homage to be very irritating. It was like sitting in an ancient review cinema that has only two speakers and one can barely discern what is being said. Beat up the film - yes. Destroy the sound - no, no, no.

Thanks to HMV's deals-of-the-day, I got my copy (double disc) for $6.99. It's essentially the price of a rental, so it was a good deal. I also picked up Death Proof for the same price, but have yet to screen it. I'll let you know what I think of it.