Grindhouse

Grindhouse (2007) is a set of films directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarrantino, in apparent tribute to B-grade films of the 1960s and 1970s that specialized in depictions of ultra violence. I watched Machete, the film directed by Rodriguez. A virus is released that infects everyone with whom it comes in contact, turning them into flesh-eating zombies. A ragtag group of hooligans and hoods band together to fight off the zombies. In numerous scenes various appendages of the human body, including heads, are cut, chopped, bitten or sawed off. Blood gushes in torrents. The special effects are intentionally low-grade—the blood looks fake, the severed limbs look plastic—that is supposed to be part of the fun of the films. Tarrantino appears in a minor role as one of the bad guys. Bruce Willis also appears in a minor role: just before he swells up to the size and appearance of a grotesque cucumber and explodes, he confesses to killing Osama Bin Laden.

Grindhouse attempts to simulate how it would have been to sit in some sleazy, b-grade movie house or drive-in theater watching one of these films. The print is full of intentional defects and scratches, a reel is actually missing (its absence does not detract from the coherence of the plot), and the faux-trailers at the beginning are hilarious.

The two Kill Bill films were Tarrantino’s tribute to the old kung fu films that influenced him. Are we to think these B-grade grindhouse films to which Rodriguez and Tarrantino pay tribute deserve similar honor? The outpourings of blood and violence become boring after a while. One of the most memorable moments involves a young woman whose leg is torn off by a zombie. Her boyfriend attaches a large machine gun as an artificial limb, and she uses it to great effect, killing zombies (can zombies be killed? Apparently so, if you shoot off their heads) and other bad guys with zeal.

One can appreciate the realism and attention to detail in this recreation of an old 60s/70s-style schlock film while at the same time wondering what is the point and what is the benefit.