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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: UNI DIST CORP (MUSIC)
EAN: 0796019803878
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Widescreen, NTSC
Item Dimensions: 25
Label: The Weinstein Company
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 5.1EnglishSubtitledSpanishSubtitled
Manufacturer: The Weinstein Company
MPN: 80387
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: The Weinstein Company
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Running Time: 105 minutes
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Theatrical Release Date: April 06, 2007
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
When an army experiment goes horribly wrong, a small town's sheriff department and a few residents with shady backgrounds must fight their way out past the infected people, "sickos," before they become infected themselves. Along the way, the motley group of survivors uncover an arms dealing rogue and a government conspiracy that is bound to shake the United States to the core.
Amazon.com:
Loud, fast, and proudly out of control, Grindhouse is a tribute to the low-budget exploitation movies that lurked at drive-ins and inner city theaters in the '60s and early '70s. Writers/directors Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) cooked up this three-hour double feature as a way to pay homage to these films, and the end result manages to evoke the down-and-dirty vibe of the original films for an audience that may be too young to remember them. Rodriguez's Planet Terror is a rollicking horror/sci-fi/action piece about a plague outbreak that turns citizens into cannibalistic murderers; it's heavy on the gore and explosions but also features a terrific cast of A players (Freddy Rodriguez, Naveen Andrews, Marley Shelton) and B-movie vets (Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Tom Savini) and the indelible image of Rose McGowan as a stripper whose torn-off leg is replaced by a high-powered machine gun.
If Tarantino's feature was a nod to the moody, genre-jumping exploitation of the early '70s, Rodriguez's contribution to the Grindhouse aesthetic pays tribute to the manic gorefests from Italy and the States in the early '80s. And much like the film itself, the supplemental features on Terror's double-disc Extended and Unrated presentation have a loose, action-packed and familial vibe that gives fans full access to Rodriguez's one-man-studio approach to moviemaking. The director is featured twice on audio tracks: first, on the feature commentary, which provides a fun tour through the picture's production (as well as information on the upcoming Grindhouse DVD set, which will reunite the two pictures in their theatrical format), and later on the "10-Minute Film School," a fascinating breakneck run through the numerous visual and CGI effects that produced the film's most eye-popping effects, including McGowan's leg/machine gun. Most of the extras echo Rodriguez's informative and entertaining vibe--two featurettes cover the picture's male and female cast (the former offers affectionate tributes to the exploitation vets in the company, including Biehn, Fahey, Michael Parks, and Savini), while "Casting Rebel" is an amusing discussion of how Rodriguez came to bring his own son into the movie, as well as his refusal to disclose the fate of Rebel's character. "Sickos, Bullets, and Explosions" takes a look at Terror's extensive special effects through interviews with stunt coordinator Jeff Dashnaw and members of the visual effects team, while "The Friend, The Doctor, and The Real Estate Agent" chats with three non-actors, all pals of Rodriguez, who wound up with small but significant roles in the picture. The Extended and Unrated aspect of the set is limited to a few extended scenes and extra splatter (sorry, the infamous "Missing Reel" is not recovered for this set), while Grindhouse fans bemoaning the absence of the film's hilarious faux trailers will appreciate the inclusion of Rodriguez's hilarious Machete spot, with Danny Trejo as a death-dealing, lady-loving tough guy gunning for double-crosser Fahey. The set also includes an "Audience Reaction" track: Essentially, it's a whole track of whoops and hollers that allows the viewer to "experience" the film as if they were watching it in an actual grindhouse from back in the day. Its inclusion neither adds to or detracts from enjoying this DVD, but it's wholly indicative of the level of fun Rodriguez had making the picture--and wants to share with his fans. -- Paul Gaita
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
PLANET TERROR is a grand tribute to all things drive-in, 70s, and exploitive! Chemically-generated zombies begin slaughtering and eating their way through humanity. It's up to a tow-truck driver (Freddy Rodriguez), a sheriff (Michael Beihn from THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, and THE ABYSS), a go-go dancer (Rose Mcgowan from DEVIL IN THE FLESH), and a small band of survivors to battle the flesh-rending horde, as well as a military outfit headed by an eeevil Bruce Willis! Of course, Ms. Mcgowan is the stand-out w/ her amputated-limb-turned-instrument-of-death! She thwacks, stabs, and guns down all opposition w/ her trusty "dis-ability"! Robert Rodriguez (FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, SIN CITY) just keeps getting better at this stuff...
Rating:  -
Robert Rodriguez ("El Mariachi," "Once Upon a Time in Mexico") and Quentin Tarantino (do I need to list references?) have famously teamed up on a number of projects ("Desperado," "Sin City"). While these two cinemaphiles always appear to have a blast making their movies, the "Grindhouse" project may be the paragon of their mad-cap filmmaking self-indulgence.
"Grindhouse" was a double-feature in which RR and QT each provided a flick designed to be a homage to the low-budget horror/exploitation films of the 60s and 70s. "Planet Terror" is RR's entry, although QT makes quite an impression in an extended cameo as a deranged military nutcase. QT's half was "Death Proof," which I won't review here, but it's definitely of a piece with "Planet Terror."
Zombie films are seemingly as popular now as ever, so RR's spoof/tribute is timely. The flick opens with a hilarious mock trailer for "Machete," an X-rated revenge flick. The film quality of the trailer is terrible - RR fakes wear-and-tear on the film and includes skips and flaws in the soundtrack as a tribute to the grindhouse experience. This works fine in the trailer, but as it continues into the feature film, it gets more than a little annoying after 60 minutes.
"Planet Terror" opens up with a zombie outbreak in Texas, thanks to military hijinx led by Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis) for reasons unknown. Soon zombies are tearing across the countryside, rending the innocent and not-so-innocent limb from limb. Unfortunately, "Planet Terror" is aiming more for humor and gross-outs rather than genuine scares, so be prepared to wince rather than cringe. Some of the jokes really work, such as several close-ups of the "humps" of Black Eyed Peas singer/ornament Fergie, just before the zombies tear her humps apart. There's also a clever "Missing Reel," alert, with apologies from theater management, just when a love scene between stripper Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) and Wray (Freddie Rodgriguez) gets its most "exploitative."
Ultimately, this is not a good horror movie in that it will not create any genuine terror, a la the original "Halloween," "Nightmare on Elm Street," or even "Dawn of the Dead." But it must be said that there are two types of horror movies, and this is the second type - the kind that goes for dark humor, ridiculiously-sensational death scenes, and blood by the barrelful. That kind of horror movie doesn't appeal to me all that much, truth be told, but if that's your game I expect "Planet Terror" will find its way to the top of your DVD stack pretty quickly.
For what it is, I cannot imagine a movie doing a better job of hitting its target than "Planet Terror." It is a tribute to bad taste and bad movies - and for what it is, almost as much fun as RR and QT had making it.
Rating: -
After an experimental bio-nerve gas is accidentally released at a remote U.S. military base in Texas, those exposed to the gas turn into flesh-eating, mutating zombies out to kill. An assortment of various people who include stripper Cherry, her shady mechanic ex-boyfriend Wray, a strong-willed doctor, the local sheriff, and an assortment of various people must join forces to survive the night as the so-called "sickos" threaten to take over the whole town and the world. A good time: that is all Planet Terror has to offer, no more, no less. And those seeking sheer entertainment, albeit deliverers with gusto.
Rating:  -
THIS FILM COULD HAVE REALY BEEN COOL ,HOWEVER IT IS RUINED BY MISSING FOOTAGE AND THE DIRECTOR;S GREED. THE MIDDLE OF THE FILM IS BOTH DESTRACTING AND DESJOINTED BY SUDDEN MISSING FOOTAGE ,WHICH IS A DISGRACE. ON ONE OF THE FEW BONUS FEATURES OF THE SINGLE DISC EDITION OF PLANET TERROR ,DIRECTOR ROBERT RODRIGUEZ STATED THAT THE "MISSING REEL" WOULD BE ON THE TWO-DISC EDITION OF THE MOVIE, HOWEVER THIS WAS NOTHING BUT A CONFOUNDED LIE. AND NOW WITH THE RELEASE OF PLANET TERROR-EXTENDED AND UNRATED(TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION, IT STILL DOES NOT CONTAIN THE "MISSING REEL".HOW MANY MORE EDITION ARE WE EXPECTED TO BUY BEFORE THE "MISSING FOOTAGE IS AVAILABLE, THATS IF IT ACTUALY EXISTS!!!. IT WOULD SEEM THAT EVEN DIRECTOR ROBERT RODRIGUEZ IS CONTENT WITH TAKING HIS FAITHFUL MOVIE FANS LAST DIME FOR HIS OWN FINANCIAL GAIN.
Rating: -
Planet Terror / 796029803878
*Spoilers*
If there's one thing I like more than zombie movies, it's parodies of zombie movies. "Planet Terror" delivers in a huge way, by spoofing just about everything you could hope for.
Just because this is a hilarious parody/comedy doesn't mean it's for kids, though. There's a lot of disturbing material here, often more disturbing because it's humans behaving badly, rather than simply zombies doing what zombies do. In one of the most horrific cinema scenes I've ever scene, a young boy shoots himself because he is too young to responsibly handle a gun (or he doesn't feel capable of being saddled with the instruction to kill anyone who approaches - even his abusive father). In another scene, an attempted rape comes to a disturbing halt due to the inability of the would-be rapist to maintain...structural integrity of his melting genitals. This isn't exactly light-viewing we're talking about.
Yet as a deconstruction of the genre, "Planet Terror" is superb. Every trick in the director's book is used with hilarious effect, including a false "missing film" / "intermission" during which all the introductory misunderstandings and usual "coming to grips with the situation" material all occurs without the audience being privy to the material. This is a particularly nice touch, in my opinion, since the "let's face it - they're zombies" speech really has nothing new to contribute at this point anymore.
If there is a downside to this movie, it is that Rose McGowan receives her leg-weaponry far later in the film than previews would have viewers believe - but every second afterwards is golden, climaxing in a truly hilarious ending that will have all zombie fans rolling on the floor laughing. If you like zombie movies, and like making light of them, "Planet Terror" is for you.
~ Ana Mardoll
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