Celebrity Nooz: Planet Terror

Planet Terror (2007)

Movie Title: Planet Terror

Year Released: 2007

Rated: R

Runtime: 1h 46min

Genre: Action, Horror

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Writer: Robert Rodriguez

Starring: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Stacy Ferguson, Bruce Willis, Rebel Rodriguez, Electra Avellan, Elise Avellan, Naveen Andrews, Julio Oscar Mechoso

Review: An ordinary evening in a small Texas town becomes a grisly nightmare when a horde of flesh-eating zombies goes on the prowl. Cherry (Rose McGowan), a go-go dancer, and Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), her ex-lover, band together with other survivors in a no-holds barred effort to escape the carnage. The odds become a bit more even when Cherry, who lost her leg to a hungry ghoul, gets a machine-gun appendage and lets the bullets fly.

Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror is part of the Grindhouse double feature along with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. An ode to the old horror/thriller grindhouse era of filmmaking, Planet Terror is a double-edged sword. I commend this film for being a throwback to another era, and doing so successfully. This movie, from a stylistic point of view, is brilliant. You actually feel like you're watching an old grindhouse horror flick. Everything from the grittiness and scratchiness of the film reel, to the dark, ominous setting is absolutely great. Where I think this movie fell short for me, was the actual content. It wasn't that long into the film where I began to feel over the shtick. The cheesy, corny dialogue, albeit intentional, got to be more eye-roll inducing than anything. This movie was clearly trying to come across that way, but it did so in such an over-the-top manner, that it became annoying. As far as action is concerned, I thoroughly enjoyed the last act of this film, as Rose McGowan mowed down a horde of zombies with her machine gun leg. All hell broke loose, and the movie became fun, exhilarating entertainment. I'll take this type of silliness over the intentionally dumb dialogue every day of the week. Planet Terror gets an A+ for the style and the spectacle, but a C- for the dialogue and the delivery. Don't get me wrong, if you grew up watching grindhouse horror films, you will probably love this movie far more than I did. In fairness to the film, this really isn't in my wheelhouse.

Stars (out of 4):

Fun Fact: In the scene in the hospital when Dakota (Marley Shelton) is called on by her husband Dr. Bill (Josh Brolin) to bring the needles, there is a brief shot of her notepad, which reads: "To do / Cereal for Tony / Crickets for Tony's pets / Kill Bill" - the latter of course a reference to Quentin Tarantino's films, Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004).

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