Planet Terror
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
A throwback to the cheaply produced exploitation films of the 1970's and early 80's, Robert Rodriguez's masterfully crafted Planet Terror offers up a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek approach to the horror genre in his half of the Grindhouse double-feature (with Quentin Tarantino).
With absurd, and often hilarious, plot twists, this melodrama is about a chemical agent that infects a rural Texas community and turns its citizens, as well as the military in possession of the chemical, into mutated cannibals. (Rodriguez, in the supplementary footage and in the director's commentary, refers to the infected as "sickos" rather than zombies.) Drawing from the premise of virtually every zombie film throughout history, an eclectic group of people in the community band together to fend off the mutated horde of gut-munchers only in Planet Terror this group is very eclectic!
Among the oddball gang, is Cherry Darling, a one-legged ex-go go dancer J.T., a scruffy, barbeque-sauce obsessed cook Dakota Block, an anesthesiologist who's hands have been thoroughly anesthetized Two psychotic, babysitting twins and the enigmatic sharpshooter, El Wray.
I have to admit that Planet Terror is a film that definitely took me by surprise. The cinematography is absolutely brilliant, with its replication of the low-key lighting arrangements and shot compositions used in most exploitation films, but it is the special details (added digitally), like the ever-present film scratches, dust, registration & weave, and hairs in the camera's gate, that sold it for me. Kudos to Rodriguez for his driving John Carpenter-esque synthesized film score as well. It is those kind of attention to details that change Planet Terror from just a movie to a full-blown experience.
Planet Terror is definitely not for the squeamish! Thanks to special effects gurus Greg Nicotero & Howard Berger, the film is a delightfully bloody romp guaranteed to make even the most hardened of gorehounds cringe! (In my opinion, some of their best visual work to date.)
I highly recommend Planet Terror for anyone who grew up on the original grindhouse films of the 70's & 80's, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Last House on the Left, or even John Carpenter's The Thing.
PLANET TERROR: <<
Reviewed by. James Kline