Grindhouse (2007)

Grindhouse is a raucous, R-rated double feature from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez that deliberately recreates the look, sound and attitude of 1970s exploitation cinema. Presented as one program made up of two very different feature-length thrillers — Rodriguez’s lurid, gore-forward Planet Terror and Tarantino’s tense, car‑centric Death Proof — the film is stitched together with a string of over-the-top faux trailers and the scratched, jumpy presentation of an old grindhouse theater. Planet Terror delivers fast, bloody zombie mayhem: a small-town cast of characters (including a tough go‑go dancer with a gun prosthetic) fight an expanding outbreak of violent, infected “sickos.” It’s pulpy, hyper-stylized horror with practical effects, inventive kills, and Rodriguez’s gleeful embrace of genre excess. Death Proof is a slow‑burn, high-tension slasher in the form of a road movie: a psychopathic ex-stuntman uses his heavily reinforced car as a weapon to stalk and terrorize women, building to white‑knuckle chase sequences and a cathartic, brutal payoff typical of Tarantino’s throwback thrillers. Between the two features you’ll get deliberately cheesy faux trailers — Machete, Werewolf Women of the S.S., Don’t, Thanksgiving and Hobo with a Shotgun — that heighten the drive-in vibe and keep the tone gleefully pulpy. The filmmakers intentionally employ grainy film textures, abrupt edits and production “flaws” to mimic the battered prints and B-movie programming of the grindhouse era. If you see Grindhouse, expect an unabashedly pulpy, often violent, and frequently funny experience: visceral car chases, practical gore effects, dark humor, and nostalgic pastiche. It’s less about subtlety than sensory overload and genre-loving pastiche — perfect for viewers who enjoy cult cinema, retro aesthetics, and directors who push style and spectacle to the limits. Be prepared for coarse language, strong violence, and a deliberately trashy, theatrical ride.

Actors: Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan, Danny Trejo

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino

Runtime: 191 min

Genres: Action, Horror, Thriller

77 /100 7.5 /10 7.6 /10