I leave you today with Eli Roth's fake trailer Thanksgiving which appeared in the theatrical release of Grindhouse. The trailer is a prime example of both parody of the "holiday horror" movies and the spirit and tone of grindhouse trailer fare.
WARNING: Contains explicit material not suitable for all viewers...
I can't believe this trailer isn't on either the Death Proof or Planet Terror DVDs. If you missed the theatrical run of Grindhouse you missed one hell of an experience. I wrote a review of the film on another website back when the films were in theaters. I reprint it below for you now just to make this post a little longer than just a simple YouTube embedded post.
Enjoy.
Grindhouse
The new release from the directing duo of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino has been called many things from a “throwback,” to an “homage,” to “simple blood-drenched popcorn fare.” If anything it’s as close as a moviegoer will get to time travel. Tarantino and Rodriguez want to take you on a trip. The year will be 1970-something… the place: a run down theatre in an unsafe part of town.
Buckle up because this… is Grindhouse.
Our ride begins with the advertising for the film. Tarantino and Rodriguez want to take you someplace. The posters for films in the 1970’s were about selling the story or an image or an icon. This is no more apparent than the posters for the film itself. Artificially yellowed and faded, the posters for Grindhouse sell what it’s selling. Sex. Violence. Machismo. Death Proof has a muscle car with a skull on it. Planet Terror has a silhouette of a buxom woman with a machine gun for a leg. This was a time before a film was sold on actor’s faces. When you needed to draw someone to a theater with an image. Using powerful colors: reds, whites, blacks and P.T. Barnum-like headlines like “2 ½ hours of pure dynamite!” these posters aren’t selling a movie: they’re selling a show. They’re selling the grindhouse experience.In an age of pristine digital projection, THX/Dolby surround sound, and remastered prints, Grindhouse takes a novel approach by DOWNgrading the film. I should clarify that when I use the word “film,” I’m lying to you because Rodriguez’s half of Grindhouse was shot on digital tape, edited on computer, and exported to film stock only at the end of the process. The Scratches, pops, nicks, skips --the look of a film that’s been rode hard and put away wet, to use an expression—have all been added on-purpose and WITH purpose. The film is strategically worn & weathered in a way to add to the historical accuracy of the grindhouse experience. Action scenes seem to have more scratches and skips than pure dialogue scenes. The destroyed stock perpetuates the mythology that ‘70’s film fanatics working as projectionists would often stay after-hours at the theatre to run their favorite action scenes for friends they snuck in through the back fire exit. Remember, this was a time before the ‘80’s brought us “repeat viewings” on VHS. A time when to see a film 400 times you had to go to the theatre 400 times.
The directors faced a few hurdles in the handling of Grindhouse’s content in the politically correct 21st century that their ‘70’s counterparts didn’t have to worry about. Sex scenes have been removed most likely to avoid the dreaded X rating. Per MPAA’s unofficial standards, a recipe for an X is extreme violence, gore, swearing, nudity and sex. Nix the nudity and sex, keep the rest--- and garner your R. By eliminating the scenes, they keep the running time down from four hours to three, and create a joke out of the missing scenes by inserting a “Missing reel. Sorry for the inconvenience – The Management” title card. Again this plays into the realities of 30 years ago. A time when porn wasn’t just a mouse click away. A time before the crystal clear DVD pause and computer screen grab. Film buffs would snip frames of their favorite sex scenes to view with a film loop in the comfort of their mother’s basements. I’m sure there came an occasional time when a ballsier projectionist would simply steal the entire sex scene reel.
The subject matter of the films echo the popular films of the time: schlocky monster movies, slasher films and muscle cars. Tarantino, a self-professed film buff and former video store employee, makes a point of having his characters mention his influences repeatedly: Vanishing Point and Dirty Mary Crazy Larry to name a few.
The films of Grindhouse are designed for film buffs. Casting genre favorite cameos such as Michael Biehn, Bruce Willis, Tom Savini, Jeff Fahey. It’s a Gen X smorgasbord that reminds the now thirty-somethings about their teenage days watching The Terminator, Dawn of the Dead, and Die Hard until the tapes wore out.
Josh Brolin is made to look exactly like 70’s-esque father James Brolin in his Amityville Horror days. Makeup Master Tom Savini who supplied many of the gore and splatter effects from what are considered the tent pole horror films of the 70’s, appears as an effeminate deputy. For fans of ‘70’s horror their faces bring a familiarity and credibility to what is technically a ruse. We’re not watching a ‘70’s film, but yet are led to feel like we are.
Like its low-budget predecessors, who could not afford the time and cost of continuity persons on set, anachronisms sneak into the film and are never addressed. For example, in Tarantino’s film Death Proof one would assume the film takes place in the 1970’s judging by the clothes, the music, and the cars. But much like watches left on Roman soldiers--- the glaring cell phone and text messaging on Sidekick-like devices remind us that this is a modern film.
Most important to point out, and what many consider to be the high point of the Grindhouse experience, are the trailers for the fake grindhouse films. Shot by such guest directors as Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Devil’s Rejects), Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead), and Rodriguez himself, the trailers often rival the two films that air before and after them. Unhindered by having to subscribe to any plot, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, they rattle off tales such as Thanksgiving (a parody of holiday themed horror movies), Don’t (a parody of horror trailers in general) and Werewolf Women of the SS. Full of blood, boobs, and monsters, these are mini-masterpieces that could be shoe horned into any real grindhouse showing and no one would bat an eyelash.
Is Grindhouse a GOOD film or films? Not necessarily. I may purchase it for my DVD shelf. I may pull it out every other year to screen with friends. But I don’t think it’ll show up in my yearly October/Halloween marathons of horror classics.
Like its low-budget predecessors, who could not afford the time and cost of continuity persons on set, anachronisms sneak into the film and are never addressed. For example, in Tarantino’s film Death Proof one would assume the film takes place in the 1970’s judging by the clothes, the music, and the cars. But much like watches left on Roman soldiers--- the glaring cell phone and text messaging on Sidekick-like devices remind us that this is a modern film.
Most important to point out, and what many consider to be the high point of the Grindhouse experience, are the trailers for the fake grindhouse films. Shot by such guest directors as Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, Devil’s Rejects), Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead), and Rodriguez himself, the trailers often rival the two films that air before and after them. Unhindered by having to subscribe to any plot, and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, they rattle off tales such as Thanksgiving (a parody of holiday themed horror movies), Don’t (a parody of horror trailers in general) and Werewolf Women of the SS. Full of blood, boobs, and monsters, these are mini-masterpieces that could be shoe horned into any real grindhouse showing and no one would bat an eyelash.
Is Grindhouse a GOOD film or films? Not necessarily. I may purchase it for my DVD shelf. I may pull it out every other year to screen with friends. But I don’t think it’ll show up in my yearly October/Halloween marathons of horror classics.
No, Grindhouse needs to be seen on the big screen in mixed company in a darkened theatre. It’s an experience.
I would hope that some of the art house theatres or what’s left of the modern day grindhouses run the film Grindhouse in yearly weekend showings. That’s how it needs to be seen. In its element.
Although Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse is not an example of great filmmaking, it IS an example of great film appreciation and a wonderful experiment in the replication of an event. It’s made BY film fans FOR film fans. So buckle up, wear your bellbottoms and enjoy the wayback-machine called Grindhouse.
I would hope that some of the art house theatres or what’s left of the modern day grindhouses run the film Grindhouse in yearly weekend showings. That’s how it needs to be seen. In its element.
Although Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse is not an example of great filmmaking, it IS an example of great film appreciation and a wonderful experiment in the replication of an event. It’s made BY film fans FOR film fans. So buckle up, wear your bellbottoms and enjoy the wayback-machine called Grindhouse.
