Chaos at the Movies – Planet Terror

Planet Terror 2007

Rating:

Planet Terror is director Robert Rodriguez’s half of the Grindhouse split with Quentin Tarantino which was designed to pay homage to the classic B-movies and exploitation films of the past. The plot centers on the release of a biochemical agent being released upon an unsuspecting rural Texas town due to business deal gone wrong between a deranged and infected army Lieutenant and a bio-chemical engineer. The quaint town’s folk are all turned into deformed blister covered cannibals and go on a zombie rampage. In true zombie film fashion, a rag-tag group of survivors bands together and attempts to make their escape. This movie is heavy on the gore, and features numerous subplots that all tie together pretty well. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and not in a bad way. The effects are all pretty top notch, and black humor is in check too. Tom Savini as a bumbling deputy is just classic.

The only thing about this movie that got on my nerves was the use of slick editing effects to attempt to make the movie look like a B-Movie. The out picture sliding out of center at times, “scratched film” effects, and the whole “missing reel” sequence were appreciated as an homage to the films it was trying to emulate, but un-necessary in my opinion. Those were the draw-backs of the genre, and didn’t make me think I was watching the film in some shoddy theater back in the 70’s.

Other than that, a good flick to pick up when you’re in the mood for a zombie movie, and are looking for something cheesy.

Mr Chaos

This review is going to be biased because I love this movie. I love the over the top zombie blood and gore. I like the ass kicking chicks and cheesy story line. I love JT and want some of his damn Bar-B-Que! This movie is part of the Grindhouse double feature that also includes Death Proof. Out of these two Planet Terror is by far my favorite. I like how it is made to look like an old 70’s B horror movie. There are massive amounts of blood squirting everywhere and just all around grossness! Rose McGowan is Cherry Darling, our unlikely heroine who ends up kicking some serious zombie ass. El Wray played by Freddy Rodriguez is our hero with the questionable past. These two band together with the last of the survivors and try to head to Mexico to put their back to the ocean and fight off the zombie apocalypse. Very cliché but its supposed to be and that’s what makes it great. The humor is good and no matter how many times you watch it you will laugh and at the same time be totally grossed out.

This is a zombie movie for the zombie lover who likes as much gore as they can stand in the old fashion over the top blood squirting way. Chopped full of one liners that are classic in my opinion. My favorite by far, “ No more dead bodies for Daddy tonight.”

Mrs Chaos

contact Chaos at the Movies at momandpopchaos@yahoo.com