Posted by
Emmett of the Unblinking Eye on Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:43:15 AM
I was roundly criticized by Mr. Hewitt today for not warning him about
Grindhouse last week. Now, I have two reasonably rational explanations for that. First, I hadn't seen Grindhouse at that time, since a 3 hour 11 minute movie just didn't fit into my schedule. Not that that would necessarily impair my ability to give an opinion on it. And second, I can't imagine how anyone could
not know what to expect when two of the most grisly directors in Hollywood -- Robert Rodriguez (
El Mariachi,
The Faculty,
From Dusk Till Dawn,
Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and Quentin Tarantino (
Pulp Fiction,
Reservoir Dogs, and the
Kill Bill movies) -- team up to pay homage to the C- movies of the '70's.
And generally, they do a pretty good job -- although they do seem to be working from different concepts. Rodriguez's contribution, Planet Terror, is a the-zombies-are-out-to-get-us-run! film that looks like it's been shown 6,000 times -- gritty, streaked, a reel missing here and there, mismatched sound, burned film, etc. And it is gruesome, action-packed and at times, pretty funny (Mr. Hewitt lasted a whole 18 minutes). After a few faux trailers (including "Werewolf Women of the SS"), you get Tarantino's Death Proof, which surficially stars Kurt Russel as Stuntman Mike, a serial killer stalking three not-so-defenseless women, but is truly a vehicle (literally) for the amazing stunt work of Zoe Bell. While Planet Terror is your standard low budget horror flick, Death Proof is a classic car chase film, with much more talking and (until the end) far less action. But it's a much better film.
So why did it bomb at the box office? The fundamental problem is that at 3+ hours, the most you can get in is three showings per screen per day, as opposed to the 5 or 6 a "normal" length film can generate. That in and of itself cuts your box office by 40%-50%. But a significant problem is that it's hard to make a great movie, or even a good movie, out of inherently bad material. Even with very good actors and skillful directors, a schlocky horror movie is still a schlocky horror movie.
And if you're squeamish or offended by language or nudity, don't even
think about going.