I should have hated it, but didn’t. After loathing every minute of Tarantino’s Deathproof on DVD last weekend, I wasn’t exactly rushing to watch its Grindhouse partner, Planet Terror. But then the skies over London opened this weekend, and sheer boredom forced the Robert Rodriguez 70s b-movie homage into the player.
I loved it. After laughing and jumping in equal measure throughout the 90 minutes, I began to wonder why Rodriguez succeeded while Tarantino failed. It’s not that the former is obviously the better director (Spy Kids 3? Gimme a break…).
Perhaps it’s something to do with balance – Deathproof’s b-movieness overwhelmed the film itself. Ask me the plot now (or a memorable moment, for that matter) and I couldn’t. Planet Terror, on the other hand, has more than pastiche – it has pace, humour, frights and the odd decent line of script. It doesn’t buckle under its own weight. Go grab the disc.
