Planet Terror (2-Disc special edition) [DVD] [2008]

Maverick director Robert Rodriguez’s take on the zombie infestation genre. In a plot-line that may seem familiar, government scientists at a remote Texan facility, have managed to unleash a deadly virus that turns normal, healthy citizens into raving, murdering mutants. With the hordes of crazed psychotics multiplying at an unstoppable rate, it’s a spatterfest all the way as go-go-dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), mysterious drifter El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), and professional smuggler Abby (Naveen Andrews) have to force an escape route to a helicopter that is their only chance of escape. ‘Planet Terror’ was originally released in the cinema as a Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s two-film feature with ‘Death Proof’, under the title ‘Grindhouse’.
The lower-profile half of the Grindhouse double bill that flopped at the US box office in early 2007, Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror comes with lesser expectations. However, don’t let that fool you: this is a fun, pacey zombie film, that displays less self-indulgence than Tarantino’s Death Proof, and doesn’t skimp in the entertainment stakes either.
The plot is thin and quickly covered, but basically amounts to the release of a gas that creates lots of zombies. Stuck in the midst of the zombies is a small bunch of people who try and fight them off (among, er, other things). It doesn’t, fortunately, take long for Planet Terror to set all this up, and the stage is soon set for what we all paid our money for. Action. Violence. Characters of ill-repute. And, heck, a bit more action too.
Thus, Rodriguez delivers his tribute to the grindhouse movies he’s clearly inspired by, and Planet Terror proves to be a fine piece of work. With fast, exciting action sequences, leg-less Rose McGowan turning in sterling work in front of the camera, and stylish work behind it from Rodriguez, the film gels well.
Its director has perhaps bettered it himself with From Dusk Til Dawn, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not plenty to enjoy here. Taken either with its double-bill partner or as a standalone dish, Planet Terror is well worth your time. –Jon Foster