This will be the greatest movie experience ever. It is finally set to come out on April 6 of this year. It is so nice to see stuff like this getting made in the midst of the utter shit that has been released basically since Kill Bill.
Plot synopsis by IMDB:
An homage to exploitation B-movie thrillers that combines two feature-length segments into one double-bill designed to replicate the grind house theatergoing experience of the 70s and 80s. In "Death Proof," a psycho named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) stalks and kills beautiful women with his car. In "Planet Terror," a small-town sheriffs' department has to deal with an outbreak of murderous, infected people called "sickos." A gun-legged woman named Cherry (Rose McGowan) and her martial arts-wielding partner (Freddy Rodriguez) take on the zombie army. The two films will be fused together by fake movie trailers.
It may only be a 'faux trailer' for the middle section of the Tarantino/Rodriguez flick "Grindhouse" in April, but Director Rob Zombie's just beautifully titled "Werewolf Women of the SS" short continues to sound cooler by the day.
Fangoria has revealed further details on the trailer which tells "the story of Hitler's plan to create a race of superhuman werewolf women to win the war -- based on actual documents found in Hitler's bunker".
Udo Kier, Sybil Danning, Bill Moseley, Tom Towles and Sheri Moon Zombie all star in the trailer. The strangest casting news of all is that Nicolas Cage will make an appearance as the one and only evil genius Dr. Fu Manchu (how they'll get around the copyright issue I don't know - possibly just by not naming him directly).
When I was reading that quoted synopsis I was thinking... "Gun-legged woman? That couldn't possibly be what it sounds like - it must be some weird term for a bum leg I've never heard." Then... bam, gun-leg. Enter shock and awe.
Seems the first cut is everything one would hope for. Of course, we'll have to wait for the DVD to see it in all it's gory glory.
The whole point of a grind house film is that it contains material too explicit to be shown in mainstream theaters. Well, now the upcoming Tarantino/Rodriguez "Grindhouse" double feature is facing that challenge in terms of its content.
The New York Post reports that there is no way the current version of the film can earn an "R" rating, not a problem for the intended audience but definitely a problem for the exhibitors, marketing people and advertisers who won't be able to promote or display either an NC-17 or Unrated version.
The good news is that the directors have intentionally added splices into their films anyhow so further 'splicing' of naughty content shouldn't prove an issue. Unfortunately most of the problems seem to stem from the faux trailers in-between these features.
Rob Zombie's "Werewolf Women of the SS" features shots of all topless female POW's in a Nazi concentration camp, and one scene where a topless girl is tied down to a table, drained of blood and branded with a steel swastika.
Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving" has a scene in which Jordan Ladd is giving oral sex to her boyfriend and halfway through realizes he has been decapitated, a fully nude cheerleader dies in a trampoline-related accident, and an obese man eats a baby.
It's expected some cuts will have to be made, many saying it's a shame the talk of a 'hard R' rating to replace the utterly useless 'NC-17' wasn't talked about sooner as this kind of film is a perfect first candidate.
If they cut too much, I won't even see it in the theaters and just wait for DVD 2 months later. I fucking hate the united states' ridiculously moronic rating system and all the puritanical hyprocrisy around it. OH NO IT'S NC-17 WE WON'T PLAY IT IN OUR THEATER JESUS MIGHT COME TO SEE A MOVIE AND GET MAD. Fuck you.
Does everything have to be dumbed down and softened just to please a bunch of culturally inept plebieans?
I saw the trailer before 300 also. It doesn't seem interesting at all. It seems like two B movies will be shown together as one. I might watch it on HBO one day if nothing else is on.
Just saw it today. The fake previews are funny as hell. Planet Terror was quite awesome. Death Proof was good too but it doesnt top Planet. This will sound odd, but Planet had overall better dialog and much more action. Thats not to say Death Proof's action sucked, it was very good. Definatly worth the money.
7/10, would of been an 8 if it didnt slow down so much in Death Proof.
Death Proof definitely slowed things down, but I lost track of time once the last sequence started. Once it ended, I thought that it was almost too short even though I was almost ready to get up and leave before it got to that point.
Initial tallies are showing this didn't do too well over the 3 day weekend. Official box office will be posted on Monday, but so far Blades of Glory is besting it and Grindhouse is only on par with "Are We Done Yet" in terms of overall ticket sales.
Apparently, Easter weekend wasn't the best time to release a 3 hour film dedicated to violence and nudity.
Fairweather Pure wrote:Initial tallies are showing this didn't do too well over the 3 day weekend. Official box office will be posted on Monday, but so far Blades of Glory is besting it and Grindhouse is only on par with "Are We Done Yet" in terms of overall ticket sales.
Apparently, Easter weekend wasn't the best time to release a 3 hour film dedicated to violence and nudity.
Blades of Glory outselling a Rodriguez/Tarantino mix? Thats actually shocking.
"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich"
Fairweather Pure wrote:Initial tallies are showing this didn't do too well over the 3 day weekend. Official box office will be posted on Monday, but so far Blades of Glory is besting it and Grindhouse is only on par with "Are We Done Yet" in terms of overall ticket sales.
Apparently, Easter weekend wasn't the best time to release a 3 hour film dedicated to violence and nudity.
Did anyone really expect it to be that huge? It targets fans of a particular genre, and pulls in some fans of specific directors/actors. It's not an event that the majority of people would probably have any interest in seeing. The theater I saw it in was far too overpacked. They actually opened up two additional screens and threaded the film between three projectors, but I wouldn't be shocked if other theaters that did not already cater to fans of this type of film still had empty seats.
While it only cost 55 million to make, I do think they expected a pretty good opening weekend. Your observations could very well extend to both 300 and Sin City, which both did quite well (300 broke numerous records). At the very least, Grindhouse shares common fans amoungst the 300 loving crowd, and wasn't even released a month ago. That made70 million it's opening weekend. I'm thinking Grinhouse was hoping to break at least 1/2 that and it looks like it won't even make 20 at this point.
I'm surprised it's not breaking at least 50 million. I figured the built in fanbase was large enough to really boost the sales. While it's true that this kind of film caters to a select type of movie goer, that exact type of movie goer is usually pretty fanatical.
The numbers I saw were up to Saturday and it had only made 9 million on Friday. I suppose it could still rally.
It's not like sales mean it's a good or bad movie, or that it won't be successful in the long term. It's just some interesting info, that's all.
I was surprised at how much I disliked Tarantino's film. There were some moments of pure excellence, and the car chase was one of the best put to film, but all that dialogue was making me check my watch. It's not that I don't like dialogue, but I don't think Quentin knows how to write women very well.
Rodriguez's movie was great, but there were too many 'Hey guys look! Were spoofing 1970s exploitation movies!' moments.
My expectations might have been too high, but I was mostly underwhelmed. My guess is the DVD release will be much better as I'm pretty sure a lot was cut.
The highlight was definitely the preview for 'Don't Scream'
Is Easter weekend traditionally a good one for the box office? I know that I had too much going on this weekend to have a chance to make it to the movie theater, even though I've been eagerly anticipating this movie for months. I'll go see it sometime this week.
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
It didn't rally. I'm really unsure about Easter weekend's historical sales. This week and next will see if Grindhouse was just released on a bad weekend, or if there is simply a lack of interest from the target audience.
I know of several people that went to 300 and SinCity that have no interest in Grindhouse. They are not the same type of film.
One drawback I have heard from some people was the amount of time they would be in the theater to watch both of them. The double-feature format is not one that every movie-goer wants to experience. Many have said that they would just wait for it to come out on DVD in order to watch them when they had the time.
Holidays are actually pretty good for films. You might be surprised on how many families choose to go together, and Grindhouse isn't exactly a family-friendly film. It could also be a reason for the other films to have better numbers.
After its disastrous opening weekend, many have begun the manic speculation as to why "Grindhouse" failed to click with US audiences.
The film's extended 192 minute runtime, lack of audience awareness of the 'Grindhouse' concept, and generally bad counterprogramming move to release the film at Easter is being cited as the most likely reason.
Harvey Weinstein told DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com that "I'm incredibly disappointed. We tried to do something new and obviously we didn't do it that well" and adds that according to research, it was that runtime that was "the single biggest deterrent".
The fate of the films now is in question and there's already one idea - splitting the movie in two like it will be in European territories. With what is said to be a near $70 million budget, and an at least admitted $30 million marketing cost, the company is in definite need to try and recoup its money.
"We could split the movies in a couple of weeks. Make Tarantino's a full-length film, and Rodriguez's too. We'll be adding those 'two missing reels' that's talked about in the movie" says Weinstein.
Whilst non-English speaking territories have already been set for the dual-film release, there's now also talk that the planned single releases for the UK and Australia will be turned into dual-release films as well.
Weinstein adds that the plan overseas is to release Tarantino's "Death Proof" and the interval trailers first, then follow a few months later with Rodriguez's "Planet Terror".
I keep reading different budgets for the movies. 70m is by far the highest, with 52m being the lowest. That's a pretty huge difference!
I finally saw this last night and highly enjoyed it. Everything about it was good, in my opinion, and I really enjoyed how it was such a different experience than most movies are today.
kyoukan wrote:I was surprised at how much I disliked Tarantino's film. There were some moments of pure excellence, and the car chase was one of the best put to film, but all that dialogue was making me check my watch. It's not that I don't like dialogue, but I don't think Quentin knows how to write women very well.
I really liked Tarantino's movie, and I thought the dialogue was great. And before you say that proves your point, the girl I was with really liked it too. I told her that I'd heard that Tarantino doesn't write women very well and she disagreed and said that's how she talks when she's around other chicks. Dunno, maybe it's because she's American!
I'm going to have to go google it now, but why did it say Zoe Bell as herself? I'm guessing she's an actual stuntwoman?
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Google Cached Zoebell.com wrote:
Zoë Bell is a stuntwoman from New Zealand.
While you might think you've never heard of her, you probably have seen her work, either on popular TV shows such as Xena (as the stunt-double for Lucy Lawless) or in major movies including Kill Bill (the stunt-double for Uma Thurman) and Catwoman (as the stunt-double for Sharon Stone).
Zoe doesn't get the spotlight of the blockbuster actresses that she makes seem so talented but she definitely deserves great admiration and should be an inspiration to women everywhere, especially for all she has achieved in the "boy's club" of stunt-work in filmmaking.
some basic stuff about Zoë
Birthday: November 17, 1978
Birth Place: Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Currently: Los Angeles, California
Height: 5'8" (1.73m)
Sports Background: competitive gymnastics, Tae Kwon Do, diving, track and field and dance Stunt Abilities: High Diving, SCUBA, High Falls, Wire Work, Stunt Fighting and Martial Arts
High Chancellor for Single Malt Scotches, Accounting Stuffs and Biffin Greeting.
/tell Biffin 'sup bro!
"We could split the movies in a couple of weeks. Make Tarantino's a full-length film, and Rodriguez's too. We'll be adding those 'two missing reels' that's talked about in the movie" says Weinstein.
Bah, why couldn't they have included the two reels in the US as well? It was obvious that they really existed rather than just being a gimmick since footage from them was shown in previews...
With several versions and edited out gore, this just cements my opinion to wait for the DVD.
Nothing has been said of the DVD release options yet, but I'm starting to think they'll release them seperate for 20$ each, and have a SE with both of them 3 months later for 50$.
That would really be taking advantage of your fanbase.
Neither of those movies are worth it by themselves. Weinstein is just greedy; it was his idea to break Kill Bill up so he could make twice as much money.
It's difficult for me to believe that a long run time is keeping people away from it. It's just not a movie for everyone, and it was marketed extremely poorly.
Sylvus wrote:I really liked Tarantino's movie, and I thought the dialogue was great. And before you say that proves your point, the girl I was with really liked it too. I told her that I'd heard that Tarantino doesn't write women very well and she disagreed and said that's how she talks when she's around other chicks. Dunno, maybe it's because she's American!
kyoukan wrote:Neither of those movies are worth it by themselves. Weinstein is just greedy; it was his idea to break Kill Bill up so he could make twice as much money.
It's difficult for me to believe that a long run time is keeping people away from it. It's just not a movie for everyone, and it was marketed extremely poorly.
I feel Planet Terror by itself would be well worth the price of admission, assuming you hadn't already seen Grindhouse (and assuming Rodriguez puts all this "cut material" back in). I haven't had that much fun seeing a movie in a while. After Bruce Willis did that fucking cart-wheel shit I was expecting a badass fight between him and Wray, but other than that, I have zero complaints.
On the other hand, I too found Death Proof to be lacking in comparison. Barring Kurt's lines and the bit at the redneck's place, the dialogue bored the shit out of me. If he had just cut the dialogue down and added more vehicular violence, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. More scenes of Stuntman Mike killing various girls wouldn't advance the plot or anything, but that's the point of these movies isn't it? Wanton sex and violence?
Just got back from it. I liked it, both parts, a lot.
Planet Terror fun from beginning to end.
Death Proof's long dialogue did not bother me in the least. Reminds me of how friends talk to each other anyway on a night out in crappy bars.
See it.
One of the friends I went with said that everytime he saw someone get up and walk out of the theatre he thought they were justified.
Sap.
64% drop from last weeks sales, which were already really, really bad. It's not even in the top 10 anymore.
I never would've imagined it would be such a flop.
Interestingly, rumor on the street is that the latest Harry Potter flick just went to the cutting room floor to remove some runtime due to the failure of Grindhouse and it's runtime being the primary reason people won't go see it.
Fairweather Pure wrote:
Interestingly, rumor on the street is that the latest Harry Potter flick just went to the cutting room floor to remove some runtime due to the failure of Grindhouse and it's runtime being the primary reason people won't go see it.
There are some great 3 hours movies but I think that around 2.5 hours should be the max in a theater with extended 3+ hour versions being reserved for DVD releases.
Combine a Star Wars movie and a Star Trek, or X-Men/Spiderman movie in the same format as Grindhouse and it would do well (well better than Grindhouse). It was the material that wasn't appealing to the masses, not the format. Three hour movies like Titanic, Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Gladiator, etc etc. did just fine.
Fairweather Pure wrote:
Interestingly, rumor on the street is that the latest Harry Potter flick just went to the cutting room floor to remove some runtime due to the failure of Grindhouse and it's runtime being the primary reason people won't go see it.
There are some great 3 hours movies but I think that around 2.5 hours should be the max in a theater with extended 3+ hour versions being reserved for DVD releases.
Combine a Star Wars movie and a Star Trek, or X-Men/Spiderman movie in the same format as Grindhouse and it would do well (well better than Grindhouse). It was the material that wasn't appealing to the masses, not the format. Three hour movies like Titanic, Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Gladiator, etc etc. did just fine.
Exactly. The length had nothing to do with it. Every one of my friends who thought nothing of the movie never once mentioned the length. Length of a movie only bothers casual movie goers who forget 99% of when they leave the theater. It's not their opinion that matters.
I saw it today - Planet Terror was definitely more fast paced. I actually enjoyed the over the top dialogue and homage to the exploitation movies.
Death Proof was good too - but if it took 15 more minutes to move from the dialogue to the action I would have missed the best part of Death Proof due to my bladder exploding.
I would love to see more movies like this - they need to make "Machete"!
Tarantino is way too fond of hearing his characters talk. The first half of death proof should have been like half as long.
The previews between the actual movies were the best part of that film tho. Fucking Nazi Werewolves, with Nicholas Cage as Fu Manchu.
They definitely need to keep Cheech as Machete's preacher brother.
"There is at least as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in international relationships." -Theodore Roosevelt
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