Grindhouse 2007 ****

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 double-feature is often found online in separate parts, Planet Terror and Death Proof, a shame because only by watching the full 191 minute cut are the pleasures of this valentine to bargain basement movie-making fully realized. Planet Terror catches the splattery playground atmosphere of 80’s video fodder pitch-perfectly, as the denizens of a hospital battle against zombie-aliens, with Freddy Rodriguez a leading man with hidden depths such as the ability to run up walls during a fight. When the action switches to Austin Texas for Tarantino’s Death Proof, part of the joke is the way that locations, actors and props are re-used; in the aftermath of Stuntman Mike’s horrific act of vengeance, the action returns to the same hospital, miraculously unscathed by the carnage of the preceding drama. There’s a wealth of in-jokes, cameos and references to enjoy, but most critics missed the point; Grindhouse isn’t about making fun of specific films, but an appreciation and a tribute to the happy-go-lucky ingenuity of low-budget film-making.