Grindhouse Review

If you’re a true fanboy at heart you’ll have to see Grindhouse in a movie theater. Yes I know that the DVD will have all of those extra scenes and the director’s comments giving you every reference that will make you want to search IMDB high-and-low. But in a movie theater you’ll get that one special thing you won’t get at home: audience participation!

Half the fun of watching this film was hearing everyone next to me applauding, cheering, laughing, gasping, or saying “ewwwwww….” in unison. The charm of both films is that they don’t take themselves too seriously, and you even get the sense that the actors up on the screen are having as much fun playing their parts as you are watching them. To me the critical test was at the end of three hours I found myself wanting to see several more hours of the film. In fact if there was premium cable channel that showed nothing but Grindhouse 24/7 I dare say that I might never leave my apartment.

The other half of watching this fim for any fanboy will be looking at the wondeful detail that’s up on the screen. Every other scene seems to have a reference to some old slasher film or features a character actor that you haven’t seen in a few years. By the way while both films owe quite a bit to horror films of the 60s and 70s, there are references to quite a few other things to be found, for example the soundtrack had a bad 80s low budget synth feeling to it. And of course you have that non-stop Rodriguez action and quite a bit of clever Tarantino dialogue to wash down your Pepsi and popcorn with as you watch the film.

I’d rate the film as “a must see, and bring a few friends while you’re at it”…