You don’t need to be well-versed in the genre of blaxploitation to love Black Dynamite, one of the funniest and most entertaining films of 2009. It would help in immediately recognizing the archetypes at work, but writer/star Michael Jai White and director Scott Sanders strike such a perfect tone and create such an atmosphere of blissful silliness that I’d wager even if you’re missing some references, you will still find yourself laughing. Sure, the filmmakers have set out to make a “bad” pulpy 70s movie, but unlike Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino’s failed installment in Grindhouse, they recognize a sense of fun is an essential ingredient, so they keep the pace quick, the quotable one-liners steady, and the action, while purposely stagey, incredibly engaging. Mix it in with a score that parodies the famous blaxploitation scores of old (and also tends to sing what’s happening in the scene as it transpires), and you’ve got a rarity– a comedy that never takes a single misstep.

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White)– and yes, that’s the character’s name– is a former CIA agent and all-around badass. When he finds out his brother was killed, he rolls back into town to find the perpetrator and lay the smack down. Along the way, he encounters white cops, gorgeous ladies of leisure, and local pimps, with names like Tasty Freeze (Arsenio Hall), Sweetmeat (Brian McKnight), Kotex (John Salley), Chocolate Giddy-Up (Cedric Yarborough), and Mo Bitches (Miguel Nunez Jr.). While battling some folks who try to promote heroin to the black children of the community, Dynamite stumbles upon a plot far larger… and far more sinister… than he ever could have imagined. Could it be the mafia? The white police? The Fiendish Dr. Wu? Rest assured Black Dynamite won’t sleep until every ass is kicked.

The wild thing about this film is that it actually works in its genre. It is cool, and while the fight scenes are funny, they successfully transport you to a different style of filmmaking. Fights in blaxploitation films had actors obviously not punching each other, accompanied by a loud sound effect and an exaggerated response to the invisible impact. Even though you smile at how fake it is, you can still be absorbed into the machismo of it all. There’s a great gag in the middle of a fight scene, where a stuntman accidentally punches a main character in the mouth, and following a quick edit, the fight resumes with a new stuntman as if nothing ever happened. It’s an incredibly silly bit, but it’s treated in such a casual throwaway manner that it gets a huge laugh without distracting from the campy fun of the fight scene.

What’s surprising about Black Dynamite is unlike other films that are parodies or homages, which throw a million jokes at the wall and hope most of them stick, it carefully plots out its gags and one-liners, making it the rare film where everything works. This film toes the line between Grindhouse and Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood with great dexterity. It loves the elements that make the genre silly even while poking fun at them. Michael Jai White is in on the joke while also an astonishingly believable blaxploitation hero. Scott Sanders shot the film with retro film stock and used period stock footage in order to give the movie its very convincing visual look. Sanders bragged in interviews that his film didn’t use digitally generated scratching or aging effects like Grindhouse did. Not only is this film vastly more entertaining, it’s more authentic. Black Dynamite couldn’t get a higher recommendation from me. It’s one of the best movies of the year. Seek it out.

Lets start here

http://allhiphop.com/stories/multimedia__video/archive/2008/05/28/19960334.aspx

Thomas Jane

by Rick Marshall – MTV.com

‘Tis the season for scary movies, so it’s fitting that Thomas Jane’s stylish, noir-fueled horror film “Dark Country” arrives on shelves this week. In his directorial debut, the “Punisher” actor not only makes his first bow behind the camera, but he also stars alongside Lauren German (“Hostel: Part II”) and Ron Perlman (“Hellboy”)—two actors not entirely unfamiliar with fright-friendly cinema.

Combining surreal, David Lynch-style visuals with a pulpy horror tale that would seem at home in old issues of “Tales From The Crypt” or “Creepy,” Jane says comic books weren’t far from his mind when he stepped behind the camera.

“I’ve been reading comic books since I was eight years old, and in comics, anything’s possible,” Jane told MTV News. “They come up with angles that you could never shoot in life, and they really have to work hard to make that two-dimensional space feel three-dimensional, so it’s a fantastic resource for coming up with ideas for shots.”

“I wanted to do something that was unique, and yet also paid homage to filmmakers who had a big impression on me,” said Jane, “like David Lynch, the Coen brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, but also John Alton, who is a great cinematographer who worked with Anthony Mann on films like ‘Raw Deal’ and ‘He Walked By Night.’”

According to Jane, when it came time to pull double duty on the film, he sought advice from one of the more prominent actor/directors in recent years—and discovered that he was just the latest in a long line of people to receive the same words of wisdom.

Buy this Title Here!

“I called Mel Gibson and he talked to me on the phone for an hour, and said that when he was getting ready to direct and star in his first film, he was nervous and he called Clint Eastwood,” said Jane. “Clint Eastwood talked to Mel for a long time and told Mel that he was really nervous and he called Don Siegel, who had directed Clint in a bunch of movies, and Don told Clint, ‘Don’t sell yourself short. Spend as much time on yourself—your own shots—as you do on every other actor, on every other aspect of production. Be careful, because you’re in the movie you have permission to just do one or two takes on yourself and quickly move on—but you need to spend as much time on yourself for your film to work.’”

“That’s what I took away from my conversation with Mel and I hung up the phone feeling much more confident in my ability to pull this thing off than I did before I’d gotten on the phone,” he explained.

Originally intended as a 3-D theater release, Jane said the film was shot in 3-D but plans were ratcheted back due to the lack of home theater equipment able to present the film in all its multidimensional glory.

“But that equipment is coming, and when it does I certainly hope that we give ‘Dark Country’ a home theatrical 3-D release,” he added.

Lauren German

While it could be a while until the film gets a 3-D premiere in homes, it did receive a screening in line with Jane’s plans this past weekend at Long Beach Comic Con, where “Dark Country” debuted in full 3-D glory in front of a packed house of nearly 400 fans. Jane and comic book artist Tim Bradstreet hosted the screening along with 3-D developer Ray 3D Zone.

And though his 3-D plans for the film involved looking ahead to the future of the medium, Jane said his inspiration for the tone of the film involved more of a rearview-mirror take on filmmaking—especially when it comes to horror movies.

“I wanted to make a movie that was for people who enjoy movies that are off the beaten track, you know?” said Jane. “I wanted to make a movie for fans of cult films, for fans of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ for guys who stayed up late to watch ‘The Outer Limits’ when they were probably too young to do that.”

“It seems like more and more now, people are really losing sight of some of the great, old drive-in films,” he continued. “Quentin Tarantino tried to bring some of that flavor to the ‘Grind House’ stuff and I think that this film very much embodies that spirit—but instead of trying purposely to scratch up the movie and print frames out of it and yellow the film, let’s make this movie as if it’s really exists. And I feel like the feedback’s been really, really rewarding.”

“Dark Country”  stars Thomas Jane, Lauren German and Ron Perlman. The film was directed by Jane, with a script by Tab Murphy.

Amazon Specials!

Depois de muitos e alguns absurdos rumores, foi confirmado o elenco principal de Machete, novo filme de Robert Rodriguez. A ideia do filme surgiu a partir do trailer falso lançado junto com Grind House (que juntava os dois bons filmes Death Proof de Quentin Tarantino e Planeta Terror de Rodriguez) que infelizmente no Brasil não recebeu nenhuma atenção.

O trailer agradou tanto que Rodriguez resolveu fazer um longa-metragem da história escrita por ele sobre o personagem que dá nome ao filme, Machete (Danny Trejo), um matador mexicano que busca vingança contra a organização comandada por Jeff Fahey que o contratou e depois o traiu.

Além de Trejo, Fahey e o comediante Cheech Marin que aparecem no trailer, foram contratados grandes nomes de Hollywood como Robert De Niro Steven Segal, Don Johnson, e as gatas Lindsay Lohan e Michelle Rodriguez.

Machete começa a ser gravado esta semana e deve estrear em 2010, com direção em parceria de Robert Rodriguez e Ethan Maniquis, se você ficou curioso para ver o famoso trailer, confira:

“They just fuck with the wrong Mexican”

Its okay,To be curious ; Just dont approach for fear of being my entree,LOL !

My worst fear is HIV,See the predicament…Its not like a diet,More of a cautious tone to curry immortality.

In chat rooms and boards have been privy to discussion of a documentary on ones lifestyle,This subject bites; really bites.

quote:

When I came to the US,Things were different…

Now,They just taste like chicken.Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, James Bradley details several instances of cannibalism of World War II Allied prisoners by their Japanese captors. The author claims that this included not only ritual cannibalization of the livers of freshly-killed prisoners, but also the cannibalization-for-sustenance of living prisoners over the course of several days, amputating limbs only as needed to keep the meat fresh.

Unquote

• 13 segundos (película), dirigida por Freddy Fadel.
• 300 (película), dirigida por Zack Snyder.
• Adiós Bafana, dirigida por Bille August.
• An American Crime, dirigida por Tommy O’Haver.
• Arritmia (película), dirigida por Vicente Peñarrocha.
• Atasco en la nacional, dirigida por Josetxo San Mateo.
• Bajo las estrellas, dirigida por Félix Viscarret.
• Barricada (película).
• Born Without a Face, dirigida por Andrew Adamson.
• Casual Day, dirigida por Max Lemcke.
• Caótica Ana, dirigida por Julio Médem.
• Chuecatown, dirigida por Juan Flahn.
• Concursante, dirigida por Rodrigo Cortés.
• Cuatro meses, tres semanas y dos días, dirigida por Cristian Mungiu.
• Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai, dirigida por Kunihiko Yuyama.
• Diamante de Sangre, dirigida por Edward Zwick.
• Dios o Demonio, dirigida por Alejandro Gonzalez Padilla.
• Días de cine, dirigida por David Serrano de la Peña.
• El Violín, dirigida por Francisco Vargas Quevedo.
• El amor en los tiempos del cólera (película), dirigida por Mike Newell.
• El camino de Ana.
• El club de los suicidas (película), dirigida por Roberto Santiago.
• El corazón de la tierra, dirigida por Antonio Cuadri.
• El creador, dirigida por Martín Pizarro.
• El hombre de arena, dirigida por José Manuel González.
• El sueño de Casandra, dirigida por Woody Allen.
• El último rey de Escocia, dirigida por Kevin Macdonald.
• En busca de la felicidad, dirigida por Gabriele Muccino.
• En busca de la tumba de Cristo, dirigida por Giulio Base.
• Entre mujeres, dirigida por Jon Kasdan.
• Epic Movie, dirigida por Jason Friedberg.
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, dirigida por Tim Story.
• Fuerte Apache (película), dirigida por Mateu Adrover.
• Ghost Rider (película), dirigida por Mark Steven Johnson.
• Grind House, dirigida por Robert Rodriguez.
• Harry Potter y la Orden del Fénix (película), dirigida por David Yates.
• High School Musical 2, dirigida por Kenny Ortega.
• Hostal 2, dirigida por Eli Roth.
• Hotel Tívoli.
• In the Pink, dirigida por Bette Midler.
• Interview, dirigida por Steve Buscemi.
• Ju-on: The Grudge 3, dirigida por Takashi Shimizu.
• Jump In!.
• La caja kovak, dirigida por Daniel Monzón.
• La torre de Suso, dirigida por Tomás Fernández.
• La vida abismal, dirigida por Ventura Pons.
• La vida en rosa, dirigida por Olivier Dahan.
• Ladrones, dirigida por Jaime Marqués.
• Las trece rosas, dirigida por Emilio Martínez Lázaro.
• Las vidas de Celia, dirigida por Antonio Chavarrías.
• Lo que tiene el otro, dirigida por Miguel Perelló.
• Lola (2007), dirigida por Miguel Hermoso.
• Los Simpson: La película, dirigida por David Silverman.
• Los muertos van deprisa.
• MADRES (la película), dirigida por Eduardo Félix Walger.
• Manolete (película), dirigida por Menno Meyjes.
• Manuale d’amore 2, dirigida por Giovanni Veronesi.
• Mariposa negra, dirigida por Francisco José Lombardi.
• Miguel y William, dirigida por Inés París.
• Motherless Brooklyn, dirigida por Edward Norton.
• Niñas mal, dirigida por Fernando Sariñana
• Ocean’s thirteen, dirigida por Steven Soderbergh.
• Papelucho y el Marciano (película), dirigida por Alejandro Rojas.
• Piratas del Caribe: En el fin del mundo, dirigida por Gore Verbinski.
• Pride and Glory, dirigida por Gavin O’Connor.
• Pudor, dirigida por Tristán Ulloa.
• Ratatouille, dirigida por Brad Bird.
• Rojo intenso, dirigida por Javier Elorrieta.
• Seduciendo a un extraño, dirigida por James Foley.
• Shrek III, dirigida por Chris Miller.
• Sicko, dirigida por Michael Moore.
• Spiderman 3, dirigida por Sam Raimi.
• Súper Niño Bully, dirigida por Nicolás López.
• Teresa: el cuerpo de Cristo, dirigida por Ray Loriga.
• The Oxford Murders (2007).
• Transformers, dirigida por Michael Bay.
• Tú la letra y yo la música, dirigida por Marc Lawrence.
• Una historia criminal, dirigida por Josep Duran.
• Una mujer invisible, dirigida por Gerardo Herrero.
• War, Inc., dirigida por Joshua Seftel.
• Wild Hogs, dirigida por Walt Becker.
• Zodiac, dirigida por David Fincher.
• ¡Goool! 2: Viviendo el sueño, dirigida por Jaume Collet-Serra.
• ¡Goool! 3: El Juego Final, dirigida por Jaume Collet-Serra.
• Ángeles y Demonios.

Fallecimientos

• Alfredo Ripstein (n. 1916), director.
• Anna Nicole Smith (n. 1967), actriz.
• Antonio Aguilar (n. 1926), actor.
• Barbara McNair (n. 1934), cantante.
• Barry Nelson (n. 1917), actor.
• Bruno Mattei (n. 1931), director.
• Carlo Ponti (n. 1912), productor.
• Carlos Mayolo (n. 1945), actor y director.
• Conchita Montenegro (n. 1911), actriz.
• Deborah Kerr (n. 1921), actriz.
• Delbert Mann (n. 1920), director.
• Denny Doherty (n. 1940), músico.
• Fernando Fernán Gómez (n. 1921), actor y director.
• Gordon Scott (n. 1926), actor.
• Ingmar Bergman (n. 1918), director.
• Iwao Takamoto (n. 1925), animador.
• Jane Wyman (n. 1917), actriz.
• Jean-Pierre Cassel (n. 1932), actor.
• Joey Bishop (n. 1918), actor.
• Kei Kumai (n. 1930), director.
• Lois Maxwell (n. 1927), actriz.
• Luigi Comencini (n. 1916), director.
• Marcheline Bertrand (n. 1950), actriz.
• Michel Serrault (n. 1928), actor.
• Michelangelo Antonioni (n. 1912), director.
• Ousmane Sembène (n. 1923), director.
• Robert Goulet (n. 1926), actor y cantante.
• Solveig Dommartin (n. 1958), actriz.
• Tom Poston (n. 1921), actor.
• Yvonne De Carlo (n. 1922), actriz.

Véase también

• David di Donatello 2007
• Globos de Oro 2007
• Oscar 2007
• Premios BAFTA 2007
• Premios Goya 2007

MACHETE (Robert Rodriguez)

Danny Trejo, Sympathie-Mexikaner, Cousin von Rodriguez und Stammgast in dessen Filmen, in seiner ersten Hauptrolle. Und dort macht er genau das, was er so gut kann: Böse schauen und andere Typen abmurksen, nur diesmal im Namen der rechten Sache, wenn man so will. Machete, so der namengebende mexikanische Bundesagent, wird mit einem Batzen Geld in die Staaten gelockt und soll dort ein Attentat durchführen. Seine Auftraggeber hintergehen ihn jedoch und lassen ihn am Tatort zurück zum Sterben. Denkste, ganz im Stile von Kill Bill, steht Machete von den Toten auf und geht auf einen bitteren Rachefelzug, seine Weapon of choice, wie könnte es anders sein: Unzählige Macheten. Und dann gehts ans Eingemachte. “If you pay him to kill the bad guys, make sure you’re not one of them!”

Die Chancen für Machete und einer Verfilmung stehen nicht nur gut, sie sind sogar schon angelaufen! 40% sollen etwa im Kasten sein und wir können uns auf einen harten Actioner der alten Schule freuen. Hitgarantie: 90%   Release: 2008

DON’T (Edgar Wright)

Hammer Studios treffen auf Mondo Welle. Edgar Wright, Schöpfer von Shaun Of The Dead und Hot Fuzz steuert auch einen Trailer bei, einen der irgendwie typisch britischen Art. Don’t lehnt sich an an Splatterorgien à la The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue, welcher für den amerikanischen Markt in den sinnfreien Don’t Open The Window umbenannt wurde – daher der Titel. Was den weiteren Trailer betrifft: Wright machte sich einen Spaß aus der Tatsache, dass Trailer der 70iger meist mehr Fragen aufwarfen als sie erklärten worum es eingentlich im beworbenen Film ging. Von daher, er wird splattern, aber was uns erwartet weiß wohl nur der Regisseur selber, wenn überhaupt.

Die Chancen für eine Verfilmung von Don’t stehen eher mittelmäßig. Es war kurzzeitig die Rede von einem Grindhouse II Projekt, zu dem Wright Don’t hätte beigesteuert, aber nach der Erfolglosigkeit des ersten Teils im Boxoffice, ist dieses Projekt wieder in weite Ferne gerückt. Hitgarantie: 60%  Release: TBA

THANKSGIVING (Eli Roth)

Der Herr, der uns Hostel beschert hat, leistet seinen Slasher-Beitrag zum bunten Reigen der Fake Trailer. Nach Halloween und anderen Feiertagen wie Valentinstag (My Bloody Valentine), die blutrünstige Mörder hervorgebracht haben, fehlte eigentlich nur noch einer : Thanksgiving. Also mischt sich in guter alter Splattermanier ein Killer unter die Truthähne und serviert zur Feier des Tages Frischfleisch direkt vom Menschen. Dass Mr. Roth recht einfallsreich ist was Hinrichtungsmethoden angeht, kann ihm immerhin niemand absprechen.

Diesem Fake Trailer prophezeit man Ähnliches wie Don’t: Sollte es ein Grindhouse II mal geben, ist Thanksgiving sicher mit an Bord. Hitgarantie: 70%  Release: TBA

WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE SS (Rob Zombie)

Es gab Zeiten, da waren Nazizombies und andere Gruselgestalten des 3. Reichs in Filmen total in. Als Verbeugung vor Ilsa – She Wolf of The SS hat Horrorspezialist Rob Zombie einen Trailer mit riesigem Staraufgebot kreiert. Da wären Nicholas Cage als Dr. Fu Manchu, Udo Kier als Nazikommandant und seine Angetraute Sheri Moon Zombie als eine verführerische Werwolfdame. Die Story rankt sich um von Hitler in seinem Größenwahn geschaffene Supersoldatenfrauen, die sich in Werwölfe verwandeln können – klingt kultig…

Rob Zombie überlässt die Entscheidung einer Verwirklichung allerdings seinen Fans. Auf seiner MySpace-Seite gibt es eine Abstimmung ob man gefallen an einem kompletten Film finden würde oder nicht. Wir denken, die Chancen stehen relativ gut! Hitgarantie: 80%   Release: TBA

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (Jason Eisener)

Dieses Werk ist quasi der Außenseiter dieser Gruppe. Geschaffen von Amateuren, konnte sich der Trailer Hobo With A Shotgun gegen viele anderen Einsendungen beim South By Southwest Contest durchsetzen, den Robert Rodriguez anlässlich der Grindhouse Produktion ins Leben gerufen hatte. Die Story ist schnell erzählt: Ein selbsternannter Rächer geht mit seiner Schrotflinte auf Verbrecherjagd und nimmt das Gesetz in die eigene Hand.

Es gab in der Tat bereits Berichte, die daraufhin deuteten, dass eine Verfilmung zumindest im Bereich des Möglichen liegt, ob allerdings in den Händen der eigentlichen Erfinder oder doch mit jemand Bekanntes auf dem Regiestuhl, weiß man nicht. Tatsache ist: Im Vergleich zu den kultigen Trailern der namenhaften Regisseure fällt, dieser natürlich weit ab…mal sehen, was da noch kommt… Hitgarantie: 30%  Release: TBA

Em uma pacata cidade do interior dos Estados Unidos, os moradores enfrentam uma terrível situação. Zumbis deformados transformam o local em caos e terror, enquanto um grupo de sobreviventes tenta escapar do perigo.

Esse é o mote da história do longa-metragem Planeta Terror (Planet Terror – EUA, 2007) dirigido por Robert Rodriguez e que traz Bruce Willis, Michael Biehn, Josh Brolin e Rose McGowan no elenco.

Concebido originalmente para o projeto de Rodriguez em parceria com Quentin Tarantino, Grind House, e que trazia um filme de cada diretor pelo preço de um, Planeta Terror apresenta ao espectador a visão do diretor do que vinha a ser um filme exibido nas famosas grindhouses (sessões duplas), muito em voga na década de 1970.

Um crítico de cinema norte-americano declarou sobre o projeto, “em seu segmento, À Prova de Morte, filme de Quentin Tarantino, é a visão de quem passou a adolescência inteira freqüentando os cinemas setentistas com sessões duplas de filmes trash, enquanto Robert Rodriguez dirigiu o seu Planeta Terror como quem só ouviu falar a respeito das grindhouses”.

Infectados por um gás tóxico, que o exército dos Estados Unidos (sempre eles, né?) utilizou nas campanhas do Oriente Médio, os zumbis canibais da película tocam o terror na pequena cidade em que o filme é ambientado. Xerife de beira de estrada, dançarinas exóticas e todos os clichês típicos dos filmes de baixo orçamento ambientados no interior do país são retratados no longa. O grupo de sobreviventes, que se vira como pode na tela, é dos mais exóticos. Babás gêmeas e a já famosa mulher com perna adaptada, calibre 45, é só um dos elementos “estranhos” na homenagem que Rodriguez faz.

Fãs do diretor têm grandes chances de adorar essa produção. Muita maquiagem, sangue artificial, borracha, além de citações e auto-referências, típicas de Rodriguez. O grande público, porém, pode estranhar se não está habituado ao gênero. De qualquer maneira, em meio às fracas estréias cinematográficas, Planeta Terror segue como uma boa pedida para o final de semana.

Em tempo, Á Prova de Morte, dirigido por Tarantino, ainda não tem previsão de estréia.

 
Título Original: Planet Terror
Direção: Robert Rodriguez
Gênero: Terror
Tempo de Duração: 97 minutos
Ano de Lançamento (EUA): 2007
Site Oficial: www.planetaterror.com.br

Ariston Sal Junior

• Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007, USA)
• Grind House (2007, USA)
• Black Sheep (2006, New Zealand)

When was it that you last heard of an original – and, what’s more, successful – horror idea from the USA? It’s certainly been a few years. All that seems to be coming out of the American horror scene are remakes, sequels, sequels to remakes, tired old slasher films, some of it falling into that tiresome genre of unnecessary, titillating violence often referred to (probably incorrectly) as “torture porn”. You would have thought that the ability to get most of the 70s and 80s horror wave on DVD pretty much obliterates the need for remaking them, but apparently Hollywood doesn’t think that way.

So far this year, we’ve had Hannibal Rising (incredibly, even worse than Brett Ratner’s version of Red Dragon), The Hills Have Eyes 2, the greatly inferior Sean Bean version of The Hitcher, Turistas/Paradise Lost, Captivity, Resident Evil 3 and Hostel Part II. In the near future, we’re getting whether we like it or not Saw IV (despite the killer dying at the end of the last one, as given away in the trailer), Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (Aliens vs. Predators would surely be more grammatically correct) and Daddy Day Camp, the sequel to Daddy Day Care, which promises to be much more horrifying than any of them.

And right now we have Rob Zombie’s Halloween, which is the sort of film that explains why the motion picture industry is so worried about piracy – because it singularly justifies it. It is a worthless remake of one of the true horror greats, a movie which defined nearly all the clichés used in every slasher movie made since. The only things in the film that are in any way successful are the aspects stolen straight from John Carpenter; the main theme, certain camera angles in certain scenes, the use of Don’t Fear The Reaper (which unfortunately has lost all its effectiveness now thanks to other horror writers ripping it off.)

In short, the problem with Rob Zombie’s Halloween is that it misses the original’s point completely. Carpenter and Hill’s Michael Myers, one of the most effective villains in the pantheon, is a representation of inexplicable evil; he comes from a generic suburban family and just suddenly snaps one Halloween night, killing his sister, getting locked up and then growing into what the film spot on describes as “the boogeyman” – frightening, lethal, unstoppable. Myers’ victims are normal teenage babysitters, the girls next door; it could be you. What’s more, the film is about the babysitters – time is spent developing their characters before Myers comes and wrecks their lives.

Zombie’s film is about his own version of Michael Myers and his exploits, with the victims a distant second, and that’s the most crucial mistake he makes. The biggest change in the movie is a long first act showing Myers as a child on the original Halloween. Myers shows every one of the diagnostic signs of the serial killer before he actually kills for the first time, and what’s more the film is actually dumb enough that it tells you this before he starts killing. He kills animals and takes Polaroids of their abused corpses. He has an abusive stepfather and a trailer trash home life. His sister talks down to him and is slutty on a very one-note level; the portrayal of almost all of the women in the film is just as misogynistic as you’d feared from a remake of a film that only just avoids that particular trap by the guy who gave the world House of 1000 Corpses.

(Admittedly, although Myers’ mother is a stripper, she’s actually the only sympathetic and well developed non-murdering character in the film – however a possible explanation for why is that she is played by Sheri Moon Zombie, wife of Rob. This character’s name is apparently Zombie’s tribute to the late Debra Hill, the co-creator of Halloween and Carpenter’s producer and co-writer during his golden years.)

Rob Zombie doesn’t do everything wrong, and that’s what makes the film worse – the first killing in the film, Michael beating to death a bully who humiliated him earlier in the morning, is an extremely effective piece of horror filmmaking. It’s shot mostly first person from the bully’s point of view, mostly gore free and better for it. This however wrecks Myers’ character. Having made Myers instead of a force of nature just another serial killer with a screwed up home life taking “revenge” for perceived slights, Zombie has, I assume unintentionally, removed his potency by giving him a reason to kill. And giving a reason lessens the fear.

Following on from this, he then seems to murder his sister, her boyfriend and his stepdad in a very long, drawn out and excruciatingly gory sequence because they won’t take him out trick-or-treating – again, that reason! – the equivalent to Myers killing just his sister out of nowhere in the original. The first murder sequence in this section alone is longer than the entire opening setup to Carpenter’s film, and yet it is Carpenter’s work that has the better story structure.

Because this film also uses Carpenter’s complete plotline, but condenses it into the last half of the film, destroying any chance of careful character development other than “they’re all sluts, so Michael’s going to have them.” Worse, he also pulls in the “Laurie Strode is connected to Myers” plotline from Halloween II without actually bothering to do the development of Strode’s character that is necessary for it to work in any way whatsoever; it didn’t even make complete sense in Halloween II and it’s absolutely hopeless here, because all it does is open up a dirty great plot hole the size of Malcolm McDowell’s overdraft (which I can only assume is so large that he had to take up every sardonic antagonist role he’s been offered for the last few years, including Loomis in this one).

Rob Zombie’s Halloween is a mess, part of the reason Hollywood should never be allowed to remake another film unless it gets talented directors in; which of course is why we’re getting a Friday the 13th remake from the Texas Chainsaw remake people next year and why a remake of Hellraiser is on the horizon. (I can’t even stand the original Texas Chainsaw - I do not find that kind of oppressive atmosphere fun in any way, and it’s amateurishly done too – but the remake is still worse.) But what should Hollywood be doing with horror?

It should be making movies that are fun. Rob Zombie’s Halloween is no fun. People watched Friday the 13th sequels and such, crap though they were, out of the spirit of “watch people get killed in inventive new ways with unrealistic gore and hoary old plotlines, see spunky young female almost kill Jason/Myers/Freddy at the end, job done, kiss your girlfriend” – at which only Part 6 is really successful, but hey. But every horror director right now seems only interested in pushing the genre to the “extreme” and I really don’t get it. The German film Antibodies, which shows up occasionally on Film4 if you want to enjoy it as much as I did, does this well; if you don’t do it well, however, all you end up creating is a film which disgusts, degrades or worse, bores rigid (like any Saw film).

Making films which are inspired by horror classics is a whole different matter, and Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez’s Grind House project is a whole lot better than the ideas suggested – although, of course, horror is just one of the genres encompassed by “grind house”, which is more of an aesthetic. Rodriguez’s Planet Terror is a clever homage to the traditional zombie movie, unafraid to both parody and rip off in massive proportions, and which manages to pull off some breathtakingly nasty plot twists without alienating the viewer. Tarantino’s Death Proof isn’t actually a horror movie – it’s more inspired by Vanishing Point and a number of other road killer Z-movies and spends a lot of time developing character – which might have been the reason for its undeservedly poor reception in the project.

But the idea was to replicate the “grind house” theatre experience in a single lengthy programme (although everything together is still shorter than Return of the King.) This was done by a series of well done fake trailers – one of which is by the very same Rob Zombie, who in a spirit of self-parody provides a Nazi exploitation trailer called Werewolf Women of the SS; Rodriguez providing a hilarious piss-take of vigilante movies in Machete; the clever and amusing Don’t! by Edgar Wright and Eli Roth providing the kind of slasher movie he should be making in Thanksgiving – which capture the spirit of the “grind house” well, a spirit not served by overly glossy PG-13 pseudo-slashers or grimy stuff like Hostel Part II.

As we all know, however, Grind House failed. I think it failed because of poor promotion by the Weinsteins; it was always the sort of film that would only appeal to a cult audience and would do well on DVD. But of course we haven’t been allowed even to see it; after its US release, the Weinstein Company cut it up, removed the fake trailers and the Grind House branding and is going to release Death Proof and Planet Terror separately. And we probably won’t get a single DVD of the original setup for a long time (since it wasn’t released in the UK, you can guess how I ended up seeing it and it wasn’t the way I wanted to). This of course will hurt the films, because the package really was greater than its constituent parts – it was all about promoting the experience, an experience where you didn’t know what would happen next, how the film would go.

Black Sheep isn’t really one of these films, but it’s good all the same – another riff on the zombie movie, only the carriers are genetically mutated sheep. It’s also really funny, not taking itself remotely seriously and using copious unrealistic gore, the intrinsically funny idea of killer flesh-eating sheep and New Zealand farming country to great effect; following in the footsteps of fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson’s Braindead and Bad Taste. It’s the sort of movie Hollywood should be making; fun and light in tone, talented direction, originality in style, unafraid to exploit the clichés that work when they need to be used. It even gets one or two decent shocks in.

So of course it went straight to video in the States. And that’s what comes to the main link between these three films: in the US, they were all released by the Weinstein Company, through their Dimension division, and are a fantastic example of skewed priorities; original films and great experiences like Black Sheep or Grind House are ignored or fiddled with, while stuff like Rob Zombie’s Halloween is encouraged and nurtured. The Weinsteins always used their horror division to make money to release specialist films they actually liked, and are much more ruthlessly commercial when dealing with it; Guillermo del Toro still bears a massive grudge for what they did to Mimic, for example.

But what should we do about it?

I would like to see horror considered a legitimate genre, but with all the films that most people see being exploitative sequels and remakes and real attempts to explain the appeal of horror cinema being marginalised and neutered for studio profit it seems like a near impossibility at this stage. I’d like intellectually solid horror movies like those coming out of Europe right now to start coming out of the Hollywood machine, as movies like Alien were released amongst the first slasher wave but still managed to make money. I’d like to see Saw IV flopping at the box office and Lions Gate deciding never to make a horror film again. I’d like directors of horror material to take inspiration from Dario Argento’s or Ridley Scott’s style rather than Tobe Hooper’s lack of it. I’d like never to see a horror movie set in a redneck idiom ever again unless it’s parody. I’d even like sequels instead of remakes – why not make Friday the 13th Part 12: Let’s Face It, You Can’t Kill Him instead of making a remake that’s effectively one?

And, what’s more, I’d like Rob Zombie to stick to directing and to never remake a better film again. Can we at least get that?

Vor knapp einem Monat sah ich für das Double Feature, welches bei uns einzeln auf den Markt kommen sollte, keine große Zukunft beschieden. Hauptkritikpunkte gerade bei Tarantinos Part waren meiner Meinung nach einige Längen, flache weibliche Charaktere, zwar geplante, aber ärgerliche Filmrisse, etc. Was sollte daran schon eine 30minütig längere europäische Fassung ändern? Und die Antwort: Nichts! Zumindest, was die Längen angeht, die sind nachwievor enthalten. Aber: EGAL! Dieser Mix aus epischem und dramatischem Film (letztes Semester noch gelernt ) funktioniert nun viel besser! Unglaublich, aber wahr, die 30 zusätzlichen Minuten werden so dankbar angenommen, wie in keinem anderen Film, den ich kenne. Und dabei handelt es sich nicht nur um längere Storypassagen, sondern auch um kleinste Action-Schnipsel wie zum Beispiel ein Motorrad-Fahrer, der volle Wucht und unverhofft gegen ein Tor kracht – oder ein noch wuchtigeren Abschluss für Kurt Russel alias Stuntman Mike, Bruder von Stuntman Bob. Aber kommen wir einmal zu den längeren Passagen. Als Zuschauer freut man sich mit Kurt Russel ungemein auf seine Belohnung, als er Butterfly brav das verlangte Gedicht aufsagt. Als die Dame endlich nachgibt und Stuntman Mike einen Lapdance verspricht, freut man sich umso mehr für die Hartnäckigkeit des Stuntfahrers. ABER in der amerikanischen Fassung: Nix da…Filmriss. Doch wir Europäer dürfen uns diesen erotischen Moment tatsächlich in seiner vollen Länge gönnen. Storytechnisch nicht weltbewegend, aber schön anzusehen. Aber einen wichtigen Anhang für die Story bildet das Ende des ersten bzw. der Anfang des zweiten Teils. Als Stuntman Mike im Krankenhaus liegt, diskutiert der hard boiled Sherrif noch länger mit seinem Sohn Nr. 1 – auch schon hinlänglich zukünftiger Taten dieses Serienmörders. Darauf hin folgt eine schwarz weiß Szene à la Kill Bill und führt die neuen Mädels ein. Viel früher als im Original und auch der gute Stuntman Mike, darf 14 Monate nach seinem geplanten Unfall, wieder auftreten. Während er in der Grind House – Fassung erst wieder Teil des Geschehens ist, als er die Mädels auf dem High Way erspäht und die Verfolgung aufnimmt, geht er hier schonmal vor ab auf Tuchfühlung und Quentin bedient dabei alle Klischees, die im Laufe der Jahre über seine Person bekannt geworden sind, vor allem seinen Fuss Fetisch. In jedem Fall ein denkwürdiger Moment, vor allem ist diese Bonusszene extrem wichtig, um sich schonmal mit dieser neuen Mädelsgruppe vertraut zu machen, der Kritikpunkt mit den flachen Charakteren ist Geschichte und auch Stuntman Mike wirkt noch ne Ecke cooler. Irgendwie zünden in diesem Zusammenhang auch die Gags besser, eine wahre Freude. Überhaupt wirkt der Film auch nicht mehr so ungeschliffen wie in der amerikanischen Fassung: Wenige Tonsprünge, kein Filmriss, weniger Filmgrain. Geschmackssache, aber als Vermarktungsstrategie für den Mainstream bestimmt nicht verkehrt. Zu den Actionsequenzen, vor allem den abschließenden Katz und Maus Spiel muss man eigentlich nichts mehr sagen. Mega geile Stunts, toller Nervenkitzel und das mit High Speed…auf der großen Leinwand noch beeindruckender. Es hat wirklich Spass gemacht, sogar das (hier gar nicht mehr sooo plötzliche) Ende wirkt nicht mehr deplatziert. Einziger Kritikpunkt: Der vollkommen dämliche, lispelnde und unbekannte Sychronsprecher von Meister Tarantino höchst persönlich. 

Ich würde behaupten, es ist und bleibt ein Film für die Fans, so sehr überwiegen die Anspielungen und Cameos, die Tarantino aus früheren Filmen eingebaut hat, aber in dieser europäischen Fassung sind mit Sicherheit nicht nur die Fans gut bedient, sondern auch die, die es werden wollen! Ganz großes Schmuddelkino! Da Grind House als solcher bereits 4 StrayDogs erhalten hat, muss ich hier wohl noch einen drauf legen. Obwohl man sich damit jetzt nicht vertun darf! Ein zweiter Pulp Fiction ist Death Proof sicher nicht, aber durch meine positive Überraschung dieser Fassung, bleibt mir nichts anders als volle Punktzahl zu geben!

Les scènes d’actions sont exceptionnelles, les deux premières courses poursuites sont relativement courtes mais d’une grande violence et c’est véritablement jouissif de voir ça sur grand écran. La scène finale est elle aussi absolument géniale, et dure pratiquement 30 minutes. C’est de la cascade non stop avec des voitures de rêves et on ne demande que ça.

Mais le problème, c’est ce qu’il y a entre les scènes d’action, de bagnoles, dont le héros n’est autre que l’excellent Kurt Russell avec ses vannes à deux balles (perso j’adore son humour) et sa voiture démoniaque qui fait directement référence au film Christine. Oui, car le film c’est également au moins une heure de dialogues de nanas. Entre nous, leurs problèmes de sexe, on s’en branle, et quant les dialogues deviennent trop long, on attend qu’une chose : que Stuntman Mike entre en jeu, car c’est en lui que réside tout l’intérêt du film. Personnage dont on ne sait finalement pas grand chose si ce n’est qu’il est complètement barjo. Heureusement que les actrices sont carrément bonnes et que les plans de caméra sont si bandants, car on aurait plus d’une raison de s’endormir lors des trop nombreux dialogues inintéressants.

Pas mon Tarantino préféré, mais pas non plus celui que j’aime le moins.

Die 60iger… Grindhouses spriesen in den USA aus dem Boden – Zwei Filme werden dem Publikum präsentiert – Kann sich der Zuschauer mit Trash, Exploitation, Sex und Low-Budget anfreuden, ist er hier genau richtig. Alle anderen machen einen großen Bogen…

So oder so ähnlich verhielt es sich auch mit diesem Projekt. Grind House floppte in den USA, trotz riesiger Fangemeinde der beiden Regisseure. Worauf ist das zurückzuführen? Tatsächlich auf den Old School Style? Oder die Gesamtlänge von über 3 Stunden? Dem will ja der deutsche Verleih bereits entgegenwirken (und doppelt abkassieren) indem er die beiden Segmente Death Proof und Planet Terror mit etwa einem Monat Abstand in die Kinos bringt. Meine Prognose: Schlecht. Zwar wird gemunkelt, die beiden Regisseure arbeiten gerade an einer längeren internationalen Fassung, dennoch zweifle ich daran, ob die Filme einzeln funktionieren.

PLANET TERROR – Rodriguez lässt die Zombies tanzen. Eines Nachts entfliehen auf einer Militärbasis Testobjekte für biologische Kriegsführung und beginnen Opfer im nahegeliegenen Kaff zu schlagen. Soweit, so bekannt. Natürlich sollte man keine Inovationen erwarten, zumal der Film eindeutig als Hommage zu verstehen ist. Nach einer gewissen Vorbereitungzeit und der Einführung einer nicht gerade kleinen Schar von Protagonisten, geht die Zombiemetzelei los. Der coole Wray verliert dabei seine Ex Sherry bei einem Autounfall an die blutlüsternde Meute, diese verliert hingegen ein Bein. Dennoch kann sie gerettet und ins Krankenhaus gebracht werden. Dort kümmert sich das Ärztepaar William und Dakota um sie, die aber Allgemein einiges zu tun haben an diesem Abend, denn zahlreiche Menschen mit ominösen Bisswunden strömen ins Krankenhaus. Als Wray schließlich von der Polizei wegen unerlaubten Waffenbesitzes hochgenommen wird, beginnt der Tanz. Die Gebissenen mutieren zu Zombies, die drohen die ganze Stadt zu überrennen. Wray hat nur ein Ziel: Schnapp’ dir Sherry und dann nichts wie weg. Dumm nur, wenn zwischen ihm und dem Krankenhaus etwa 1000 lebende Tote stehen.

Man muss sagen, der Film hat Potential. Mega übertrieben blutige Einschüsse, einige härtere Goreeffekte, Ekelmomente, Trash wohin das auche Blickt, Coolness, und über dem ganzen ein Billig-Film-Filter. Zwischendurch reisst schonmal die Vorführfilmrolle (natürlich gewollt) und enthält so dem Zuschauer aber leider die erotischen Szenen vor. Dafür gibts Cameo Auftritte von Quentin Tarantino und Tom Savini.  Alles in allem gelungen, wenn auch kein Überflieger.

DEATH PROOF – Tarantinos außergewöhnlicher Slasherfilm, denn hier ist die Tatwaffe ein Stuntwagen mit 0 auf 100 in 3 Sekunden. Wem Kill Bill seiner Zeit zu wenig Tarantino-Style aufwies, der sei beruhigt, dieses Segment nimmt fast epische Züge an, es wird gelabert bis sich die Balken biegen. Zunächst lernen wir eine Mädchengruppe kennen, aufstrebende Sterne am Firmament Hollywood. Diese wiederrum stoßen in einer Bar, die dem guten Quentin, in einer Nebenrolle, gehört, auf Kurt Russel, alias Stuntman Mike. Nachdem dieser bei den Ladys zunächst abblitzt, macht er sich mit seinem Stundwagen auf die Jagt…sie endet für die Ladys tödlich, für Mike im Krankenhaus. Hier dachte der Regisseur an die Fans, indem er den ultracoolen Sheriff aus Kill Bill und seinem Lieblingssohn Nummer 1, einen Gastauftritt spendiert (den er übrigens auch bei Planet Terror) hat. Nun, da aber noch nicht alle Frauen dieser Welt vernichtet wurden, späht Mike, mit einem frischen Hengst unter dem Allerwertesten, bereits die nächste Mädchenclique aus. Schlecht für ihn nur, dass er sich mit der Inkarnation der Fox Force Five anlegt (hier zu dritt) und aus dem Jäger schnell der Gejagte wird…

Hier sehe ich den kritischen Punkt, die Filme einzeln ins Kino zu bringen, und diesen hier sogar noch zuerst. Death Proof hält sich streng an die Genre-Auflagen, also hirnrissige Story, kreischende Mädchen, plötzliches Ende, austauschbare Opfer, Storywendungen. Aber irgendwie…funktioniert das Ganze nicht reibungslos. Ich meine, als Fan, ja, man hat wieder diesen Tarantino Charme, die ellenlagen Gespräche, diesmal sogar als Hommage an Reservoir Dogs in einem Diner, geile Actionsequenzen, die es nicht nötig haben auf CGI zu setzen (dazu auch ein Joke innerhalb des Films)…dennoch, man hat keine Zeit irgendwie Empathie für einen der Charaktere zu entwickeln, zu schnell ist der Umschwung und dass der supercoole Stuntman Mike so plötzlich Versengeld geben muss und vor Angst wimmert, erscheint unglaubwürdig. Es passt zu dem Trash Charakter, zudem wird man an allen Ecken und Enden mit Anspielungen und Cameos belohnt, aber ob es der Film allein schafft, wage ich zu bezweifeln…

Dennoch, man muss zu dem waghalsigen Projekt sagen: Hut ab! Ohne je selbst ein Grind House besucht zu haben, lässt die Atmosphäre die 60iger, 70iger Jahre wieder aufleben. Der Billig-Film-Stil, Tonschwankungen, Low Budget Trailer inbegriffen. Grade letztere machen noch einen besonderen Reiz aus. Filmgrößen wie Eli Roth, Rob Zombie & Edgar Wright liefern mit Trailern zu Filmen, die nie gedreht werden (abwarten!!), Spass im Sekundentakt. Ob Werewolf Women of the SS, ein fast an Homer Simpson erinnernder Don’t, Machete mit dem allseits bliebten Vorzeigemexikaner Danny Trevo oder der Slasher in bester Halloween - Manier Thanksgiving - Coming home for the Hollydays…In a Bodybag  (vermutlich der einzige Feiertag, der noch nicht in einem Horrorfilm verwurstet wurde) machen einfach nur Spass. Fraglich ob uns in Europa die Trailer durch Trennung der beiden Segmente vorenthalten bleiben. Schade wärs!

Nun ja…also kein Ostern und Weihnachten zusammen. Nach dem Betrachten stellt sich ein kleiner Nachgeschmack ein, der klar macht, es geht hier nicht um deinen Geburtstag, sondern um den eines Freundes…aber immerhin um den des besten Freundes. Augrund von Fanbonus ergibt sich also folgende Wertung:

Beginning and ending, over and under, and all my stories lately seem to start and stop at the graveyard . . .

Let’s start with BOOK OF DEAD THINGS.  I just sent my signed contract, in the mail, for my short story (“Snow, Blood, and Sparrows”) to appear in the anthology.  I got an email from the editor saying my story was “one of the strongest pieces in the book.”  Twilight Tales Press will debut the book at Printer’s Row, a big book festival in Chicago, June 9^th and 10^th.  Twilight Tales will have a booth there and I plan on attending for signing/reading type activities.  Look for the guy under the black fedora.

In the meantime, you can preorder Book of Dead Things at 50% off.  Orders should be made and paid through PayPal:  sales@TwilightTales.com.  Normally the book will be $18, but preorder books will cost $9 (plus $1.50 per copy for shipping).  You can preorder through April 16^th (only a handful of days away).

Where were we . . .

The last time I posted was to announce winning the White Wolf Novel Contest.  The couple of weeks since then have mostly involved bouncing up and down Illinois and celebrating with various people . . .

. . . on March 30^th, I went down to central Illinois where I got to go to the DZ formal at Eureka, with the lovely, lovely Sara Joy Boeke (who was looking like a movie star in a dangerous blue dress).

. . . the 31^st saw me in Morton, playing a LARP game with friends and receiving the most kickassest bottle of rum I ever did see.

. . . April Fool’s Day and my cousin, Steve, sends me a nicely distorted picture of myself.  I’ll show you the before and after below.  I don’t know.  Even distorted, I think I still look pretty hot . . . in an inbred-mutant-Ringo sort of a way.  Yep, yep…it ain’t easy wiping the sexy off of this mug.  See the rest of Steve’s fiendish creations HERE.

. . . then, I sling shot back north, to go read the prologue chapter of my upcoming novel (Strangeness in the Proportion) and announce it’s immanent printing to the fine, supportive folks at Twilight Tales in Chicago, on April 2^nd.  The MC, Eric, called me “something of a hero.” Activate blush . . . engage.

. . . next day and I’m back down in central IL, seeing some friend’s in Bloomington, who I haven’t seen in a long, long time.  And I got to play with my Goddaughter, Reese, who can now walk and talk in a strange, dead language.  She didn’t pay much attention to me until I stuck out my tongue and spoke in the same language . . . but then she came running.  Which reminds me . . . I owe her one children’s book, to be written in the uncertain future.  Oh, and it was her birthday on Monday.  The big . . .1.  I’ll be back, again (come this weekend), in Bloomington, to celebrate with her and her parents at Chuckee Cheeses.  Oh yes my lovelings, the Whack-A-Moles will be singing dirges and telling horror stories of my unforgiving assault for generations to come!!!

. . . hung around the Eureka for the rest of that week, mostly with Wil.  I got to see a baby horse, moments after its birth (unfortunately, the mother died soon thereafter) and watch it learning to stand and walk.

. . . back up north, on Saturday, Matty and Sara Jacobsen held a little dinner to celebrate the novel, at a restaurant in Wauconda and a lot of strangeness, magic tricks, crude jokes, and hilarity ensued.  Luckily, the waiting staff seemed entertained with us (which was nice as they could have easily been annoyed or scared of us).

. . . Easter involved the standard get together with the extended family and lots and lots of good food . . . but then drifted into seeing Grind House with my parents and brother (the family that goes to see ultra-violent gore-fests on holy days is the family that stays together).

And here we are and I’m back at home and I’m playing catch up.  But my nights have been sprinkled with encounters with fellow nocturnal folk (which is always fun as everyone else is usually asleep).  One, via internet, was with someone with an increasingly larger and larger list of things in common with me (right down to the same cemeteries wandered and the same ghost stories in Key West listened to).  The second, via phone, was with a friend I already know (and who also shares some similarities with me).  He called me, from a cemetery and we talked.  We touched upon life and death and that depression that creeps in during the early to mid twenties that I like to refer to as the Wasteland (this deserves a longer post . . . at a later date).

And so we come back to the cemetery.  Enjoy the ouroboros loop . . . just don’t choke on the serpent tail.

Night.

Até parece o Grind House, do Tarantino e do Rodriguez, que eram médias metragens e já viraram longas. :-)

‘braços e boa semana.

Here is the image you so desperately want to see.

Wright and his SHAUN OF THE DEAD buddies, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, are currently finishing production on an action/comedy film HOT FUZZ, due to theaters April 13th.

Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF is about a man named Stuntman Mike (played by Kurt Russell), who hunts and kills beautiful women with his car. Rodriguez’s PLANET TERROR follows a woman who has a gun for a leg, named Cherry (played by Rose McGowan) and her partner (played by Freddy Rodriguez) take on an army of zombies.

Check out the amazing poster below where you can also find a youtube video of the trailer as well as a link to the HD trailer. Enjoy!

Click here for the HD trailer.