Death Proof is out on DVD - GO RENT IT ALREADY!
For whatever reason, very few people saw Grindhouse when it came out in theaters. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they marketed the film with an emphasis on the Planet Terror side of the double feature. I could imagine a lot of potential female audience members seeing an one-sheet poster of Rose McGowan with a machinegun for a leg, and not wanting to see it. This is unfortunate as I have yet to meet a woman who saw Death Proof and didn't love it.
In terms of horror-thrillers, Death Proof is the essential female empowerment film. Gone are the topless knife-fodder girls who get killed shortly after they have sex or admit to liking it via stupid dialogue. While women do get killed in Death Proof, there are just as many who survive. And rather than paint the survivors as virginal Jamie Lee Curtises, the survivors in Death Proof enjoy sex. Not on-screen, mind you - this is not that type of grindhouse experience - but they talk about it length. Rather than being saved by their innocence, the Death Proof heroines survive the intense finale because they are smart - and one of them owns a gun.
Twenty years from now, some of our children might ask us, "Why didn't you go see Grindhouse in theaters?" I won't have to answer that question, but a lot of people will. Some might say, "Because they frequently marketed both films with an image of a woman firing bullets from her machinegun leg," and I guess that's fair enough. I enjoyed Planet Terror, but it was 'intentionally retarded,' which is no different than an 'accidentally retarded' film for most people.
So in the end, maybe it's best that the films were divided. Perhaps people will finally be able to just enjoy Death Proof without having to sit through Planet Terror and vice versa.
Here's a trailer from the UK release of Death Proof:
Wasn't that nice? It actually gives you some idea as to what the movie's about, unlike the American adverts, which sold the entire package as a concept rather than two different movies.
We also have this nifty one from Cannes:
In terms of horror-thrillers, Death Proof is the essential female empowerment film. Gone are the topless knife-fodder girls who get killed shortly after they have sex or admit to liking it via stupid dialogue. While women do get killed in Death Proof, there are just as many who survive. And rather than paint the survivors as virginal Jamie Lee Curtises, the survivors in Death Proof enjoy sex. Not on-screen, mind you - this is not that type of grindhouse experience - but they talk about it length. Rather than being saved by their innocence, the Death Proof heroines survive the intense finale because they are smart - and one of them owns a gun.
Twenty years from now, some of our children might ask us, "Why didn't you go see Grindhouse in theaters?" I won't have to answer that question, but a lot of people will. Some might say, "Because they frequently marketed both films with an image of a woman firing bullets from her machinegun leg," and I guess that's fair enough. I enjoyed Planet Terror, but it was 'intentionally retarded,' which is no different than an 'accidentally retarded' film for most people.
So in the end, maybe it's best that the films were divided. Perhaps people will finally be able to just enjoy Death Proof without having to sit through Planet Terror and vice versa.
Here's a trailer from the UK release of Death Proof:
Wasn't that nice? It actually gives you some idea as to what the movie's about, unlike the American adverts, which sold the entire package as a concept rather than two different movies.
We also have this nifty one from Cannes:
posted by Joe Scott at 7:38 AM
2 Comments:
this last one from cannes is appealing, still need to check this out... thanks for pointing out the pro-femme reasons to do so :-) i imagine a dark charlie's angels/9 to 5 feel...
Y'know, it's definitely got a dark 9 to 5 feel to it. So many slasher films appear to be the filmmaker's condemnation of the women who would not have sex with them in high school or college - something they will even confirm from time to time.
One could wager that Quentin probably never got laid in high school either, but he has always been respectful of women in his films. He has yet to include a single pointless nude scene - or any kind of nude scene for that matter - in his films, and I don't think he's ever needed one. Most of the women in his films are always sexy, because they are tough and usually smarter than the male characters.
Post a Comment
<< Home