PLANET TERROR: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
An experimental bio-nerve gas is accidentally released at a remote US military base in Texas, and anyone exposed to it becomes a flesh eating, mutating zombie. Stripper (prefers 'go-go dancer') Cherry (Rose McGowan), her shady mechanic ex-boyfriend Wray (Freddie Rodriguez), Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn) and others must join forces to survive the night as the 'sickos' threaten to take over the town - and the world.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
It's RIP for B Movies - but only as in Rodriguez International Pictures, the specialist arm of Robert Rodriguez, filmmaker from the low budget side of town, the multi-skilled writer/director/cinematographer/editor/SFX whiz who pays homage to those cheap and gory movies screened in flea pits with scratched prints and lots of extremes. Extreme characters in extreme situations doing extreme and bloody things for our base entertainment. Some people call this a guilty pleasure - a silly expression that has been adopted by serious minded critics who apologise for liking overtly commercial movies.

If you're a RR and QT fan, nothing I can say will matter much, and if you're not ... likewise. (Don't make me explain the initials...) Planet Terror, opening with a fake trailer for the bloodthirsty assassin thriller, Machete, is the kind of (overacted) film that gets away with being completely sexist and politically incorrect by spoofing its own genre, and its own technical deficiencies, of yesteryear cinema. A scant story with scantily clad sexy young women and lusty males with beefy dialogue ... lots of violence, a grinding soundtrack and much muffled guffaws. Like the one about the girl who wanted to be a stand up comedian ... until she lost one of her legs.

There's lots of business about that lost leg - and its replacements - as the inexorable plod of zombie destruction continues. The film's tongue in cheek tone and the gory effects combine to make the film as funny as it is flippant, in a gut-wrenching sort of way.

But in the end, you're either into it or you're not. If you are, it's best enjoyed with a group of like minded friends. Rodriguez has done a commentary track which is engaging and there's a whole second disc of extras that gives us a chance to get behind the scenes in good ole Rodriguez style, including his 10 Minute Film School - which explains how Cherry's lost leg becomes a machine gun in the FX room. Good stuff - more interesting than the movie, actually.

Published March 6, 2008