Top 500 Films – #326 – Planet Terror (2007)
DIRECTED BY: Robert Rodriguez
STARRING: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Naveen Andrews, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Stacey Ferguson and Bruce Willis
FAVE QUOTE: “I’ve seen me a lot of weird shit in my day, but I ain’t never seen a one-legged stripper. I seen me a stripper with one breast. And I seen me a stripper with twelve toes. I’ve even seen me a stripper with no brains at all, but I ain’t never seen a one-legged stripper. And I’ve been to Morocco.” – The Rapist (Played by Quentin Tarantino)
FAVE MOMENT: The reveal that Bruce Willis’ character Lt Muldoon killed Osama Bin Laden.
AWARDS: None
SYNOPSIS
After an experimental bio-nerve gas is accidentally released at a remote U.S. military base in Texas, those exposed to the gas turn into flesh-eating, mutating zombies out to kill. An assortment of various people who include stripper Cherry, her shady mechanic ex-boyfriend Wray, a strong-willed doctor, the local sheriff, and an assortment of various people must join forces to survive the night as the so-called “sickos” threaten to take over the whole town and the world.
VERDICT
At number 236 is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror.
Planet Terror consists of a few storylines between characters (the Block’s family and Cherry/Wray) rolling into one as a result of a biochemical incident causing folk to go on a zombie like killing spree and infecting everyone they can.
Part of the Grindhouse project he had going with Quentin Tarantino and his involvement with it (Planet Terror was paired with Tarantino’s Death Proof but due to the low box office returns, they were released as separate films across Europe Box Office’s), Planet Terror is a true nod to the 80′s zombie splatter films. Whereas Tarantino’s Death Proof had the dialogue and looked neat and crisp, Planet Terror focused more on looking like an actual B-Movie with it’s scratching and aging signs (also the missing reel scene where Wray and Cherry are having a sex scene where the frame burns out and then dramatically cuts to the Bone Shack on fire and all the survivors have somehow gathered in it) and giving blood…and lots of blood.
While it has a B Movie look, the film has a stellar cast including having Bruce Willis in it as Lt Muldoon whose’s methods are explained to the Wray, Abby and the audience towards the end of the film (and having a stab at Bin Laden in the process during this standout scene) aswell as Josh Brolin as the crazy softly spoken Doc Block who ends up trying to kill his wife (whose also a doctor at the same hospital) Dakota aswell as cameos from Quentino Tarantino himself and oddly enough Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas (She doesn’t last long, whether or not that she gets killed excites you then hey, whatever floats your boat) but the few standouts are in the two main leads (Rose McGowan and Freddy Rodriguez) and it’s three supporting roles (Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn and Naveen Andrews).
Rose McGowan’s protrayal of Cherry Darling has reached cult status (hell, the imagine of her with a machine gun for a leg is iconic at this point) starting in the film as a retired Go-Go Dancer, to a wannabe stand up comedian (which is a running in-joke throughout the film) to a kick ass heroine and is her standout role to date on her CV. Freddy Rodriguez does really well in the male lead as the mysterious yet dangerous with a weapon and a deadly aim (‘I never miss’ he states) and handles himself well on screen remaining serious throughout, evening whilst driving a mini bike alongside the survivors on the road, driving over all the infected in their path. Biehn and Fahey are good aswell as the two brothers, one a local sherriff, the other runs the Bone Shack and tries to create the perfect BBQ sauce and they bicker over it and finally Naveen Andrews (aka Sayid from LOST) standouts mainly due to his strange fetish of taking testicles and collecting them.
If you love your 80s zombie films or even just mindlesss story, grossed out action then this be the film for you to watch. Here’s the trailer for the film below:
