Date: Wednesday, March 26, 6:30pm
Beverage of Choice: Miller High Life
I felt Planet Terror was the perfect film for the re-launch of Angry Man. Having seen Grindhouse in the theater and feeling like it was the best theater experience I had ever had, this was the right choice. It's kind of like director Robert Rodriguez had an exploitation checklist when conceiving this project: Extreme gore? Check. Lesbians? Check. Violence towards children? Check. Flesh eating ghouls? Check. Wailing saxophones? Check.
I hadn't had a chance to check out the DVD since picking it up, and I had forgotten how great the dialogue was in the film. This was really like getting great action, gore and sex with a great script to boot, instead of what you might find with this type of film. I applaud Rodriguez's choice to keep the whole missing reel concept in the film. I know he had intended this from the beginning, unlike Tarantino with Death Proof, who "shot a reel" and then put it back in for the DVD release. It just seemed like to right choice for Planet Terror, and really kept with the whole grindhouse atmosphere. I was just reading the book Sleazoid Express recently, which is the history of 42nd street cinema in New York, and I remember reading that projectionists used to clip out the sexy parts for their own personal collections, and a lot of the time you would go to the theater and those scenes would be missing. Also, down south on the Drive-In circuit, managers would "edit" the content of their own accord if they deemed it too offensive.
Basically, this just shows Rodriguez's commitment to authenticity and how he went all-in with this project. Between Death Proof and Planet Terror, Planet is definitely my favorite, partly because Rodriquez kept true to the original vision. I think Death Proof is great, but it really went out on it's own path.
