I’m going to start off with a word of warning for tonight’s Halloween Movie Madness: I am drinking tonight. Therefore, some of what I end up typing here might not make too much sense. Okay, with that out of the way let us start tonight’s movie: Planet Terror.

This is Robert Rodriguez’s half of the Grindhouse double feature. Yes, this is the one about the zombies. Well, they don’t call them “zombies” in this movie, they are called “sickos”. These are people who are turned into zombies by a biological agent known as DC2.

The movie starts out with a trailer for the movie “Machete” starring Danny Trejo. You may recognize him from other movies like Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and all three Spy Kids movies. Or the From Dusk ‘till Dawn trilogy. Or Desperate Housewives.



After the completely awesome trailer, Planet Terror starts. We are treated right from the get-go to a scene of Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan) doing some go-go dancing. Then, she decides to quit. After she leaves, she is almost ran over by some military vehicles. We then follow said vehicles to a warehouse area, where we see Sayid from Lost having a guys balls cut off because he lost his three specimens.



Then Bruce Willis gets out of one of the Hummers, and he and his men start killing all of Sayid’s men to get all of the DC2. The guy holding the jar of balls is killed, and the canister shatters, flinging balls all over the place. They hold down Sayid, and Bruce asks him where the shit is. Sayid says, “Everywhere”, and then shoots the canister, releasing the gas into the air. All of the soldiers walk into the gas, exposing themselves on purpose. Sayid then picks up a handful of balls, stuffs them into his pockets, then takes off in a Hummer.

Then we get introduced to the older brother from The Goonies and Wendy from The Sandlot.

From here, we go back to Cherry at The Bone Shack, where she is pulling a chunk of something out of her leg (from when she almost got ran over). A tow truck pulls up outside, and out comes Cherry’s ex-boyfriend, El Wray (Freddie Rodriguez).

From here, we go to the hospital where Block (the brother from The Goonies) and Dakota (Wendy from The Sandlot) are both doctors. Block takes a patient who was bitten in the arm. While checking the patient over, he discovers the man running a fever of 105 and a bunch of sores on his tongue (one of which he pops like a zit and it goops his glasses). Block calls his wife Dakota in with her three friends (syringes) to knock the guy out so they can amputate his arm.



Again, trying to avoid too many spoilers, it’s from here that we get to see the shit hitting the fan. And there is one thing that this movie does not lack, and that is splatter and gore. There are also a lot of cameos in this movie, most of those are people who have been in other movies by Robert Rodriguez.

I have actually seen this movie a few times before, but this was my first time watching it on DVD. Something that I really liked about watching it on DVD was watching it with the Audience Reaction track. Hearing all the people cheering and laughing along with the movie makes it seem as though you are sitting in the theatre with a full house. It really adds to this type of movie. It was much more fun watching it with a group as opposed to watching it yourself.

One of the parts that really divided viewers of this movie is this “Missing Reel” scene. IMO, the scene is not only funny as hell, but it adds to the authenticity of watching one of the old grindhouse flicks. They would often get damaged and have sections missing. This one just happens to take place at a key moment in the film, and therefore, we don’t get the full story. Some people understandably were pissed off about that. I won’t say when it is, or what we miss, but it is somewhat important. This is not, however, the best intentional use of this trick. That honor is held by Gremlins 2.



Something else to watch for in the great scene with the pocket bike. It is a great scene that is obviously played for gags, but IMO it works.

If you haven’t seen this movie, and you love splatter movies, I highly recommend Planet Terror to you.

Coming Soon:

The Fifth Element
The Evil Dead movies (1, 2, & 3… separate nights, consecutive order)
The Lost Boys