Back in 2007, filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino united for the ambitious undertaking of Grindhouse, one extended theatrical event that saw them each craft their own feature-length adventures. Breaking up Rodriguez’s Planet Terror from Tarantino’s Death Proof were also a series of trailers from Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and Eli Roth, with the overall experience meant to replicate double-feature screenings of B-movies that became popular in the ’70s and ’80s. Every viewer had their own preference of which of the two narratives they enjoyed more, but with Marley Shelton having appeared in both storylines, she admits that she can’t pick just one.
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“Well, that’s like you’re asking me to pick a child, which of course I can’t do, but man, that was just such an amazing experience to get to work with Quentin and Robert, and truly that was actually a collaboration between the both of them,” Shelton revealed during a virtual set visit for the new Scream that ComicBook.com attended. “I feel like it’s one movie, the whole genesis and the whole experiment of Grindhouse, was a collaboration between these two brilliant filmmakers. So it really was their combined world, so that being said, I don’t think I have to pick a child. And I was playing the same character in both, so, there you go, just one big four-hour movie.”
Planet Terror focused on a small town where an infectious outbreak emerged, with Shelton’s Dr. Dakota Block working at the hospital attempting to treat the victims. Death Proof saw Kurt Russell’s Stuntman Mike targetting young women and using his car that was tricked out with countless safety measures to attack his victims, with one car crash seeing him end up at Dr. Block’s hospital. While Shelton appeared in both, her role in Planet Terror was much more substantial.
Despite Grindhouse delivering audiences two feature-length experiences from acclaimed genre filmmakers, the reception to the experience was underwhelming, to say the least. While its release in the U.S. and Canada included both films and trailers, releases in other countries were extended versions of the standalone films. The initial home video releases of the experience also saw the films released on their own, with collections featuring both narratives not coming until later.
While neither of the narratives got follow-up films, Rodriguez turned his fake trailer for a Danny Trejo-starring Machete movie into a series of films, while Hobo with a Shotgun, which was featured in select Canadian releases of Grindhouse, also was developed into a feature film by creator Jason Eisener.
Which of the two films was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaughย directly on Twitterย to talk all things horror and Star Wars.
