Last night, I felt like watching something light, and something I'd not seen before. Something to make me laugh. Somehow, I landed on Planet Terror. I was attracted to the film because there was a woman on the cover who appeared to have a machine gun for a leg.
How very Bayonetta, I thought. How very wrong I was - but I can definitely see where the video game takes much of its inspiration from - having now been enlightened by this confusing and action packed film.
Starring Rose McGowan (yes, the one from Charmed) who plays the role of Cherry Darling, a go go dancer, we're met with a world where militaristic megalomaniacs (including Bruce Willis) unleash a substance on a small Texan town which results in people turn into infected, flesh hungry abominations that want to just eat things.
Other members of the cast include Quentin Tarantino himself, Fergie, and Naveen Andrews.
This film is made to be a low-fi production, with additional film grain, emulated scratches, and other effects all attempting to mimic low-grade productions that were not cared for in the technical elements of their production.
Yet, there's a blood and VFX budget on hand here that clearly shows "big hollywood" production values under-neath the layer and grit the film was subjected to in post production. There's much more on play here than big action film mixed with horror and a dash of flame, comedy, and a series of mishaps.
In an excellent editorial written John Squires on the website bloody disgusting, there's an enjoyable irony in what (from unfortuante events) spawned the genesis of this film. Long story short, due to allegations of sexual misconduct, posturing, and other business decisions, Rose McGowan was "blacklisted" from auditioning from any Weinstein films, yet through a whole bunch of converstaions with the director Robert Rodreiguez, McGown confided quite a bit in the man, taken from an interview with Variety.
McGowan was raped by Harvey Weinstein, and:
Rose told me that all she could do at the time was to get Harvey Weinstein to donate money to an abused women’s shelter and in return she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that forbade her from talking about the horrific violation without being sued, and that she shouldn’t even be telling me. To add insult to injury, she told me that she was blacklisted from even auditioning for any Weinstein movies.
Rodreiguez countered:
Incensed at what I heard, I told Rose that she was not blacklisted from MY movies and that Harvey couldn’t tell me who to cast. The reason was that Harvey didn’t work on my movies, I made movies all those years for Dimension and Bob Weinstein. So I explained that if I cast her in my next film, Harvey couldn’t suddenly tell me no, because my first question would be “Oh, really? Why can’t I cast her?” And I was sure he would not want to tell me why.
Thus, Planet Terror, and Death Proof were both borne.
It is an entertaining film. The irony behind its production is that Weinstein literally paid twice.
There's further controversies that abound in McGowan's book, Brave - but I don't have the inclination to read this - which according to commentators, suggests that Rodriguez isn't any better than Weinstein. (There's a complex narrative of him having an affair with McGowan, which broke up his marriage).
In any case - Planet Terror is something you should probably watch at least once if you're into cheesy, funny, b-grade horror films that don't take themselves seriously. Then, if you feel like it, you can delve into the seedy underbelly of how Hollywood, and to a lesser extent, the way the rest of the business world works.