Episode 260: Planet Terror (2007)

In a genre that can go from the ludicrous to the sublime to the horrific, from farting zombie versions of the founding fathers to our daughters slow decline into zombification to your face being ripped off and eaten in front of you, there is room for a bit of everything. We have seen Attack of the Flatulating Dead, The Sadness, Maggie, and we have seen those out there over the top productions, I am thinking Wild Zero and Tokyo Zombie and New Kids Nitro. Never to be outdone, we have this Planet Terror is a 2007 horror film that serves as a pastiche of 1980s splatter and zombie movies. Part of the Grindhouse double bill with Death Proof, this was cinephile madness with an all-star cast brought to you by Quentin Tarrantino and Robert Rodriguez. 

Planet Terror stars Rose McGowan, Freddie Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, and Naveen Andrews… with bit parts for Tarrantino and Rodrigeuz favourites Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Michael Biehn and Cheech Marin.

Set in Texas, the film follows the survivors of a biochemical outbreak as they battle zombie-like creatures and a rogue military unit. Simple.

Planet Terror is rated 77% on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "A cool and hip grindhouse throwback, Planet Terror is an unpredictable zombie thrillride."[23] Rotten Tomatoes lists the film on its 100 Best Zombie Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer and 7/10 on IMDB. 

For me though it is just a 6/10. This doesn’t have the finesse of a Tarrantino movie. It does feel like a Robert Rodriguez movie a la Once Upon a Time in Mexico and From Dusk Til Dawn with a few Tarrantino-esque characters. The cast was great, but the grindhouse gimmick with the fake bad film with wobbly colour grading and fake flecks and tears and scratches in the film.

It has an audience. And the audience is that of fans of OTT violence, gore and cheesy contrived dialogue and story lines...The closest thing we have seen to it, it probably Wild Zero.