So there was this film in 2007 – a collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, where the two directors would each create a full-length low-budget film that celebrated the classic “grindhouse” films of long ago. They would release the two films – Rodriguez’ “Planet Terror” and Tarantino’s “Death Proof” – as a double feature, call it Grindhouse, add a few fake trailers that their director friends made, and release it to theaters.
Look, I enjoyed it – even if I had to sit for 3 1/2 hours through two films and several trailers. Not too many other people did, however, and eventually “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof” were released as separate films in Europe (where the concept of “double feature” wasn’t well-known).
Here are the trailers for “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof,” just so you can see what kind of fun you missed out on.
Yeah. Rose McGowan with an AK-47 leg. Zoe Bell riding on the roof of a speeding ’71 Dodge Challenger. This has everything. Robert Rodriguez’ fetish for exploding blood squibs; Quentin Tarantino’s fetish for long dialogue and bare feet.
But Grindhouse also had something else – several customized movie trailers for faux grindhouse-style motion pictures, as created by Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, Edgar Wright and Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez brought one of the characters from the Spy Kids franchise, Machete Cortez, into his own fake trailer. This is a bit NSFW, so be warned.
And the crazy thing is … three years later, Robert Rodriguez made a full-length Machete film. He incorporated content from the original two-minute trailer and built it into a star-studded feature.
The Canadian release of Grindhouse featured a short called “Hobo With a Shotgun” as part of the lineup of “coming soon” features.
Well, in 2011, the creators of that little short were able to put together a full-length feature of Hobo With a Shotgun, starring Rutger Hauer.
Well, guess what. Apparently a THIRD feature from the Grindhouse trailers will see the light of day as a full-length movie next month. And just in time for the holiday for which it was named.
In 2007, Eli Roth came up with this holiday-slasher parody called Thanksgiving.
Yeah, you’re going to have to see that one on YouTube, it’s pretty out there.
Well … here’s the trailer for the 2023 edition of Thanksgiving. Hoo boy.
I will never look at trampolines the same way. No I will not.
So by my count, that means there are only two movies from that collection of 2007 Grindhouse films that I’m still waiting for. Because how can you not have a classic drive-in double feature without Edgar Wright’s ode to European Hammer films Don’t –
and follow it with Rob Zombie’s soon-to-be-Oscar-winner Werewolf Women of the S.S.? Come on, it’s got Nicolas Cage in it, that’s gotta give it some serious cred, right?
I’m telling you, that Grindhouse film may have been a commercial flop upon its initial release …
But somehow, the film keeps spawning sequels and spinoffs.
And I’m fine with that.
Chuck The Writer 
Both those films are awesome. I LOVED the experience of the double feature. It was a tribute to the past, allowing someone like me who was not alive for the original experience to feel what it was like. It was also a spectacular display of cinematic art – both films, and the trailers I too loved. It’s fun several have made the jump to reality. But it’s sad the original release was a flop because most mainstream people can’t appreciate art and intellectual content. Yes, I just described both those films as that.
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