Planet Terror [2007] - DVD (Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn - Dir: Robert Rodriguez)

The lower-profile half of the Grindhouse double bill that flopped at the US box office in early 2007, Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror comes with lesser expectations. However, don't let that fool you: this is a fun, pacey zombie film, that displays less self-indulgence than Tarantino's Death Proof, and doesn't skimp in the entertainment stakes either.

The plot is thin and quickly covered, but basically amounts to the release of a gas that creates lots of zombies. Stuck in the midst of the zombies is a small bunch of people who try and fight them off (among, er, other things). It doesn't, fortunately, take long for Planet Terror to set all this up, and the stage is soon set for what we all paid our money for. Action. Violence. Characters of ill-repute. And, heck, a bit more action too.

Thus, Rodriguez delivers his tribute to the grindhouse movies he's clearly inspired by, and Planet Terror proves to be a fine piece of work. With fast, exciting action sequences, leg-less Rose McGowan turning in sterling work in front of the camera, and stylish work behind it from Rodriguez, the film gels well.

Its director has perhaps bettered it himself with From Dusk Til Dawn, but that doesn't mean that there's not plenty to enjoy here. Taken either with its double-bill partner or as a standalone dish, Planet Terror is well worth your time. --Jon Foster

Customer Reviews of Planet Terror [2007]

Yellow-Sn0W
Bristol, UK
30th October 2008

Planet Terror
Good film, tells the story nicely, doesn't leave gaps unlike so many others. The leg is a bit crazy sometimes but for grindhouse i guess its kind of tame. Definitely worth watching for zombie fans.

Guns, Girls, and Zombies... What more does a man need?


And Bruce Willis dies. Good game!

Chris Wood
UK
5th October 2008

Good messy virus movie
This is quite a gross movie, but it's so entertaining it works.

There's a lot of funny violence but it takes a strong stomach to enjoy it.

Rob Sumner
devon, england
1st October 2008

Tedious
Don't get me wrong I love bad films but not boring ones. This is just incredibly tedious and painful to sit through. 1 dimensional characters and god awful acting conspire to make this possibly Rodriguez's worst film although I've not seen the spy kids trilogy. Oh yeah, and Tarantino turns up in it and proves once again he cannot act. Buy something else, anything else.

Cupid Stunt
UK
27th September 2008

lots of fun
Like a few other reviewers here, I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. I was expecting yet another 'in-joke' movie from the 90's enfant terribles who have now become the establishment but what I got instead was a nice bit of mindless entertainment.

What we have here is an old school zombie picture in line with Night of The Comet where the emphasis in focused firmly on trying to deliberately make it look like a low budget exploitation movie. While not being entirely successful at this(the deliberate 'missing reel' just hacked me off), it doesn't get in the way of a very effeciently told story and some excellent action.

Can someone please stop Quentin Tarrantino from acting though please? He chewed the scenery so much you could see the teeth marks!

Mr. P. G. Rogers

18th September 2008

incredible!
i waited for ages for this grindhouse experience and although it took nearly a year later to get it in the cinema i had it on dvd for ages this is brilliant comicbook horror from start to finish everyone should see this movie