Planet Terror (2007) - Rodriguez's awesome blast from the past

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Star Rose McGowan looks sensational with a machine gun leg prosthesis on this blood-red poster for Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror

 

An experimental bio-weapon accidentally releases and creates a zombie outbreak, which a small group of survivors fight to exterminate.

 

Planet Terror is written, co-produced, directed, photographed , co-edited and composed by great Texan filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi (1992)) and is part of Rodriguez and co-producer Quentin Tarantino's double feature project Grindhouse (2007), which also comprises Tarantino's car thriller Death Proof (2007).

The film is a total blast and perhaps the year's coolest movie. In terms of the intention of resurrecting the exploitation grindhouse tradition in American cinema of the 1970s and 1980s for a great show, a respectful, enthusiastic and very humorous venture, Rodriguez's contribution wins over Tarantino's more farcical and idiosyncratic Tarantino film.

With Planet Terror Rodriguez really walks the ten miles with a 'bad' story, (understood in the way that it is so flat and obvious, which is just perfect for what this is), a great gallery of characters, rad special effects, a super and very 1980s retro score (by Rodriguez himself) and a terrific cast: Michael Biehn's (Clockstoppers (2002)) comeback as Sheriff Hague and Rose McGowan (Encino Man (1992)) and Freddy Rodriguez (CBGB (2013)) deserve highlighting. There are some hilarious scenes (some involving Biehn and some BBQ 'expert' brothers), and the film is an overall irreverent fun ride for B movie fans.

Rodriguez doesn't have Tarantino's knack (or indulgence) for dialog, but it matters not here in Planet Terror, which is arguably the man's best and coolest film to date.

 

Related posts

The other Grindhouse feature: Death Proof (2007) - Tarantino's awesome, rubber-burning Grindhouse homage
Robert Rodriguez: Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) - Rodriguez goes digital and blows up his trilogy  

The Faculty (1998) or, Teacher Encounters of the Third Kind

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza
Desperado (1995) - Rodriguez' second Mexico actioner is a sexy, latino fireball 

Four Rooms (1995) - Rodriguez, Tarantino & Co. fail with LA hotel anthology comedy (segment)

 

Listen to the title track from Rodriguez's score for the film here

Cost: 23 mil. $

Box office: 24.1 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 1.04 times its cost)

[Planet Terror was released 6 April (USA) and runs 105 minutes (in the Grindhouse double feature version only 91 minutes). Rodriguez had wanted to make a zombie movie since The Faculty (1997). McGowan was Rodriguez's girlfriend at the time and was cast despite being on Harvey Weinstein's blacklist, because he had sexually assaulted her in the past: Dimension Films was, however, controlled by Bob Weinstein, who let the casting take place, but his brother Harvey Weinstein succeeded in axing the film's ad budget and thereby limiting its chances of success. Shooting took place from February - July 2005 in Texas and Mexico, with re-shoots in October 2005. Co-star Marley Shelton has stated that she felt that Tarantino co-directed Planet Terror, as he was on set for a lot of filming and gave notes, adjustments and line changes. Grindhouse opened #4, behind holdover hits Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons and fellow new release Are We Done Yet?, to a 11.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 25 mil. $, with half attributed here to Planet Terror (51.9 % of the total gross). The film released as an individual feature in most other markets with the 2nd and 3rd biggest being Spain with 1.9 mil. $ (7.9 %) and Germany with 1.4 mil. $ (5.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the double feature a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The fake trailer for Machete in the film since spun the actual Machete (2010) by Rodriguez, which to date also has one sequel (Machete Kills (2013)). Rodriguez returned with Shorts (2008). McGowan returned in Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008); Freddy Rodriguez in Bottle Shock (2008)). Planet Terror is fresh at 76 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Planet Terror?

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - Good CGI and young actors in strained dose of apocalypse

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An apocalyptic, sandy metropolis and a group of youngsters walking through it, on this poster for Wes Ball's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

 

Thomas and a group of other boys and one girl, who have eloped the maze, smell something fishy on their new prison guards from WCKD, and they break free to discover a post-apocalyptic world!

 

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is written by T.S. Nowlin (Phoenix Forgotten (2017)), based on the same-titled 2010 novel by James Dashner (The Eye of Minds (2013)), and directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner (2014)). It is the 2nd film in the Maze Runner trilogy.

The young actors look remarkable unaged, despite the film claiming that 4 years has passed since the first film, (only released a year before.) The tone is the same in the teenage-fantasy horror/action/adventure, which is probably hard to connect with for most people who aren't teenagers. Fun or real thrills or surprises are lacking here; and the simple setup of an evil science class of people seems like near-nonsense.

New cast-member Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Godless (2017, miniseries)), returning star Dylan O'Brien (The First Time (2012)) and Co. meet scary zombies in the neat, CGI-driven world, and a depraved nightclub owner who stays open during the day. Whether everything here serves a deeper political meaning is hard to deduce. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is technically well-made but not really a good film.

 

Related post:

 

Wes Ball: The Maze Runner (2014) - O'Brien breakout, well-made YA nonsense

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 61 mil. $

Box office: 312.2 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.11 times its cost)

[Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials premiered 1 September (Sao Paolo, Brazil) and runs 131 minutes. Development of the film began before the release of the first Maze Runner in 2014. Shooting lasted 94 days and took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, from October 2014 - January 2015. The film opened #1 to a 30.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 81.6 mil. $ (26.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 29.5 mil. $ (9.4 %) and France with 25.3 mil. $ (8.1 %). A concluding, again successful film was made and released as Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) by Ball, with O'Brien back. This was Ball's next film. O'Brien returned first in Deepwater Horizon (2016). Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is rotten at 46 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials?

Maggie (2015) - Suffering indie zombie downer

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Career-Killer of the Year: Henry Hobson, John Scott 3 

Abigail Breslin looks less than well behind Arnold Schwarzenegger on this very gloomy poster for Henry Hobson's Maggie

Wade's teenage daughter Maggie has been bitten by a zombie in a post-apocalyptic America, and Wade vows to take care of her!

Maggie is written by John Scott 3 and directed by Henry Hobson (The Hangover Part II (2011, title designer)), whose debut it is.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies (1994)) is fine as protective, (failing) father Wade, but it is just painful (especially for a fan) to watch him as old and sad as he is here. Zombies can be scary and/or funny, - but here we are tasked with taking a dramatic interest in a teenage girl zombie (Abigail Breslin (Air Buddies (2006, video))) and her slow deterioration. Joely Richardson (The Hatton Garden Job (2017)) obviously struggles to immerse herself in the bizarre setup and keep her Southern accent high at the same time.
Maggie is without aim or dramatic punch. It is fatally boring, in fact it bores to the point of zombie-fying its audience.

 

Related post:

 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 1.4 mil. $
Box office: 1.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.14 times its cost)
[Maggie premiered 22 April (Tribeca Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. It opened #30 to a 131k $ first weekend in 79 theaters in North America, where it diminished in its 2nd week and was quickly pulled from distribution (by Lionsgate), grossing 187k $ (11.7 % of the total gross), and released as VOD. The film's 3 biggest markets were Italy with 337k $ (21 %), France with 328k $(20.5 %) and South Korea - in a release that didn't come until 2019 - with 269k $ (16.8 %). Hobson seems to have left the film business completely following Maggie; screenwriter Scott 3 is also gone. Schwarzenegger returned in Terminator Genisys (2015); Breslin in Final Girl (2015). Maggie is fresh at 60 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Maggie?

Land of the Dead (2005) - Romero returns to the dead with strange, underwhelming results

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Signed by the filmmaker, a promising, apocalyptic, dark poster for George A Romero's Land of the Dead

Some zombie fighters are corrupted by money; the ruler of the last, barricaded human city, Kaufman tries to save himself; and the zombies have gotten brainy!

Land of the Dead is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker George A. Romero (There's Always Vanilla (1971)), whose 13th feature it is. It is the 4th in Romero's six-entry Dead movie series, following zombie classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), masterpiece sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978) and underground horror great Day of the Dead (1985). As may be indicated in the plot capture above, the film presents a fairly confusing narrative.
The evolution of the zombie genre is also evident in Land, as there are no longer any uncertainty of where to shoot zombies dead (in their heads.) But the film pales compared to the better horrors of the past as well as of its time, - and it isn't really scary, mostly just slimy and gross.
Simon Baker's (Heartbreak High (1996, TV-series)) protagonist could hardly be any duller, and John Leguizamo (The Hollow Point (2016)) plays an idiotic Hispanic part. Pointing up in the cast, however, are the lovely Asia Argento (Traveling Companion/Compagna di Viaggio (1996)), and Dennis Hopper (Nails (1992, TV-movie)), who makes yet another wicked villain here.

Related posts:

George A. Romero: Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror (2000, TV documentary) - Great bio-doc of master filmmaker Dario Argento (interview subject)
Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Romero and Savini hash up a superfluous remake (writer/executive producer)
Day of the Dead (1985) - Romero's underground-set zombie classic
Creepshow (1982) - Fun, campy horror anthology from King and Romero
Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death!
 

Romero answers 10 questions in this video

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 46.7 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.11 times its cost)
[Land of the Dead premiered 18 June (Las Vegas CineVegas Film Festival, Nevada) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, and in Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, from October - December 2004. It is the first in the Dead film series to get an MPAA rating; some gore was toned down in the theatrical version for the R rating. The film opened #5, behind holdover hit Batman Begins, new release Bewitched, holdover hit Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and new release Herbie: Fully Loaded, to a 10.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 20.7 mil. $ (44.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.8 mil. $ (9.5 %) and Japan with 2.7 mil. $ (5.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Romero returned with Diary of the Dead (2007). Baker returned in Something New (2006); Argento with a voice performance in Live Freaky, Die Freaky (2006) and physically in Marie Antoinette (2006); and Hopper in House of 9 (2005). Land of the Dead is certified fresh at 74 % with a 6.64/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Land of the Dead?

Zombieland (2009) - Reese/Wernick and Fleischer hit the post-modern bull's eye with undead escapade

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+ Best Zombie Movie of the Year

Four game stars look ready to create mayhem on this poster for Ruben Fleisher's Zombieland

A phobic, neurotic young man partners with a gun-crazed Texan in America, or Zombieland, after a zombie apocalypse has spread death and destruction everywhere, but the two are tricked by a pair of sisters.

The highly sarcastic, reference-laden kind of dialog that runs through Zombieland rarely works for movies, as it mostly gets tiring after a while, but somehow it does work here. Certain parts of Zombieland is likely to have made Zombie Godfather, New Yorker master filmmaker George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead (1968)) proud, not least the section in the theme park.
SPOILER Best in this great zombie horror-road movie-romcom genre-mixer, however, are the scenes with Bill Murray (Groundhog Day (1993)), in what purports to be his Hollywood mansion, which reaches a level of post-modern brilliance that is wholly unexpected, hilarious and delightful. Zombieland also contains some amazingly cool slo-mo shots of zombie attacks, (cinematography by Michael Bonvillain (Wanderlust (2012))), and may or may not beat Shaun of the Dead (2004) as the great modern zombie horror-comedy, according to your taste. It's a fun neo-classic in my book.
Zombieland is written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool (2016)) and directed by feature-debuting, great Washingtonian filmmaker Ruben Fleischer (Superstore (2015-17)).

Related posts:

Ruben Fleischer: Gangster Squad (2013) or, Good Men vs. Bad Men!
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
30 Minutes or Less (2011) or, Idiots and Lesser Idiots

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

Watch a 2-minute scene from the film here

Cost: 23.6 mil. $
Box office: 102.3 mil. $
= Big hit
[Zombieland premiered 25 September (Austin Fantastic Fest) and runs 87 minutes. Harrelson only took the part in the film on conditions, including that the set be 'environmentally conscious' and Fleischer not ingesting dairy products for a week. Shooting took place in Georgia and in Los Angeles from February - April 2009. The theme park section was mostly shot at Georgia's Wild Adventures Water and Theme Park, with 160 zombie performers in one scene. The film opened #1 to a 24.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another week (#2) and grossed 75.5 mil. $ (73.8 % of the total gross), becoming the top-grossing zombie film ever there, beating Dawn of the Dead (2004), - until Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.5 mil. $ (5.4 %) and Russia with 3.9 mil. $ (3.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal to a notch harder than this one. Home video sales of the film in North America alone totaled another 55.4 mil. $. If added to the theatrical gross, it would change the film's status to that of huge hit. Sequel talks began with the film's concluding production, and Harrelson talked enthusiastically of another film but later backed away from that stance. A TV-series pilot without the stars but with the writers was made for Amazon in 2013 and not picked up for serialization. The writers and Fleischer still seem intent on making a sequel (by 2017). Zombieland is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Zombieland?

Warm Bodies (2013) or, Zombie Date Night

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A romantic, tongue-in-cheek-funny, well-designed poster for Jonathan Levine's Warm Bodies

 

In a post-apocalyptic future, the daughter of a prominent zombie exterminator gets her boyfriend eaten by a young male zombie, who with the guy's brain in his system assumes his warm memories and thereby falls in love with the girl while slowly improving himself as a zombie.

Warm Bodies is a film mostly for teenagers who have seen other YA [young adult] adaptations of the preceding years, in particular Twilight (2008) and its sequels, which the film nearly spoofs. But only nearly, because it also insists on being a romance and an action-horror in its own right. - That is a far reach for any film, and Warm Bodies seems to attempt to overcome this by using lots of different popular music to mark its many shifts in tone.

If you are over twenty, it may be difficult for you to get really involved with the ludicrous plot of teenage necrophilia that is basically at play here. On the plus side, both Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge (2016)) and Nicholas Hoult (Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)), - who is the cutest-looking zombie I can remember ever seeing, - are good, and John Malkovich (Drunkboat (2010)) is also funny as an obsessive zombie-hater. Warm Bodies is a quirky YA-film. It is written and directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50 (2011)), based on the same-titled 2010 novel by Isaac Marion.

Related review:

Jonathan Levine: 50/50 (2011) or, Dude's Got the Big C

Watch the first 4 minutes of the film here

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 116.9 mil. $

= Box office success

[Warm Bodies premiered January 16 (Rome) and runs 97 minutes. Filming took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, beginning September 2011. The film opened #1 to a 20.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 4 weeks and grossed 66.3 mil. $ (56.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 7.4 mil. $ (6.3 %) and Russia with 5.9 mil. $ (5 %). Warm Bodies is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Warm Bodies?

World War Z (2013) - Forster, Pitt and Co.'s preposterous zombie junk

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If you think this artificial-looking poster for Marc Forster's World War Z shows Brad Pitt sitting in a plane of some sort, look on the next poster at the bottom of the review

A honcho in the United Nations has withdrawn from the various war zones of the world to devote himself to his family, when a zombie pandemic breaks out and spreads death and destruction everywhere, - and he must be the one to find a solution!

Our hero's family doesn't get set up as characters, before the zombie apocalypse hits, and so we don't feel much of anything through their following trials. - It doesn't help that Mireille Enos (The Killing (2011-14)) plays the mother with a very strange above-it-all attitude throughout.
Co-producer-star Brad Pitt (Fight Club (1999)) flies around as some kind of international anti-zombie James Bond in World War Z, wherein he continually winds up in confusing, action-packed scenes full of death and living deads. We don't see any gore because of the film's PG-13 rating, (dictated by its huge budget), and that is in itself bizarre in such a death-littered zombie movie, - a bit like watching a musical in which the songs have been censured away without a word.
It all makes for an uncompelling, boring and pretty ridiculous product until the late scenes in the WHO facility which attain a certain computer-game-like suspense. SPOILER But the the film ends with a line that doubles down on the shallowness of it all: "The war has only just begun", Pitt illuminates us, - after seemingly just having saved all of mankind?!? Apparently, despite the peace that is broached in the film's end, the World War Z filmmakers thought a feeling of continual, devastating war was what was direly needed in 2013 and what their audience should take away from their preposterous botch job of a movie. Of course I am overthinking this; - the truth is they just wanted to plug a sequel.
World War Z is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (Deepwater Horizon (2016)) and Drew Goddard (Lost (2005-08)), based on the Max Brooks' (son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft) novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006), and directed by the (sometimes) great German filmmaker Marc Forster (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)).

Related posts:

Marc Forster: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Machine Gun Preacher (2011) - Butler finds faith and a Sudanese purpose in Forster's incredible true story

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 190 mil. $

Box office: 540 mil. $

=  Box office success

[World War Z premiered June 2 (London) and runs 116 minutes. The project came about because Pitt wanted a film of his that his apparently zombie-loving sons could enjoy before turning 18, (according to himself.) The film was budgeted at 125 mil. $ and so ended up going 52 % over budget. Filming took place in Malta, Wales, Scotland, England, Budapest, Hungary and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June - November 2011 with reshoots from October - December 2012. The film was plagued by script disagreements, rewrites and, in Budapest, the Hungarian counter-terrorism unit raiding and seizing 85 rifles that were to be used in the film for entering them illegally into the country. The film opened #2 behind Monsters University with 66.4 mil. $, Pitt's biggest opening yet, in North America, where it spent a total of 3 weeks in the top 5 and grossed 202.3 mil. $ (37.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 33.6 mil. $ (6.2 %) and Russia with 24.8 mil. $ (4.6 %). A sequel is in the works, possibly helmed by David Fincher for a 2017 release, although it seems unlikely since production has yet to commence. World War Z is fresh at 67 % with a 6.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of World War Z?

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic

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+ Best Gore Movie of the Year  + Best Remake of the Year + Best Zombie Movie of the Year

The grisly poster for Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

QUICK REVIEW:

A society is struck by a sudden zombie attack, and a group of survivors arrive at a mall, where they find shelter under a fascistic mall cop.

Dawn of the Dead is the outstanding remake of master filmmaker George R. Romero's classic masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (1978). Debuting Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (300 (2006)) makes the material very much his own and only retains from the original that it's about zombies and a group of survivors, who seek refuge in a mall, a famous line and three cameos of actors from the original.
The new cast is solid and includes Sarah Polley (Splice (2009)), Ty Burrell (The Skeleton Twins (2014)), Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile (2002)), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)) and Kevin Zegers (Transamerica (2005)), - the latter adorning the screen beautifully, giving the zombie grossness a welcomed contrast.
Dawn has a Johnny Cash-fueled opening, gruesome, now super-fast zombies and style to boot. It doesn't equal the original in terms of ingenuity and societal commentary but it is a very good and entertaining, brutal time at the movies.
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)) wrote the script, with Scott Frank (Minority Report (2002)) and Michael Tolkin (Nine (2009)) contributing an uncredited rewrite.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death! 

In lieu of a trailer, not currently on Youtube, here is the awesome first 2½ minutes of the film, in which the stage is effectively set with a mix of stock footage, sound effects and Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around. - This is from an Italian version of the film, so pay no heed to the Italian dub

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 102.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[Dawn of the Dead was released March 19 and runs 100 minutes. Most of the film was shot on location in Ontario, Canada, including in a defunct mall. The boat and island scenes were shot as an answer to unsatisfied test responses to the suddenness of the original ending. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 59 mil. $ (57.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Japan with 4.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Dawn of the Dead is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dawn of the Dead?
Other very good horror remakes in your opinion?