Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are inspired by the unique distribution of independent horror classics of the 1960s and 1970s and the double bill style used in drive-ins and local movie houses. The origins of grindhouse "B" films are focused on movies "grinded out" in ancient projectors one after another. Frequently, the movies were grouped by exploitation subgenre. Splander, slasher, sexploitation, blaxploitation, cannibal and mondo movies would be grouped together and shown with graphic trailers.

In Planet Terror, written by Robert Rodriguez, married mad doctors William and Dakota Block (Josh Brolin and Marley Shelton) find their graveyard shift at the hospital inundated with townspeople ravaged by gangrenous sores and a suspiciously vacant look in their eyes. This is caused by a chemical drug buy gone bad with rogue military Lt. Muldoon (Bruce Willis) and unleashing the gas in the air. Among the wounded is go-go dancer Cherry (Rose McGowan) who hooks up with her old boyfriend Wray (Freddie Rodriguez), the badass of the town who knows martial arts. Unfortunately, Cherry gets her leg amputated by the mad Dr. William Block, so Wray hooks up a machine gun to her stub. The gun-legged Cherry and Wray lead a team of accidental warriors into the night, hurtling towards a destiny that will leave millions infected and a few lucky ones struggling to find the last safe place to live. This campy film also stars Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Naveen Andrews, Stacy Ferguson and Michael Parks. This movie is top shelf sleeze.

Next up is Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, where we find Austin, Texas' hottest DJ Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) and two of her girlfriends Shanna and Arlene (Jordan Ladd and Vanessa Ferlito) planning their night. These foxes are cruising the strip and wind up at a club where they find crazed Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), a scarred, weathered rebel who leers from behind the wheel of his Dodge muscle car. You see Stuntman Mike will kill a pick-up blonde at the bar and run head on into Jungle Julia and her all-girl posse. I guess you can call him an accident planning to happen. But he meets his match when he tries this trick again with a wilder bunch of women. It becomes the war of the Dodge muscle cars in this chapter — Dodge Charger vs. Dodge Challenger. This next group of women are Kim (Tracie Thoms), Abernathy (Rosario Dawson), Zoe (Zoe Bell), and Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who will not take any hassling from anyone. Kim carries a gun and Zoe is a dare-devil. Stuntman Mike meets his match because he becomes the prey in this exciting crash and chase scene conclusion.

This epic cinema extravaganza is three hours and change without an intermission, but it's set up in the classic format of the Saturday afternoon matinee, with smoked screen to give the vintage cheap look, intentional breakage in the film with theater management apologies, and sensationalized trailers with gore and slash scenes to entice the viewers.
It definitely won me over with the corny dialogue, cheap sets, and the over the top violence. The shock value took on an entirely new meaning. I had a ball watching these two films.

If you're looking for a rare piece of vintage film noir with a flair for horror, you should not miss this double feature.

Directed/Written by: Quentin Tarantino - Death Proof
                             Robert Rodriguez - Planet Terror

Runtime: 191 mins.
Release date: April 6, 2007
Genre: Horror (B-Movie)
Distributor: Dimension Films
MPAA Rating: R