After seeing Django Unchained last night, I was thinking about the revivalist Grindhouse films cropping up more in recent years. It's a trend that has had promise and some times gets elements of it right but normally never the complete film. Django is not exception to this despite this being ground which has kept Tarantinos career afloat for years , even in the case of Jackie Brown taking the risk of just being out right boring. I don't think I have ever stayed awake for the entirety of that film.
The blatant homage in the Grindhouse film which was the double feature of Death Proof and Planet Terror. I like planet terror and would put it in my top fifty horror movies list. Death proof had hot chicks and stylistically worked on a few levels but I think took the joke and ran too far. Sure every hipster is going to try and tell you Hobo with a Shotgun is great when it is absymal on almost every level. I will even go as far to saw the Hachet films are basically Grindhouse homages, though very influenced by Troma films which was influenced by the Grindhouse era as well.
With Django , I initially didn't want to see it because it looked too black power for me. Though I do like some Blackplotation , mainly just the Pam Grier films, and Scream Blacula Scream. Tarintino I think took too many of those films to heart as a kid and has some personal indentity issues involving race, almost a reverse racism.
It's Cristoph Waltz who steals the show just as he did in Inglorious Bastards which I found to be superior to Django. I did like to see Waltz play Victor Frankenstein, I think he would make the character very sympathetic or Baron Mordo in the Dr. Strange movie. The naziplotation sub genre is among my favorite , while I prefer the Ilsa movies , I think Iron Sky though overly comedic did an admirable job.
One element with Django is there were several good rape opportunities passed up and this seems to be a sticking point with Tarrantino is he never commits to rape unless it's the man on man in Pulp Fiction...un well, I'm all for equal choices in sexuality so to Judging maybe he needs to come out of the closet. I think the graphic rape depictions is hat put the x in the exploitive nature of Grindhouse. Without it why else were women getting naked unless it was a Russ Meyer film, and even then Russ knew how to use rape. It's the debasement of humiliation that really sells it and darkens the tone of these films. I think I made it known my outrage at the Grey Anatomy nature of the rape I the Straw Dogs remake , which is what made run Bitch run so great.
Speaking of great why not take a look at my list of top ten Modern Grindhouse films
10- Candy Stripers- sci fi with seductive alien women mating with Teenagers, the cgi is pretty bad but this is entertaining like breeders was
9-Intlorious Bastards- aside from the liberties with history one of the better nazi movies beats out the visual superior tone of Iron Sky because it's not as blatantly comedic
8- Sheitan - well a girl jacks off a dog at one point and it brought a second date to Satans still so that's worth something, pretty creepy
7-visitor q- this house guest incites incest and ll other lactating wackiness , oh the Asians
6- Pervert- just because Mary Carey is in it doesn't disqualify this homage to russ Meyer as porn
5-Planet Pyscho- this is too tongue in check to be horror and could have used some rape
4-run bitch run- the star is hot and neo ally don't like blondes, but some rop rape and humilitation as well as it captured the tone of spit on your grave better than the remake.
3-the devils rejects- rob only gave us a tease of the rape jd I hoped for a horror movie but as action flicks go its good
2- I saw the devil- revenge and torture rolled into one an excellent film
1- old boy- one of my favorite film ever , this dominates any Bronson or dirty Harry film
