Commentary, reaction track, scratch-free version, badass babes, guys, Casting Rebel, Stunts, friend/doctor/real estate agent, international trailer, poster gallery

Planet Terror is directed by Robert Rodriguez and stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn, Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews, Stacy Ferguson, Nicky Katt, Electra Avellan and Elise Avellan. ***

The plot of Planet Terror, what little there is, is as follows: In a small town, a government experiment has gone horribly wrong and is turning the locals into mindless, deranged zombies. When things begin going horribly wrong, the townspeople begin fighting back. Amongst them are a young punk, his ex-girlfriend who recently quit her go-go dancer job and lost her leg, a cook obsessed with getting the perfect BBQ sauce recipe, and a husband and wife doctor team who have a young child and more than a few marital issues. With all hell breaking loose, there is gore around every corner and disasters just waiting to happen. ***

Of the two films released as part of Grindhouse, Planet Terror is by far the better of the two. Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof was far too talky and seemed to drag on endlessly. I won’t delve into the history of the whole Grindhouse thing and the various releases and the like – enough people have already done that in their reviews. ***

Planet Terror is the perfect “bad movie.” There are gore and violence around every corner, scantily-clad women, danger present for every second, and a half-assed plot that would have destroyed anything that had substance. The movie is a success on every front because it is a terrible movie that makes no apologies for what it is. Cheesy, clichéd, over the top…. And this reviewer enjoyed every minute of it! ***

Given its “bad movie” nature, a lot of people tend to overlook the ensemble cast that has been assembled for the film. These are some of the finest actors out there today, and for what material they are given, they do the best they can – and they have a lot of fun with it, too. Every actor here does a great job – Rose McGowan as our young heroine that loses her leg, Michael Biehn as the local sheriff, Josh Brolin as a doctor out to prove that is wife is having an affair, the list goes on. No one seems out of place. ***

If you like zombies, gore, hot babes and explosions – and you don’t want a well-developed storyline holding the fun stuff back, you’ve found your movie. Planet Terror is good old-fashioned violent fun – and it’s well worth checking out if you missed it during the theatrical run. ---

Image and Sound:

It’s virtually impossible to write a conventional review for the picture quality of Planet Terror, due to the damaged, faded way the print was supposed to look. ***

Surprisingly, the Blu-Ray is a healthy improvement over the standard definition release of the movie. Detail is stronger, and the damage to the print actually looks sharper, if you could consider that a compliment. It is, in all ways, a step up from its standard-def counterpart. Like the DVD before it, this Blu-Ray opens the mattes up a bit from the 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio to about 1.85:1, so that it fills an entire HDTV area. If you hadn’t seen the film in its OAR, you probably wouldn’t even notice that it has been presented somewhat open matte. ***

Audio, unlike the video, packs a lot of punch. It isn’t perfect and won’t compete with overproduced blockbusters, but just the same, it is an above-average track that gets the job done. Every gunshot, explosion, and piece of music and dialogue sounds fantastic.

The major addition to the Blu-Ray, over the standard-def release, is the inclusion of a “damage free” way of viewing the movie. This lets you see the movie before the now-classic Grindhouse damage effects were added to the completed product. It’s much clearer and very detailed, but I’ll be sticking with the completed product. Still, this is worth checking out at least once. ***

All bonus features from the original DVD appear as well. These include a commentary and audience reaction track (Rodriguez seems to LOVE putting the latter on home video releases of his films), and plenty of other featurettes detailing the filmmaking process with cast and crew. If you own the original DVD, though, you’re not going to fine much new here outside of the scratch-free version. ***

Disappointingly though, the disc only includes the extended version of the film and not the shorter theatrical version, nor does it include any of the trailers from the Grindhouse theatrical exhibition (aside from the Machete one that was on the original DVD as well.)

Final Words: