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If Sin City didn’t prove Rodriguez is a massive fan of the comic book medium, then his earlier work certainly does. Massive guns, huge explosions, sexy ladies, cheesy lines are all regular features, and Planet Terror does not fall short in any of these areas. This one also adds a rather large dollop of gore to the mix, which is never bad. Basically, it’s a action/horror/comic film about zombie-type things, and it’s very, very fun.

Attention to detail

Little (and some large) touches throughout the film make you realise that Rodriguez absolutely loves making films, and would be doing so even if he didn’t get paid for it. In fact, I believe he made his first successful film, El Mariachi, for something like $1000. Anyway, the hilarious trailer for a fake film starts the proceedings, featuring the all-star-Rodriguez cast of Mexicans. Like a lot of the main feature, it’s filmed in a grainy, 50s-horror film sort of way, which is very stylistic and cool.

Violence

I’ve never seen a Rodriguez film that hasn’t been gratuitously violent, but this one is special. In the past, when a bad guy is shot (with a generously oversized cannon), they tended to fly about a hundred metres, doing all sorts of flips, crashing into some very fragile furniture. Because of the zombie-nature of Planet Terror however, the bad guys, when shot, pretty much explode. Imagine stamping on twenty or so ketchup sachets at the same time, and the effect would be somewhat similar. It’s great fun to watch.

It’s Recommended

Well, it’s my sort of film anyway. Cool, sexy, violent, not too much of a thinker, styled and shot like a comic book, complete with zombies. Great after a day of hard work.