Originally released in the US
as one half of an exploitation double feature with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror under the name Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof was released in the UK as a single
feature. The film is a pastiche of the sort of cheap, exploitative thrillers
that found their way into certain cinemas before the advent of home video in
the 1980s. Tarantino purposely damaged the film stock causing rips, jumps and
scratches to make it look more like the kind of 1970s film that he was
recreating. The film also makes great use of cars and music from the era to
further recreate the 1970s feel.
Death Proof is
neatly split into two halves with both revolving around a deranged movie
stuntman called Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell). Mike appears to take joy in
stalking small groups of women, following them in his ‘Death Proof’ stunt car
before crashing into them. We see this take place twice but with very different
results. In the first instance Mike gets to know his potential victims in a bar
in Austin, Texas first whereas in the second half his
appearance is more of a surprise and fuels a revenge filled final few minutes.
I thought Death Proof was ok and with
any Tarantino release there is a lot to like but for me there are vast swathes
of dull, un-Tarantino like dialogue and it sits towards the bottom of his
filmography in terms of how much I liked it and how likely I am to watch it
again.
