Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Two doctors find their graveyard shift inundated with townspeople ravaged by sores. Among the wounded is Cherry Darling, a dancer whose leg was ripped from her body. As the invalids quickly become enraged aggressors, Cherry and her ex-boyfriend El Wray lead a team of accidental warriors into the night.
Planet Terror is Robert Rodriguez's loving grindhouse homage, executed with genuine craft and infectious energy. The cinematography earns a 4 for its deliberately degraded film stock aesthetic, scratches, missing reels, and exploitation-era visual tricks — it's a technically skilled recreation of a specific cinematic moment that feels wholly committed rather than ironic. Novelty is equally high: while grindhouse pastiche existed before, Rodriguez's execution is so specific, exuberant, and singular — machine-gun leg, exploding sores, the missing reel gag — that it carves out its own identity. The acting is fun and self-aware (Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin all deliver), but it's intentionally campy rather than genuinely remarkable. The plot is gleefully thin by design, which is part of the conceit, earning a respectable 3 for commitment to its own internal logic. The ending, while satisfying in its pulpy excess, doesn't quite stick the landing as memorably as the wild mid-film set pieces.