Grindhouse: Better than Sneaking Downstairs to Watch Skinemax while your parents are sleeping!

It was 1983 and I was on the verge of turning seven years old, 3D was all the rage between going to the 7-11 or Sunoco gas station to get 3D glasses for the local TV screening of Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a crop of films employing this new technology turning up at the theatres. My neighbors were going to the Drive-in and offered to take me with them. It was a double feature of Jaws 3D and Friday the 13th Part 3D. Louis Gosset Jr. was in Iron Eagle and I was just ecstatic at the prospect of him taking on a 3D shark. And I loved it. However, even deep in the heart of a horror fan, 6 years old was a bit young to see Jason killing college kids, so I rolled over and discovered that Return of the Jedi was playing across the lot. But while the film was across the lot, the speaker in our car was still promoting the grisly sounds of college kids dying at the hands of Jason. I would grow up with this rather unique experience that would shape my life for the rest of my days.

It is unfortunate, then, that Drive-ins are a thing of the past, thus negating any hope of future generations talking about that time they watched CGI Ninja Turtles kick monster butt while Kurt Russel kills young women with his car. I think kids and adults, both, need such an experience, and now it is that the generation who grew up with similar, but different and equally unique experiences are making movies. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino are revolutionizing what movies can be, by taking a step into the past with Grindhouse, the throwback double feature that opens nationwide today.

The two rebel filmmakers who are, seemingly, fans above all else, have recreated the magic that once existed at the movies. In both "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" the filmmakers use all of the dynamics from their favorite exploitation films, but make the stories more relevant, by acknowledging current technology such as cell phones. And it works. "Planet Terror" is absolutely inspired as it wastes little time introducing the characters and jumps headlong into one really bad zombie-filled evening in a small town. There's a loner rebel (Freddy Rodriguez), a restaurant owner who makes the best BBQ in the land (Jeff Fahey), his brother the Sheriff (Michael Biehn), a wayward Go-Go dancer (Rose McGowan), a crazed doctor and his wife the anesthesiologist (Josh Brolin and Marley Shelton), there's machine gun legs, zombies, a crazed military General (Bruce Willis), all of which make for a really fun, fast paced, over-the-top exploration of a lost genre, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Death Proof, however, is not as break-neck in its pacing. I had heard rumors of Rodriguez going over budget, delaying the production a bit, and also leaving very little left for Tarantino. It shows. In what is, about, an 80-minute film, at least half of it is filling time with long-winded Tarantino-style dialogue that sounds cool, but does little to effect the plot or story, leaving long moments where there is nothing going on. I also felt a bit let down in seeing Marley Shelton's Dr. Block show up in Death Proof as it almost cheapens the moment. "Death Proof," then, is a tie-in to "Planet Terror," as opposed to being two stand-alone features as part of a double-feature. And not only does this moment take the film somewhere odd, but it just stops and begins the next portion of its story, leaving that particular plot thread hanging. Now, I will say that when he kicks it in the short pants and gives us the car chases, they are brilliant. The climax of the film is amazing and feels so triumphant. Unfortunately, there's a lot of nothing to wade through beforehand. I kind of wish Tarantino's half had run first, thus leaving a more uplifting feeling rather than giving me the film with the most to complain about last.

But I digress, this film is more than worth the price of admission. Not only do you get two films for a single admission, but the icing on the blood splattered cake lies with the faux movie trailers done by the likes of Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Rob Zombie. In fact, I really want to see "Machete," "Don't," "Thanksgiving," and "Werewolf Women of the SS." And I've heard rumors that Rob Zombie might even be making his trailer into a feature. This is the stuff that childhood dreams are made of. I don't know that I want kids, but I wish I knew that somewhere children were faking sleep so that they could sneak downstairs to watch "Werewolf Women of the SS" on HBO.

This film is a solid A-, a 9, whatever your preference in scale. What Rodriguez and Tarantino have done is greater than merely making a movie, they have given a lost experience to those that missed it, and dug it up and repackaged it for those that lamented the genre's passing. A movie is one thing, but a lasting impression that changes what you thought movies could be ... that's taking it to a whole new level.