Last horror filum you watched

Venom (2005) 5/10
The First Omen (2024) 8/10

Death Proof (2007)
A psycho gets his thrills by stalking young women and killing them with his "death proof" stunt car. He eventually messes with the wrong gals.

The second movie in the Robert Rodiguez/Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse collaboration. This review applies to the stand-alone, extended version of Grindhouse.

Tarantino's Grindhouse contribution is the one that gets the most criticism, and I can understand why. People will say there's too much "chick talk" and that it is often dull. I agree that perhaps there could have been less of that chatter, and also I find the movie to be thinly-plotted. Yet even so, there's still much to be desired. It's extremely well acted by a great cast; Kurt Russell in particular is effectively creepy as the killer. There's a lot of eye-popping car stunts. The car murder sequence was especially shocking and thrilling, with the use of multiple camera angles and having body parts flying everywhere. No CGI to be found here, it's all practical work.

Grindhouse is also a delight if you're a film buff. Lots of 1970s movie references. There's a wonderful tribute to The Bird With The Crystal Plumage with Morricone's score is playing while Russell is taking photographs of his next victims, just like in Argento's movie. And only a director like Tarantino can make watching the opening credits seem so enjoyable and exciting. Here Jack Nitzsche's score The Last Race plays while the credits roll, and it's very fitting.

7.5/10

How was it?

After the fascinating Pearl, I was a tad disappointed with MaXXXine. I enjoyed watching it and the 80' re-creation was exemplary, but I thought it was cramming too much into a fairly brisk runtime and ended up with a silly climax. 

Style over substance and it lacked a certain tension, especially being serial killer themed. The film didn't allow for the audience to empathize with any victims, not in compare to X and especially Pearl, and think 10 To Midnight, Eyes of a Stranger, Body Double and even numerous slashers films from the 80's. Mediocre to bad acting or not, they had a knack of getting you to care for what happens to them. I didn't really feel that in MaXXXine, not even for her gay black male friend that ran the video store. It was a bit flat in this department and they went for graphic and ott violence instead of real fear.

When Maxine stommped on that muggers nuts, that is all you needed to see from an overhead shot. One knew what she was doing. You didn't need to see his crushed nuts fall out. X made a mistake here too. The producer gets stabbed in the eyes with a pitchfork in a brief quick shot, but they had to show his eyeballs next to him on the barn floor. It looks cheesy, fake and gratuitous. 

2018