"Planet Terror" was directed by Robert Rodriguez and was the first of the Grindhouse double feature collaboration between himself and Quentin Tarantino. Rodriquez’s film is a movie that in a way pays homage to the Grindhouse tradition and the zombie movies that came before it. One of the "Planet Terror" influences was Zombie Flesh Eaters, directed by Lucio Fulci in 
nineteen-eighty.
Zombie Flesh eaters was a movie about a young woman who goes to a tropical island to find her father who's doing research after hearing that he has become mysteriously ill. After they enlisted the help of a reporter and a sea-faring couple, the group arrived on the island and discovered that it was plagued with the walking dead. The influences from this film, on "Planet Terror", can be seen in two very similar scenes; the buzz-saw scene from "Planet Terror" and the eye poking scene in Zombie Flesh Eaters.
By using a similar scene in his own movie, Rodriquez was paying homage to this particular film and its director.Another large influence on "Planet Terror" was the movie “Dawn of the Dead”, directed by George Romero in nineteen-seventy eight. This film was about four survivors of an expanding zo
mbie apocalypse that take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall, following a horrific SWAT evacuation of an apartment complex. This film was the most popular of a series of zombie films directed by Romero and was an influence on many of the zombie movies that came after it. Rodriquez even used Tom Savini, who did the make-up and special effects in “Dawn of the Dead”, in "Planet Terror". Although Savini, who played one of the deputies, did not do the special effects in "Planet Terror", Rodriquez has been known to frequently use students from Savini’s special effects school to work on his films.
Following on the list of Rodriquez’s influences is “Contamination” by Luigi Cozzi. The basic premise of the film is that a ship pulls into New York Harbor with no one on board. The police find a cargo full of green pulsating eggs. Upon contact, the eggs explode spreading a green acid like substance that seeps into the skin and explodes. It is later discovered that the eggs are being manufactured in South America by a one-eyed Martian that grew from a tiny seed a former astronaut brought back from a expedition to Mars. The movie was extremely gory (for its time) and and director Cozzi hoped to follow in “Zombie Flesh Eaters” footsteps in the box office. Even now, the US video versions under titles “Contamination” and “Toxic Spawn” are heavily edited.
Most people are familiar with Quentin Tarantino's weird sense of humor, and this can be found as a similarity in Rodriquez’s “Planet Terror”. Although the film was full of blood and guts, there was also an element of situational humor as well—for instance, the “I'm not kidding, Tommy” scene where Dr. Dakota Block tells her son, Tommy (who has a nasty habit of not following his mother's orders) not to shoot himself in the face. And then as soon as she leaves the car he does. It's that type of dark humor that Rodriquez shares with Tarantino. An example of this would be Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction” scene where Vincent shoots Marvin in the face. The situation is bad, but it still has a comedic ring to it. "Planet Terror"s theatrical release was considered a box office failure, even though it was embraced favorably by many of the US’s critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a film reviewing website, gave "Planet Terror" an eighty-nine percent approval rating and an average rating of seven point seven out of ten. However, the film was not warmly embraced by the majority of the movie watching public. Rodriquez’s film cost fifty-three million dollars to produce, but only made eleven and a half million dollars during the opening. Upon "Planet Terror"s international release, the Grindhouse double feature was separated, with "Planet Terror" being released approximately two months after Death Proof. Finally, the most obvious similarities that can be found between Rodriquez and Tarantino's work are the use of excessive violence, the fondness of pop culture references, the exploitation of women yet women heroes, lots of action, and use of recurring actors and actresses. By “exploitation of women yet women heroes”, we point out that although Tarantino and Rodriquez both have used their actresses as heroes (“Planet Terror” has Rose McGowan as the gun toting heroine), these women have been dressed scantily and are often depicted in roles such as a nurses, mothers, lovers, etc. The directors' women are modern day damsels in distress. Although “Planet Terror” didn't receive the box office standings that directors hoped for, it received mix reviews from critics—some hated while others understood the significance of the Grindhouse tradition and how Rodriquez was attempting to pay homage to it.
Works cited:
"Contamination." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 July 2008, 1:06 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 12 July 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contamination_(film)>
Lemire, Christy. “'Grindhouse' an Epic Homage to '70s Schlock.” 10 July 2008 <http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-critic-reviews/grindhouse/>
“Planet Terror.” Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. 21 July 2008, 4:58 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 12 July 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Terror>
Walters, Ben. “Dawn of the Dead.” 10 July 2008
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