Welcome To The Grindhouse

Grindhouse: Planet Terror and Death Proof
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Since we've starting coming to the Mahoning, I've had kind of a personal rule to not come out to the lot to see the same movies two nights in a row, but all rules are made to be broken.  Friday and Saturday night was dedicated to one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had at a first-run theater in my adult life.  That, combined with the fact that some of my friends could only come out on Friday while others could only make it down on Saturday, led me to just say the hell with it, so I came out on both nights to see the Grindhouse double feature.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Poster designed by Hayden Hall

Grindhouse was a co-production of two of the greatest directors of our generation, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.  The idea was for each director to create an exploitation film that would be shown together in theaters as a double feature.  Rodriguez made a horror movie called Planet Terror, and Tarantino made a road murder thriller called Death Proof.  They also worked with other directors who shot trailers for horror and exploitation films that did not exist (at the time), which would be spliced in to play before in between both halves of the double feature.

The two movies and the collection of trailers was then intentionally damaged and the footage was heavily cut, in some cases with entire missing reels, which resulted in a 191 minute presentation that replicated what it was like to see a double feature at a grindhouse theater in the 70's.

 

We originally saw the Grindhouse double feature on April 12th, 2007 at RC Theaters Movies 14 in Wilkes-Barre (the ticket stub is wrecked from taping it inside a scrapbook, but you can just barely make out the date under the title).  It bombed at the box office, but it was one of the most fun experiences that I've ever had going out to the movies.  I think it would have done better if it was released in October, but I guess that audiences didn't really understand what this was supposed to be 17 years ago.

We also got to see the full Death Proof movie on 35mm at the Mahoning once before when it was screened during Tarantino A-Go-Go: Volume 2, however this is the first time that I've gotten to see the theatrical cut of Death Proof, or the complete theatrical presentation of the Grindhouse double feature, in over 17 years.

There have been a few awesome vehicles at the Mahoning in the years that we've been going, including screen-accurate replicas of Ecto-1 and the Batmobile, but this is the first time that I've been able to see the actual vehicle that was used in the movie itself.

Matt Delbaugh found and restored the actual car that was used in the filming of Death Proof.  Just to be clear, I don't mean that he has a car that's the same make and model as the one in the movie, and that he made it look like it did on the screen.  I mean that he owns the exact same 1970 Dodge Challenger a with a 440 engine and a white paint job that Tracie Thoms drove with Zoë Bell playing Ship's Mast on the hood (or "bonnet") when they were filming Death Proof.

Now I'm not a "car guy", but this is cool as hell!

We got another taste of the movie just before sundown, and that was a joint effort of two of my friends on the lot.  The video above is a scene from Death Proof in which Quentin Tarantino (as Warren the bartender) pours a shot of Chartreuse for himself and a group at one of the tables in his bar.  After they drink, he tells them that it's "the only liquor so good they named a color after it".

Chartreuse has been made in France by Carthusian Monks since 1737.  The modern version, which the monks have been making since 1840, is produced from a blend of 130 herbs and other plants macerated in alcohol and steeped for about eight hours, followed by a last maceration of plants that gives the liquor its distinctive green color.

Bill had the idea to get a bottle of Chartreuse so that we could all do a shot on the lot while the scene plays on the big screen.  Unfortunately, the monks decided to drastically cut back on the production of their liquor during the pandemic and it has been extremely difficult to find ever since, especially in the United States.  Over the past few months, he, Tom, Jen, Susan, Anthony, Mike, Kate, Angie, and myself have been searching for a bottle so that we could make this happen, but to no avail.  We couldn't find it at any price... at least not from anyone who could ship it to the United States.  At the last minute before showtime on Friday night, our friend Rick came up with a bottle and a stack of red cups.  I don't know how the hell he found it, but he came through, and we got to have our shot of Chartreuse under the big screen at the Mahoning on Grindhouse night.  It was a very cool experience that I am incredibly thankful to have had, but this is going to have to be my first and last time with this particular "tasty beverage".  I've never drank Pine Sol before, but after trying Chartreuse, I feel like I have.

There was a pre-show trailer reel that Rob told me to pay special attention to because it tied into the film.  The first trailer, which he drove over three hours to get from a collector just outside of Baltimore, was Wolf Creek, and the second trailer was Scary Movie 4.  I didn't understand at first, but it became clear towards the end of Death Proof in the scene where Kurt Russell crashes through the Starlight Drive-In marquee.

The third and final trailer before Grindhouse was for the 2011 film Hobo With A Shotgun.  The original fake trailer for this movie (before the movie existed) was created by Jason Eisener, John Davies, and Rob Cotterill.  It won Robert Rodriguez's South by Southwest Grindhouse Trailer contest and was included in some of the theatrical screenings of Grindhouse during its original run in Canada.  Four years later, it was turned into a full length feature film which was written by John Davies, directed by Jason Eisener, and produced by Rob Cotterill.

After those three trailers, the madness of Grindhouse hit the big screen.

All of the original fake trailers from Grindhouse were screened.  The trailer for Machete played before Planet Terror, and the trailers for Werewolf Women Of The SS, Don't, Thanksgiving, and the ad for Acuna Boys restaurant played during the fake intermission between Planet Terror and Death Proof.

In the years since Grindhouse premiered, Machete and Thanksgiving were turned into real movies, and it wouldn't surprise me too much to see the other two get a full-length feature at some point.

Planet Terror hit the big screen after the Machete trailer, and I cannot say enough good things about this movie.  I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that while I've watched Death Proof well over a dozen times in my life, I've only ever seen Planet Terror once - on April 12th, 2007 when we saw Grindhouse during its original theatrical run.  As a result, I've forgotten how awesome this movie is.  There are few movies that are more fun and more perfect for a night out at the drive-in as this!

 

After the fake intermission, we got to see the theatrical cut of Death Proof.  For a split second at the start of the movie, a title card for "Quentin Tarantino's Thunder Bolt" appears on screen.  It is quickly replaced generic looking "Death Proof" title card.  This was done as an homage to exploitation films, which were often renamed and re-released in the hopes of squeezing a few more dollars out of it.

It's difficult to rank Quentin Tarantino movies in order of favorite to least favorite because I love them all.  I'm not sure where this one would fall on the list, but it is absolutely one of my favorite car movies of all time, and I'm happy to say that I've now gotten to see the extended International Cut and the original Theatrical Cut on the big screen at the Mahoning Drive-In.

The third film on Friday night was the 1982 women-in-prison film, The Concrete Jungle.  Susan and Anthony told me that they had already watched this at the Mahoning during a Patreon night, but it was one of their earlier shows from before I became a member, and I hadn't ever watched it at home before, so this was my first time seeing it.  It was pretty good, and it definitely fit the tone of the weekend.

Saturday night's third film was the 1983 psychological thriller film, Olivia.  This was also a film that screened during a Patreon night, but this one screened in April 2023 after I became a member.  It was nearly 1:00 am and I was pretty tired, so I decided to call it an "early" night and hit the road.  We'll be back tonight for one of my top ten favorite movies of all time: The Crow.