Probably the thing I’ll remember most about my Grindhouse experience(s) were was how the rest of the crowd reacted. And just to prove that the movie wasn’t a TOTAL flop, both showings I attended at the theater were half-full.
My first experience was in a different state(!) Reno, Nevada. Decided to check out the latest showing at 9:30pm (Which was as close to a midnight showing as I could get) It was a spectacular theater. HUGE screen,HUGE stadium seating,and HUGE sound system. Not to mention, crisp picture projection and this was really in evident in Planet Terror.
First off, Machete! The chuckling seems to get louder as the trailer goes on. And by the time “Rated X” is mentioned in the voice-over, there’s your first big laugh.
Planet Terror begins, and man, is that crap picture noticeable! (lol) The dirt,scratches,grain,jump cuts…This movie’s just plain ugly! But you soon get real used to it fast. Crowd gets it’s first shock at “the ball”. But they’ve already recovered by snickering at many of the lines spoken by the club manager,Cherry,J.T.,Wray,and the first big laugh appears when Doc Block and his assisstant do the “chopping” simutaneously. The crowd (On both showings) seemed to have let the most agonizing shriek during the tounge-gag (Although now I think of it, it may be tied with Dakota’s injury on opening the car door) Later, A teen next to me goes slightly bonkers when El Wray does his ninja thing in the hospital and there’s laughs when Cherry’s trying to run away on her wooden limb (The CG looked real good here, I admit) We approach the “missing reel”, but I should point out that the crowd seems to like the “jacket” discussion, and we get the biggest groan in the crowd once the missing reel appears. But all is redeemed when the audience goes bananas once again when El Wray takes off on the kiddie bike.
Things slow down at this point since we have to deal with the exposition scenes. But QT (As Louis) shows up to save the day! But after his demise, it’s here where the movie begins to run out of steam for me and I felt that the crowd(s) just wanted things to hurry up and end as well. And so, PT concludes. One guy gets up from his seat and is about to head out but sits back down once Nazis burst on the scene! As I mentioned in my review, chuckles and little laughs throughout Werewolf-SS and Don’t. Both crowds loved Nic Cage. But Thanksgiving recieved the bigger laughs and the biggest “WHOA!” from the crowd on the infamous bit.
Death Proof begins and the crowd is largely silent throughout the first half hour of it. Pretty strange given all the noise they made earlier. Just a few little laughs at “Suntman Bob” and when Mike glances at the camera lens before he drives off (My favorite shot of the movie!) But then I could feel the energy of the crowd slowly lift up once Mike goes into killer mode. I mentioned the big sound system theater #1 had and when Mike rev’s up his engine for the 2nd kill…Whoa! If you’ve got a subwoofer on your entertainment system, give this sequence a go! Crowd voices it’s shock when kill #2 occurs but they go back into silence when we’re introduced to girl group #2. It’s here when things might get a little too restless for some viewers. Two teens near me got up and left. Not because the “movie sucked” but I heard one of them say “It’s late”. Yet on both of my showings, people were still laughing at a bunch of Kim’s lines and weren’t showing any signs of frustration.
But of course, all this is forgotten for what has now become the main highlight of Grindhouse for me. The climactic car chase. The crowd just goes into an absolute frenzy once the 2nd half of the chase begins. They’re yelling,laughing,and cheering like they haven’t before. And once “THE END” shows up on screen, mission accomplished as applause erupted in the theater.
Similar reactions with you? Any confused walk-outs? Encounter any showing louder than mine? post em
There were many laughs in my theatre… but the thing that pissed me off the most was the fact the about half the people there got up and left after Planet Terror.
QT recently talked about that in one of the talk shows last week. He went to see it in a multiplex and once PT ended, a guy sitting in front of him got up, shook QT’s hand and said “That was your best one yet!” and left the theater!
HA! LOL. What an idiot.
Well there was only about 4 other people in there when I went. The part I remember the most was people laughing when Stuntman Mike was crying.
They just didn’t get the word out - poor marketing
People died when the trailers hit after Planet Terror. I did the same…very unexpectedly. But of course I was so caught up in the moment from being so damned excitied, I had no idea where I was going.
On that note, anyone else find it weird to find themselves or others laughing at the trailers. Of course they were hysterical, but I NEVER expected to laugh at them when hearing about them on QTA. I expected non-stop kick ass, but instead got non-stop laughs. …actually I got a little of both and absouletly fell in love! Definitely worth our wait.
I didn’t expect to laugh as much as I did either.
I laughed my ass off at dont and a little bit at Machete(They just fucked with the wrong mexican!)
Dude, the only reason I laughed at Machete is because I was so fucking excited!!
…and that was a great line by the way! I had a big smile the entire trailer.
There was one very funny thing that happened during the movie. During the first big crash in DP someone in the crowd shouted “Aflack” in the duck voice from the commercial. Everyone burst into laughter, it was great.
What was the duck on the hood all about anyways?
Rubber Duck Truck - Convoy (1978) directed by Sam Peckinpah
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Rubber Duck Truck - Convoy (1978) directed by Sam Peckinpah
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Hmm, thanks. I think I remember the theme song from that one.
yeah that’s what made me see the film twice in a row, the audience reactions. people laughing, applauding, cheering… the thanksgiving trailer was off the hook, people reacted drastically to that one… what a great experience. The more people in the audience, the better
[quote=“The Seb”]
yeah that’s what made me see the film twice in a row, the audience reactions. people laughing, applauding, cheering… the thanksgiving trailer was off the hook, people reacted drastically to that one… what a great experience. The more people in the audience, the better
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I thought Thanksgiving was the best and yes, the crowd really holla'ed at that one. The torso fucking at the end was shocking and funny as shit! It was great to see with othewr movie geeks and thats all that showed up. I wore my "Man with Two Brains" shirt like a true geek!
Whats strange is that me and a friend were talking about a month or so ago about all the old horror movies that used "Don't" in the title and BAM! They made a trailer about that! I almost burst a gut when they said "Don't"!
On my first experience, the crowd ate the movie up. Cheers when QT appeared on screen, and amazing laughter at the trailers and whatnot. Second visit, the audience sucked ass! Only 8 other people in there with me, and 3 hispanic people walked out after PT
The audience loved it. laughing, clapping, chanting at the end. some stayed to see it twice. I saw it during the morning. It was awesome. Everybody got it and enjoyed it. people don’t usually clap at the end of movies anymore. but they did for grindhouse.
The audience I was with had a great time. Lots of claps, laughs and oohs (during Thanksgiving, two guys were giggling like hyenas). The biggest reaction came from the end of Death Proof. It reminded me of seeing First Blood Part II in the theater when I was 10 or 11 and everybody cheered for Rambo when he blows up that Russian helicopter with the rocket launcher. Awesome! 8)
I dont look at Death Proof like an audience cheering movie, its more quiet and character based, then when the action happens everybody gets louder of course. I think getting to know the characters and spending time with them makes the parts when they get into trouble even more amped up. For me anyways.
For all the action, laughs and gore in Planet Terror, it still isnt as good as Death Proof IMO. QT can get more out of a look or a line of dialogue than RR can get out of a huge explosive sequence.
lots of girls in the theatre i was in and they all cheered when mike got killed i was a bit angry they rolled the charger and killed mike when all he did was hit them a few times lol, kinda makes them murderers now dont it seeing how he didnt harm any of them?
i guess where i am from people are pretty reserved and dont really clap and holler during the movie…(Sure they do laugh at jokes and stuff, but they really dont cheer like most of you claim to have experienced at your local theatres.)
Most of the people responding to this topic seem to imply that every one enjoyed, one person even makes the outrageous claim that half the people in his theater actually stayed behind another 3 hours to watch the movie again. (i dont believe it for a second but i will let that little lie pass.)
My question being, if pretty much 99% of the posts here seem to imply that the audience enjoyed the movie, why is it that the ticket sales after the first showing totally fizzled out? Because it makes no sense that a few people had a very good time at the movie then went home and told absolutely no one about how they spent those 3 hours of their lives?
Could it be that only people in your local respective areas enjoyed this movie…If so that would be a weird phenomenon