Grindhouse delivers an uneven mixture of patchwork, sugar-rush thrills.

Consisting
of two discrete features strung together by a series of fake trailers
shot by Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Rob Zombie, the movie benefits mostly from
the recombinant pop of Rodriguez’s Planet Terror (above), a strikingly well designed and tackily atmospheric zombie action flick, before the twin-bill’s finale, Tarantino’s muddled Death Proof, fumbles its way through a pointless set-up to an invigorating car chase climax.

A charm offensive of cool that will play well to those heartily psychologically invested in the concept of genre homage, the degree to which Grindhouse successfully spreads outside of its chief demographic target
depends on word-of-mouth amongst those for whom referential lionization
for lionization’s sake means very little. For the full review, from Screen International, click here. For more isolated critical thoughts on each separate feature, check back on Shared Darkness throughout the week.