Tarantino on Grindhouse: People had no idea what they were watching

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino collaboration GRINDHOUSE didn't make much of an impact at the box office, but it did make an impact on me. Put together in a way that was meant to pay tribute to the experience of watching a double feature in a grindhouse theatre back in the day, GRINDHOUSE consists of two feature films, Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR and Tarantino's DEATH PROOF, with Rodriguez's faux trailer MACHETE as the lead-in and other faux trailers directed by Rob Zombie (WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE S.S.), Eli Roth (THANKSGIVING), and Edgar Wright (DON'T) sandwiched in between them. Going to see that double feature in the theatre was pure joy for me, and I saw it twice. 

Sadly, GRINDHOUSE didn't make much money in the U.S., and in other territories the two films were released separately. The project's financial failure has largely been blamed on the timing of its release – the movie came out in the states on Easter weekend, and apparently the general audience wasn't interested in spending three hours watching horror on Easter. Rodriguez has suggested that Harvey Weinstein tried to bury GRINDHOUSE with that release date due to the casting of Rose McGowan in both films.

During a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Tarantino also said that the general audience just wasn't aware of what a grindhouse double feature was, so it wasn't a draw for them.

I think me and Robert just felt that people had a little more of a concept of the history of double features and exploitation movies. No, they didn’t. At all. They had no idea what the f*ck they were watching. It meant nothing to them, alright, what we were doing. So that was a case of being a little too cool for school."

Even though I loved GRINDHOUSE, I have to admit that I was not familiar with the term "grindhouse" before the film was announced. I was born after the grindhouse glory days, and they never had grindhouse theatres in the area I grew up in to begin with. Where I'm from, grindhouse movies were drive-in movies. So I had to do a bit of research to really understand what Rodriguez and Tarantino were doing here, and I understand that not many people who were going to the theatre when GRINDHOUSE came out were going to do that research. I remember being shocked when people started exiting the theatre during the end credits of the first movie, thinking they had experienced all GRINDHOUSE had to offer, having no idea that they had purchased tickets to a double feature. GRINDHOUSE was an awesome experiment that just didn't work out the way its makers were hoping it would. 

That said, PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF weren't hits when released on their own, either. Tarantino told Empire a story about going to see DEATH PROOF in London on its opening weekend: 

I go to Edgar Wright, “Hey, let’s you and me and your friends go see it on Friday night in Piccadilly.” So Nira [Park], his producer, and Joe Cornish and the whole Edgar group, we head into the heart of Piccadilly Circus to go see Death Proof on opening day. And we walk in the theatre and there’s about 13 people in there. On the opening 8.30 show, alright? [Laughs] That was a rather humbling experience. But we sat down and watched it and had a good time. Edgar was like [launches into Edgar Wright impression that sounds more like Jason Statham], “That was very impressive. I think I would have turned around and walked out of there. The fact you said, ‘F*ck it,’ and sat down, I admired that.’"

Even after its disappointing box office, GRINDHOUSE did get a couple spin-offs. MACHETE and MACHETE KILLS. Jason Eisener's HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN could also be considered something of a spin-off, as Eisener shot a faux trailer for that film that won a contest to be shown with GRINDHOUSE in select theatres.

Zombie, Roth, and Wright have all considered turning their faux trailers into full features, and I would love to see that happen. I've spent the last thirteen years desperately hoping Roth would get around to shooting the THANKSGIVING feature.