SXSW – 'Grindhouse' gore

Robert Rodriguez takes over the Texas festival for the day

Mar 14 2007

Today was a magic day at SXSW, when a fantastic filmmaker showed up with never before seen footage which might just never be seen again. Robert Rodriguez is pretty much a god in Austin, Texas, having set up his Troubleshooter studio here a decade ago and truly put the city on the moviemaking map. His latest effort is 'Grindhouse', a violent homage to the exploitation flicks that he and fellow 'house' helmer Quentin Tarantino were reared on as kids.

And his Q&A didn't disappoint, with Rodriguez and Austin uber-geek Harry 'Aint It Cool' Knowles discussing the history of the genre and playing trailers for some of their favourites, including 'The Green Slime', 'They Call Her One Eye', 'The Crippled Master' and 'Boss Nigger' ('part legend, part devil, all man!').

He then hinted at what we should expect from his 'Grindhouse' segment 'Planet Terror', and from the sounds of it, he'll really be messing with moviegoers' minds. The film will be scratched and manually aged, whole reels will be missing, and there will be plenty of t&a to give it that authentic exploitation feel. Once he had the image of the film's iconic machine gun leg in his mind, the rest of the script just fell into place, and the freedom of the process may well change the way he directs films in the future. He then proceeded to show us a 'Grindhouse' clip in which Freddy Rodriguez boards a tiny (and I mean tiny) motorcycle and chases hordes of zombies up a freeway blowing them to pieces with a shotgun. It was utterly insane but pushed all the right buttons of the horror hungry Austin audience suggesting that these two cult filmmakers might just have a massive hit on their hands come June.

There was then the small matter of the 'Grindhouse' trailer contest, in which filmmakers from all over the globe submitted fake teasers for Rodriguez to judge. The three finalists were all correct and present, and while 'The Dead Won't Die' and 'Maiden of Death' were both excellent, first prize deservedly went to the masterful 'Hobo With a Shotgun', which needs to be turned into a full-length feature now!

Rodriguez also told us that his Danny Trejo-starring teaser 'Machete' would be turned into a full-length feature that will go straight to DVD in the States but possibly reach cinemas in the rest of the world, and then he finished with a very special treat – the world premiere of Eli Roth's trailer for fake film 'Thanksgiving'. And for once, I really don't know what to write. Roth has outdone himself with the three-minute teaser, throwing oceans of blood and gore at the screen to celebrate the holiday season that horror films left behind. But the trailer's money-shot is what really pushed it over the edge. Involvng a knife, a girl and a trampoline, it's one of the most perverse three seconds of cinema I've ever seen, and there's no way it's making it past the ratings board for the theatrical release of 'Grindhouse'. Indeed I'd be surprised if an uncut version even makes it onto the DVD. So good work Mr Roth, you provided the festival's most memorable moment thus far, but I think you might be going to hell for what you have done.

On that bombshell, the panel came to a close, but not before Rodriguez had invited us to his gig at local bar Antones. Never one to pass up a party, Time Out headed downtown, only to discover that the writer/producer/director is just as good at the guitar as he is at making movies, playing hot, sweaty mariachi music till the early hours with local band Chingon (aka badass). Is there no end to this man's talents?

Look out for an in-depth 'Grindhouse' feature coming soon.

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