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‘Planet Terror’ is 100x More Badass in 2017 Than It Was in 2007

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Ten years later, we revisit Robert Rodriguez‘s Grindhouse film in a whole new context.

In 1997, Rose McGowan was blacklisted from auditioning for any movies produced by the Weinsteins. In 2007, she became the ultimate badass… in a Weinstein movie.

But let’s back up here for a second.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news or social media chatter these last couple months, you’re surely aware that there’s a healing fire blazing deep within the heart of Hollywood right now. In the wake of multiple women, including Rose McGowan, coming forward with sexual abuse allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, several other prominent figures in Hollywood have also been outed as vile predators who have abused their power to prey upon women and men alike over the years – names such as Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman, for starters.

But it all started with Harvey Weinstein.

Rose McGowan’s nightmarish encounter with Weinstein took place in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, and McGowan bravely coming forward with her story has allowed others to tell their own stories. In many ways, McGowan has become the leader of this particular revolution, using her large fanbase and following on social media to champion all women to speak up and take a stand. Whereas there was fear before, now there’s a safety net. And we’re seeing real change as a result.

What does any of this have to do with Planet Terror, you ask?

Last month, Robert Rodriguez published a piece on Variety about McGowan’s story from his perspective, revealing that McGowan had told him what Weinstein had done to her way back in 2005. At the time, Rodriguez says, there wasn’t much he could do (McGowan had signed a NDA years prior, meaning she wasn’t even supposed to be telling Rodriguez her story), but that didn’t stop him from firing a shot at his longtime producer and hitting him where it really hurt: calling Weinstein out in a movie produced by… the Weinstein Company.

That movie, of course, was Grindhouse, a double feature collaboration between Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, and contributing filmakers such as Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Rob Zombie.

Incensed at what I heard, I told Rose that she was not blacklisted from MY movies and that Harvey couldn’t tell me who to cast,” Rodriguez wrote in the aforementioned piece for Variety. “The reason was that Harvey didn’t work on my movies; I made movies all those years for Dimension and Bob Weinstein. So I explained that if I cast her in my next film, Harvey couldn’t suddenly tell me no, because my first question would be ‘Oh, really? Why can’t I cast her?’ And I was sure he would not want to tell me why.”

He continued, “I then revealed to Rose right then and there that I was about to start writing a movie with Quentin Tarantino, a double feature throwback to 70’s exploitation movies, and that if she was interested, I would write her a BAD ASS character and make her one of the leads. I wanted her to have a starring role in a big movie to take her OFF the blacklist, and the best part is that we would have Harvey’s new Weinstein Company pay for the whole damn thing.

And so McGowan accepted the deal: Rodriguez would write the most badass role imaginable for her in his new movie, and Harvey Weinstein had no choice but to finance it.

Since the Weinstein’s had a first look at any project of mine or Quentin’s, I knew they’d never let this project go to another studio,” Rodriguez explains. “Casting Rose in a leading role in my next movie felt like the right move to make at the time – to literally make [Harvey] pay.”

In Planet Terror, McGowan plays the role of Cherry Darling, a down-on-her-luck go-go dancer who loses her leg right at the start of the zombie apocalypse. In the wake of her life-altering nightmare, Cherry, in Rodriguez’s own words, “transforms into a superhero that rights wrongs, battles adversity and mows down rapists.” In a film full of badass characters, it’s Cherry who stands out from the pack, literally being outfitted with a high-powered gun as a replacement leg and rising up the ranks as one of horror’s most iconic heroines.

Revisiting the film with this newly-learned context in mind, one sequence in particular appears to have been a direct shot at Weinstein. Quentin Tarantino plays a character literally dubbed “The Rapist” in Planet Terror, and he has his sights squarely set on McGowan’s Cherry. A super sleazy rapist on a power trip, Tarantino sure seems to be playing Weinstein himself, and it’s likely no coincidence that the character eventually turns into a literal mass of disgusting goo. Infected by the film’s zombie-like virus, “the rapist” attempts to rape Cherry in his final moments on screen, but his dick gruesomely melts off and hits the floor. Cherry then points her machine gun leg directly at his crotch, blasting her would-be attacker to kingdom come.

That scene, we now know, is what Rodriguez and McGowan intended Planet Terror to be on the whole: an ass-kicking, guns-blazing attack on a vile, disgusting rapist.

Almost prophetically, it’s Cherry Darling who leads her fellow survivors out of the apocalypse and into a better, more peaceful world at the end of Planet Terror. In Rodriguez’s super entertaining homage to retro B-movies, he notes in the Variety piece, the heroic Cherry “leads the lost and weary into a land of hope,” making McGowan’s character in the film not all that different from who the actress has become in real life here in 2017. When Cherry puts on a pair of sunglasses and surveys the fiery carnage she reigned down upon the infected towards the end of Planet Terror, it’s hard not to think about McGowan herself in a similar context, standing brave and tall amid the cleansing fires raging through Hollywood at this very moment.

I’ll admit it felt really good at the time to realize we could use our art form to help Rose right a serious wrong in both how he victimized her years earlier, but also what Harvey was doing to a wonderful actress by blacklisting her and keeping her from working with filmmakers that would have wanted to work with her,” Rodriguez recalls, looking back. “At the time, it was the only thing we could do.”

Ten years ago, Harvey Weinstein paid for his actions. Literally. And that film, Planet Terror, can now be viewed as the first shot against a system that has long allowed terrible people to get away with terrible things. But not anymore, says star Rose McGowan and her real-life “Rose Army.”

Not anymore.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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