This summer began with me seeing Hot Fuzz and Grindhouse, then going on a two-week long, bourbon fueled adventure through Kentucky. That some good summerin' right there, and while they weren't my soundtrack for the road trip -- mostly because I didn't have them at the time, and also because I was listening to a whole lot of Skynard -- I thought it was a good time, here in the dog days of August, to get around to reviewing the soundtracks for Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.

Planet Terror was one of my favorite films of a summer where I saw a whole lot of films I liked that a lot of other people didn't care for. Whatever, man. It's summer, and I you want to spend it sitting in a cramped arthouse theater watching people smoke and talk about ennui, that's cool, brother. But I'd rather see pirates, big robots punching each other in the face, Bruce Willis punching people in the face, Bruce Willis punching giant robots in the face (hopefully, some day), Matt Damon punching people in the face, and Timothy Dalton impaling his face on a miniature church steeple.

Planet Terror was my kind of movie, and in introduced me to a new fetish I didn't even realize I had (chick with big machine gun for leg fetish -- thanks, Robert. How the hell am I going to indulge that one? As if "hot Mexican chick with throwing knives strapped to thigh" wasn't proving difficult enough). The movie was a throwback to the slapdash, nigh incomprehensible Italian zombie/gore films of the 1980s that came to us courtesy of guys like Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, complete with myriad subplots that seem to have nothing to do with anything else in the movie.

Rodriguez' soundtrack to Planet Terror captures the spirit of the synth-driven prog-funk whatever the hell that stuff was that guys like Fabio Frizzi (Zombie), Walter Rizzati (1990: Bronx Warriors), and Goblin cranked out to accompany similar movies, though just as Planet Terror features many touches that are more Rodriquez than vintage grindhouse, so too does the soundtrack feature a number of flourishes that may not be "authentic" for the period but are still well worth hearing.

The action starts with the Grindhouse/Planet Terror credit theme -- a sleazy bump-n-grind masterpiece that perfectly matches the sleazy bump-n-grind it accompanies on-screen. Within the context of the old Italian exploitation films, it may seem out of place, but keep in mind that those things would often throw in heavy metal or calypso and other styles from left field that didn't jibe with the rest of the soundtrack. After the opening, we settle into a nice collection of synthesized horror music (composed by Rodrigues working with Carl Thiel and genre staple Graeme Revell, among others), with occasional barn burning variations of the main theme. Rose McGowan -- who was never anyone I thought much about until I saw her as a stripper with a machine gun for a leg, has a couple numbers as well. It's possible that you can't really enjoy the soundtrack as much if you haven't seen the movie to place it in context. I can't really say, since I've seen the movie. I do love the soundtrack, though, and if you are a fan of the prog-synth weirdness that accompanied movies like Alien Contamination (which is the soundtrack this most reminds me of), then you will probably enjoy at least most of the Planet Terror soundtrack.

While Rodriquez composes and performs all the music in his movie, Tarantino assembles his soundtracks the way he assembles his movies: out of bits and pieces of other soundtracks. The results are usually pretty good, and Death Proof is a pretty rad assembly of songs and snippets from other movies (though some of the music he took from Italian cop films is missing from the soundtrack). Jack Nitzsche's "The Last Race" kicks things off with a revving engine, just as things should be kicked off. The rest of the soundtrack is pretty steadily enjoyable procession of old rock, soul, and the obligatory co-opted Ennio Morricone tune ("Paranoia Prima" this time around). Besides "The Last Race," I think "Baby, It's You," "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)," and "Hold Tight" are among the standouts, but really, this is one of my favorite soundtracks in a long time. Like many people, it's impossible for me to compliment anything Tarantino does without first expressing how much I dislike the guy. And I do dislike him, but that doesn't matter, really, because he's rich and doesn't know me, and I don't hang out with him. I've liked all but one of his films (Pulp Fiction just doesn't do it for me, and I don't even think Four Rooms counts) and love all the soundtracks he's put together. Plenty of movies throw a bunch of either non-descript new songs or recognizable nostalgic oldies together and call it a soundtrack, but few (other than, perhaps, Martin Scorsese) do it with as good an ear as Tarantino. For one, the songs work well and make sense within the context of the movie. And for another thing, he just picks damn good music.

I went in to Grindhouse pretty skeptical of whether or not I'd like it. I turned out to be very enthusiastic about it -- Planet Terror more than Death Proof, but Death Proof has grown on me over time. My enthusiasm extends to the soundtracks, both of which, while radically different from one another, are well worth having. I intend to take Planet Terror with me to a strip club and request a lap dance to the main theme. Usually, I try to con them into playing the full version of "Inna Gadda Da Vida." That never works out for me, though.

Now bring on Machete!

Labels: Soundtracks