Planet Terror | 2007
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action-comedy horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Set in Texas, the film follows survivors of a biochemical outbreak as they fight against zombie-like creatures and an evil army. It stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton.
The film was originally released as part of Grindhouse, shown as a double feature with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. After Grindhouse performed poorly at the domestic box office, Planet Terror was released as a standalone film in other countries and on home media. The film received positive reviews, with most critics considering it superior to the two films in Grindhouse.
In a rural Texas town, go-go dancer Cherry Darling reunites with her mysterious ex-boyfriend El Rey at a restaurant called Bone Shack. Meanwhile, perverted soldier Lieutenant Muldoon and his subordinates are involved in a large-scale deal of a deadly biochemical agent, DC2, with chemical engineer Abby. When Muldoon learns that Abby has additional supplies, he attempts to take her hostage, causing her to release the gas into the air, transforming most of the townspeople into mutated zombies. The infected residents are treated by Dr. William Block, along with bisexual anesthesiologist Dakota, who is having an affair.
As random attacks begin on the highway, El Rey and Cherry get into an accident, during which several zombies tear off Cherry's left leg. At the hospital, there is Tammy, Dakota's ex-lover, whom Block recognizes. Realizing that Dakota plans to leave with Tammy, Block repeatedly injects Dakota with anesthetic and locks her in the supply room.
El Rey is detained by Sheriff Hague due to their past encounter. As patients begin to mutate, El Rey leaves the police station and arrives at the hospital, where he attaches a wooden table leg to Cherry's severed part. While El Rey and Cherry escape from the hospital, Dakota drives away in her car. Meanwhile, Block becomes infected along with others. Cherry and El Rey take refuge in Bone Shack.
Dakota goes to her estranged father, Texas Ranger Earl McGraw, with her son Tony. (After the "missing film" segment) Dakota, Earl, Cherry's former boss Skip, and Tony's crazy nanny arrive at Bone Shack. When Hague is severely injured, the group decides to flee to the Mexican border but is stopped by a massive horde of zombies. Muldoon's subordinates arrive and eliminate the zombies before capturing the group. Abby reveals that they can delay mutation by continuously inhaling the gas, and they learn that some of the population is immune, hinting at a possible cure.
As Cherry and Dakota are taken away by two soldiers, the rest of the group fights off the guards. During this, J.T. is shot. The group begins a search for Muldoon. When El Rey and Abby find Muldoon, he explains that he killed Osama bin Laden and that he and his subordinates have been infected and ordered to protect the area. Meanwhile, Cherry aims a gun at a soldier and forces him to dance. Ultimately, she strikes him in the face with the wooden leg, poking his eye out. Dakota realizes that her hand has regained sensation and takes down another soldier with a syringe launcher. El Rey and Abby arrive to rescue Cherry and Dakota, and El Rey replaces Cherry's broken wooden leg with an assault rifle and grenade launcher.
J.T. decides to stay behind to detonate explosives to eliminate the remaining zombies. The survivors plan to escape by stealing a helicopter through the massive zombie horde, but Abby's head is blown off by a missile. In the process of saving Cherry from zombies, El Rey is mortally wounded. Now with a mini-gun leg, Cherry leads the survivors to Tulum in the Caribbean to start a peaceful new society amid a global zombie outbreak. It is also revealed that Cherry has given birth to El Rey's daughter.
In a post-credits scene, Tony is seen playing with turtles, scorpions, and tarantulas on the survivors' "base" beach.
Robert Rodriguez first conceived the idea for Planet Terror while making The Faculty. "I remember telling young actors like Elijah Wood and Josh Hartnett that zombie movies were dead. They had been gone for a while, but I thought they would come back in a big way. So I said, 'We need to be the first.' I started writing [the script], and it was about 30 pages long. I told them, 'You have characters to play.' Everyone was excited, but after that, I didn't know where to go. I only got to the introduction and moved on to another movie. Eventually, the zombie movie invasion happened, and everyone came back. I thought, 'Oh, I should have made a zombie movie.'" This story was revisited as Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino developed the Grindhouse idea.
Planet Terror begins with a fake trailer for the film Machete, featuring Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin. This was also part of the original Grindhouse "double feature" screening. Rodriguez wrote Machete as a full film for Trejo in 1993. "I cast him in Desperado and thought, 'Wow, this guy should have a Mexican exploitation movie series like Charles Bronson or Jean-Claude Van Damme.' So I came up with the idea of a Mexican federal police officer hired to do the dirty work in the U.S. I heard a story about how when the FBI or DEA have a really tough job, they hire agents from Mexico for $25,000 because they don't want to lose their own agents. 'That's Machete. He's coming to do something really dangerous for a lot of money. But for the people here, that's pocket change,' I thought. But I never had the chance to make it." Later, it was announced that this trailer would be made into a feature film called Machete. The title Planet Terror pays homage to the late-night horror show Project Terror, which aired on KENS-TV in San Antonio, Texas, during the 1970s and early 1980s, Rodriguez's hometown.
