Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s ambitious retro double-feature Grindhouse may have been a failure at the box office, but the way the studio’s treated the movie’s subsequent overseas and DVD release is very strange. The two directors’ films, Death Proof and Planet Terror, respectively, are being released separately on DVD, and not even at the same time.

Death Proof is first, and there’s almost no mention of the original movie’s name or concept save for a small “Grindhouse Presents” logo on the front of the box. There’s no reference to the original movie in the description on the back, nor do any of the special features seem to have much to do with Grindhouse specifically. Bizarre: you’d think the name alone would still have some brand recognition, regardless of its poor showing. Weirdest of all, none of the movie’s very entertaining fake trailers by name genre directors like Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright and Eli Roth are on the disc either.

What you do get is an extended, filled-out version of Death Proof, which is a mixed blessing, as the film already felt long in stretches. Still, you get the “missing reel” lap dance scene (why this was left out in favour of more blather in the movie’s second half is a mystery), and the movie’s first half and final action scene are still great fun regardless.

by MARK SLUTSKY