Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino and Sin City director Robert Rodriguez join forces to offer a cinematic tribute to the blood-soaked exploitation epics of yesteryear with this hyper-violent coupling of two full-length features punctuated by a collection of outrageous trailers. The first segment, directed by Rodriguez and entitled "Planet Terror," details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the planet and the remaining survivors who refuse to go down without a fight. Freddy Rodriguez, Naveen Andrews, and Rose McGowan headline a cast that also includes Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, and Tom Savini. In "Death Proof" -- director Tarantino's take on such peddle to the metal shockers as White Line Fever -- Kurt Russell stars as an engine-revving psychopath who prefers to take out his beautiful victims at 200mph. With a list of potential road-kill candidates that includes Rose McGowan, Jordan Ladd, Rosario Dawson, and Vanessa Ferlito, "Death Proof" takes viewers on an adrenaline-infused drive that's as sexy as it is shocking. Its tantalizing title borrowed from the term frequently used to describe the seedy, 1970s-era inner-city movie theaters that screened excessive, low-budget independent films containing copious amounts of violence and nudity as a means of offering counter-programming to the decidedly more restrained big-budget studio films, Grindhouse takes its love for these unabashedly sleazy efforts one step further by offering a jaw-dropping collection of fake exploitation trailers from such directors as Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and Edgar Wright.
Casting: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, Rose McGowan
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Script: Quentin Tarantino
Producer: Quentin Tarantino, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger, delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.
Cast: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
Directed by Richard Kelly
Script: Richard Kelly
Two women caught up in a drama of need and betrayal are at the heart of this psychological thriller, NOTES ON A SCANDAL. The twists and turns of the story are noted in the acerbic diary of Barbara Covett (Dame Judi Dench), a domineering and solitary teacher who rules with an iron fist over her classroom at a decaying state-run secondary school in London. Save for her cat, Portia, Barbara lives alone, without friends or confidantes - but her world changes when she meets the school's new art teacher, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett). Sheba appears to be the kindred spirit and loyal friend Barbara has always been seeking. But when she discovers that Sheba is having an incendiary affair with one of her young students (Andrew Simpson), their budding relationship takes an ominous turn. Now, as Barbara threatens to expose Sheba's terrible secret to both her husband (Bill Nighy) and the world, Barbara's own secrets and dark obsessions come tumbling to the fore, exposing the deceptions at the core of each of the women's lives.
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench
Directed by Richard Eyre