Death Proof - Stuntman Mike
Dimension Films

It’s been over 15 years since the theatrical release of Grindhouse, the gory and gruesome double-feature from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. We recently covered a retrospective on Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, and now we’re back to talk about Death Proof. It is one of Tarantino’s best films, a thriller and slasher combined, thrown on four wheels and revved to 100mph.

Death Proof follows two different groups of women, both being stalked by a grizzled serial killer that goes only by Stuntman Mike, who uses his stunt car as his preferred weapon to murder unsuspecting women. The film was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and boasts a fantastic cast that includes Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson, Tracie, Thoms, Rose McGowan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eli Roth, and Kurt Russell as the film’s extremely memorable villain.

Right from the get-go, Death Proof perfectly grasped that grimy late-’70s southern horror feel and blends it seamlessly with classic lengthy Tarantino dialogue chock-full of character development. Tarantino actually physically scratched the film to achieve the dirty look. These scenes were great at priming the viewers on whether to love or hate the characters, making us quickly choose sides between the slasher and the victims.

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In most slasher films, this is a relatively easy task, as we’re quick to jump on the side of the cool villain in hopes to see him slice and dice the annoying slasher fodder. Death Proof made us choose carefully, giving us a super cool villain that also happens to be a creepy scumbag, but also introduced victims that had personalities and lives outside the film. We simultaneously don’t want to see them hurt but want to see Stuntman Mike kill.

Death Proof - Rosario Dawson
Dimension Films

Kurt Russell played his part cool as a cucumber and could instantly transform into a giddy psychopath like he was born for the role. He’s excelled as a villain in films and can’t get enough of it. To go along with the blood and guts galore, Stuntman Mike also has not one but two awesome stunt cars he uses to exact his kills throughout the film. I’m not sure what it is about seeing and hearing awesome muscle cars on the big screen (looking at you, John Wick and The Batman), but a 1970 Chevy Nova and a 1969 Dodge Challenger definitely do the trick.

Death Proof also had one of the lengthiest, most strenuous, and well-shot car chase scenes in cinematic history, with an absolute banger of a stunt performance from Zoë Bell, who also happened to be the stunt double for Uma Thurman in Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. She puts her body through hell, hanging outside the car at high speeds, going over bumps, and being rammed into.

One of the most underrated gems about Death Proof was the soundtrack. Like most Tarantino films, the soundtrack was almost as important as any character in the film, setting the tone for each scene with 1970s hits from Smith or Pacific Gas & Electric, as well as songs made famous in other similar films, like Blow Out (1981), Cruising (1980), and Thunder Alley (1967).

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The ending is a chef’s kiss to feminist strength and unity as the group of women are able to exact their revenge on a slimy psycho that has lured in and murdered possibly countless women (we see him kill four in the same scene). Death Proof often gets lost among Tarantino’s big hits like Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, and Kill Bill to film buffs, but from this horror fan’s point of view, it ranks among his best and certainly the most fun.


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