Thursday, February 5, 2009

Best Grindhouse 2008 - Hell Ride: 1st Runner Up

What does Grindhouse mean? It is an American movie theater term for Exploitation films,a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising.



It doesn't get much more gridhouse than a biker film. Forget the plot, a motorcycle movie only needs to follow three rules; the 3 B's, Bikes, Babes, and Booze. Like most exploitation genres, the biker film genre is a risky one. Most of them are bad, as in unwatchable, so bad it's good, and the very rare bad@$$! For the casual movie watcher, I recommend the very well known biker classic Easy Rider.

The biker genre never interested me, it wasn't until I found out that Quentin Tarantino was going to produce one that I became curious. The early word on the film was that Tarantino gave director Larry Bishop his blessing to go make the best biker movie ever. When it comes to QT I know that the integrity of the film comes first, and that's why he is one of my favorites!

Hell Ride is modern day take on the biker films from the '60's that Larry Bishop was a part of. Bishop plays Pistolero, the leader of the biker gang The Victors. Pistolero along with the rest of his gang hit the road seeking vengeance against rival gang the 666ers. The 666ers are responsible for the death of Pistolero's old lady, Cherokee Kisum. The road to revenge becomes a wild one filled with the 3 B's, convoluted plots, and awesome Spaghetti Western style!

Is Hell Ride a good movie? The quick response is no, it's a very hard movie to watch. Larry Bishop is clearly making a movie he wants to see, and catering to a very particular audience. It wasn't until my third viewing that I really started to get what I was watching. It is a movie that I would never recommend to anyone that has no clue or interest in grindhouse type movies. With that being said, Hell Ride really is the best modern day biker movie I have seen, or care to see.

B+ rating is based on exploitation films Rated R for a reason, watcher beware!!!

~Caleb

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