Quentin Tarantino gives his thoughts on the failure of Grindhouse

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up for GRINDHOUSE, a double-feature which included Rodriquez's PLANET TERROR and Tarantino's DEATH PROOF, as well as an assortment of trailers for fake grindhouse movies. It was a pretty cool concept, and although the movies were well received, GRINDHOUSE was a box-office bomb.

While speaking with Empire earlier this month, Quentin Tarantino was asked whether he thought GRINDHOUSE was misunderstood.

With Grindhouse, I think me and Robert just felt that people had a little more of a concept of the history of double features and exploitation movies. No, they didn’t. At all. They had no idea what the fuck they were watching. It meant nothing to them, alright, what we were doing. So that was a case of being a little too cool for school.

Although GRINDHOUSE may not have been as successful as Tarantino and Rodriguez hoped, the film did become something of a franchise as a few of the fake trailers, including MACHETE and HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, later became feature-length films themselves.

While GRINDHOUSE was a double-feature in North America, the films were released separately overseas, and Tarantino discussed the rather humbling experience of seeing DEATH PROOF on opening night in a nearly empty theater. "I’m in London doing press on the film before opening weekend," Tarantino said. "And I go to Edgar Wright, 'Hey, let’s you and me and your friends go see it on Friday night in Piccadilly.' So Nira [Park], his producer, and Joe Cornish and the whole Edgar group, we head into the heart of Piccadilly Circus to go see Death Proof on opening day. And we walk in the theatre and there’s about 13 people in there. On the opening 8.30 show, alright? [Laughs] That was a rather humbling experience. But we sat down and watched it and had a good time. Edgar was like [launches into Edgar Wright impression that sounds more like Jason Statham], 'That was very impressive. I think I would have turned around and walked out of there. The fact you said, ‘Fuck it,’ and sat down, I admired that.'" That's a bit of a kick in the pants, but I think it's safe to say that Tarantino has done okay since then.

What are your thoughts on GRINDHOUSE more than a decade after its release?