Prior to penning stories that redefined cinema in regards to non-linear stories, Quentin Tarantino spent most of his youth being immersed in grindhouse cinema, whose influence has remained consistent throughout his career. This stems from his time in a video rental store in Manhattan Beach, California, which has been substantial to Tarantino’s encyclopedic movie knowledge.
And given his grasp of movie history, he was undoubtedly the perfect candidate to identify movies based on the blurbs from cheap VHS tapes. Even though he didn’t pass with flying colors during this playful quiz, he still managed to leave viewers astonished with his cinematic expertise.
Quentin Tarantino loves grindhouse movies like no other
One common link across all Quentin Tarantino‘s works has been the incorporation of stylized violence, which teeters on the edge of being gratuitous at times, and is akin to the ’70s grindhouse era.
This grindhouse influence is no coincidence, as growing up, the Pulp Fiction filmmaker spent a great deal of time consuming grindhouse movies, partly due to his history in the video rental store in Manhattan Beach.
His expertise in the genre was evident during his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he was tasked with the challenge of guessing obscure movies from their cheap VHS descriptions.
Although he wasn’t correct on the first two occasions, Tarantino did nail the finer details, and as for the third, which was Earl Owensby’s Dogs of Hell, he correctly guessed it as Rottweilers, which was supposed to be the original title of the movie.
He said:
That’s the cheapy video title. It was originally, almost originally, called Rottweiler 3-D.
Considering how well-versed Tarantino was with the ’70s Grindhouse landscape, Tarantino being familiar with Owensby, a notable figure in the realm of exploitative works, is par for the course.
Quentin Tarantino on his obsession with grindhouse movies
Although Tarantino once clarified he was not on board with the “‘so-bad-it’s-good’ school”, as in his case, rarely any movie crossed the threshold of being so bad it’s good, this didn’t hinder his obsession with grindhouse movies.
As for his reasoning behind this grind for the genre, Tarantino echoed a Stephen King line, “You gotta drink a lot of milk before you can appreciate cream”, stressing that in this genre, “you gotta drink a lot of bad milk before you can appreciate milk.”
You hoped for the best, and you bought your ticket, and then in five minutes you’re like, ‘Oh, yuck, Jesus f-cking Christ!’…but then you go see Joe Dante’s Piranha, written by John Sayles, and all of a sudden, ‘Hey! This is a good Jaws rip-off!’ Back then it seemed really good because you weren’t expecting it.
His experience and expertise in this subject have contributed to his versatility as a filmmaker, and had it not been for his obsession with grindhouse works of the ’70s, Quentin Tarantino’s unique approach might not have been realized.
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