El Mariachi Retro Review

The Rough Cut

Written by Kevin Terpstra

Retro Review of El Mariachi

Year of Release: 1992

Robert Rodriguez is either the luckiest man alive, or the smartest. For only $7000, he created a film that received so much critical and public acclaim that he was instantly projected into superstardom, ensuring that he would be recognized as one of the Hollywood elite for years to come.

Due to the very paltry budget he had when shooting El Mariachi, Hot Rod had to depend on his creative genius to compensate for the lack of convenient studio funding. As a result, he had his actors doubling as the crew, used a wheelchair as a dolly, and simulated crane shots with a 15-foot ladder. These innovations led to a very gritty and guerilla-styled product. It is for the better that the film looks the way it does as it emphasizes the equally gritty content.

A talented mariachi (portrayed by equally talented actor Carlos Gallardo) comes to the down of Acuna, Mexico looking for work at the local bars. Turned down from the first venue, he heads for the next bar. A short time later, recent prison escapee Azul enters the bar and kills four gang members. Thus, the mariachi (no, he doesn’t have a name) becomes the one hunted by Mauricio’s gang.

It’s a solid film that breaks certain conventions that are characteristic of mainstream film. The love story (if you could call it that) is rather unconventional and tragic, to say the least. Bad guy Azul can be looked at as somewhat of a picaresque hero as he fights against Mauricio, but not with the mariachi.

The overall story of the making of El Mariachi is a fantastic one. Having raised the funds by taking part in various medical studies (becoming a human lab rat), using the camera his father gave him as a youngster, and using friends and family for the cast and crew (he met Peter Marquardt, Mauricio, in one of the medical studies) Robert started with minimal resources and produced a maximized film.

Based on a five star scale, I am awarding El Mariachi four-and-a-half stars.

El Mariachi – 4.5/5 stars

Official Rough Cut Retro Review

Dead Snow International Review

The Rough Cut

Written by Kevin Terpstra

International Review of Dead Snow

Country of Origin: Norway

Any film that contains Nazi Zombies is bound to be highly entertaining, right? Such is the case with Dead Snow, a Norwegian film from director Tommy Wirkola. Shot on location in the mountains of Norway, this film is more than just an entertaining mash-up of Nazi Zombies meets a cabin in the woods story; it’s actually really good, too!

The plot is what you’d expect it to be: a bunch of college kids take a vacation to a cabin in the snowy mountains near the town of Oksford and end up fighting for their lives with a bunch of undead soldiers of the S.S. It’s the progression of the plot and the slam on Hollywood movies that make this film good.

Instead of being regular old, eat your brains, zombies, these ghoulish abominations actually fight with weapons (and even their fists!). Of course, they do resort to the occasional evisceration. In addition to their backwoods brawler nature, there is a purpose to the undead Nazis’ disembowelment of those poor med students, which is ironic in its own right.

Although the film could pass for a Hollywood-made film, it rejects the system as most foreign films do. It pokes fun at most of Hollywood’s cabin in the woods stories and makes use of the humor that you don’t see in a Hollywood production, so don’t expect to see any slapstick or jokes about sex or anything that might be excreted from the human body.

Dead Snow doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is (and that makes it better). This oh so bloody zombie fest is fun from beginning (which is a chase scene set to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King") to end.

Based on a five star scale I am awarding Dead Snow four out of five stars.

Dead Snow – 4/5 stars

Official Rough Cut International Review