Robert Rodriguez brings exploitation horror home with a knowing wink in the two-disc extended, unrated edition of Planet Terror (The Weinstein Company, MSRP: $29.95), his contribution to the Grindhouse double feature that graced theaters earlier this year. Freddy Rodriguez (no relation) leads a fairly impressive cast through what amounts to a tongue-in-cheek homage to late-’70s, early-’80s shock horror.

A rogue military squad is on the search for a particular chemical (spoilers that won’t be divulged here) being held in an army base in Podunk Texas. A deal goes bad and the chemicals are unleashed into the town, turning the majority of its citizens into “sickos” who develop nasty lesions and an unfortunate taste for human flesh. Let’s just say they’re zombies.

Enter a fabulous motley crew of ensemble characters: a husband-wife team of medical professionals with seriously passive-aggressive tendencies (Josh Brolin and Marley Shelton); a mysterious stranger, Wray (Freddy Rodriguez); a band of local officers (Michael Biehn, genre superstar Tom Savini and ex-Mariachi Carlos Gallardo); and, of course, the iconic poster babe, Cherry (Rose McGowan). The band of survivors fight their way from one set piece to another, from the local prison--which is burned to the ground--to the hospital (burned to the ground), to the BBQ shack (also burned to the ground) and eventually to the army base (which mostly blows up).

Overfilled squibs, amputations, explosions, sexy outfits and flash cars all round out a very entertaining, but ultimately hollow experience. For fans of schlocky exploitation films, Planet Terror is a smorgasbord of all the reasons those movies are beloved. Always a capable director, Rodriguez handles the chaos with consistent flair and a sense of aesthetics; however, the insistent winking to the audience just might rub serious fans of the actual genre the wrong way.

The DVD transfer is beautiful in all of its faux-aged, scratched glory (in the commentary, Rodriguez talks about using that element for dramatic purposes) and the 5.1 Dolby mix rocks with bassy surround explosions, presenting a really nice package. Yet the big question to Grindhouse fans remains: Is it worth putting both Planet Terror and its sister film, Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino’s half), out on separate DVDs?

The argument goes that these two movies were released separately on DVD so that the studio could fill two discs for each with mind-blowing extra features. Either that, or audiences didn’t “get” the double feature concept. Regardless, in the case of Planet Terror, the individual release is not justified.

First off, the DVD only includes one of the fake trailers made for the theatrical release. A massive highlight of seeing Grindhouse in the theater was the collection of fake trailers in-between the two features. The trailers are helmed by genre favorites Eli Roth (Hostel: Part II), Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects), Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) and Rodriguez himself (it’s his trailer, Machete, that makes the DVD). Not having those trailers already feels like there’s some missing value from the “special edition” DVD.

Furthermore, only two of the extras on the discs actually stand out. First, the feature commentary by Rodriguez is standard fare for him, which is a good thing. Throughout the film, he drops anecdotes about how things were done during the shoot, ways the crew cut costs and where story elements came from. He also tells many stories about the actors (he reveals that three of the actors are actually his real doctor, his real estate agent and a buddy of his from ages ago) and the process for writing parts of the script. It’s an incredibly valuable, insightful and entertaining commentary. This acts as both a pro and a con, though.

The negative side of Rodriguez being so thorough in his feature commentary is that it almost totally negates the value of the majority of the second disc’s special features. Most of the really interesting things from the special features have already been revealed and explained at length by Rodriguez during the movie. That could be considered a good thing for those who don’t want to watch the entire film with commentary, but in the end, it weakens the DVD’s overall value.

The only other special feature that’s really worth the time (and really, the only one on the second disc) is Rodriguez’ 10-Minute Film School, which he does on all of his special edition DVDs. In 10 minutes, the viewer is shown how Planet Terror’s crew did many of the amazing things throughout the movie, from Cherry’s machine-gun leg to a soldier puking out a tentacled mutant blob (yeah, it’s that kind of a movie). Many mysteries are thoroughly explained, and the sheer joy with which Rodriguez shares these secrets simply adds to the experience.

The rest of the special features--including “The Badass Babes and Tough Guys of Planet Terror;” “Sickos, Bullets and Explosions: The Stunts of Planet Terror;” “Casting Rebel,” a featurette discussing how Rodriguez’ son was cast as Tony; and another fun short bit about Rodriguez’ friends that ended up in the movie titled “The Friend, The Doctor and The Real Estate Agent”--are just okay. Again, a lot of the information is also shared during the commentary and, all together, these featurettes only run approximately 47 minutes in length (just under an hour if you include the 10-Minute Film School section). This hardly seems like a reason to release Planet Terror as a separate disc as opposed to the way it was intended to be released: as part of a double feature with Death Proof and the series of trailers.

To make matters worse, Rodriguez even mentions twice during the special features that the eventual double-disc set of Grindhouse proper is coming. With studios constantly double-dipping (Dark Sky just released the fourth Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD edition this month), the public can’t be blamed for being slightly cynical and perhaps a little more than picky about what they buy right away.

Ultimately, Planet Terror is a fine, enjoyable film for those who love exploitation horror. It knows what it is and plays to its fans. The DVD, however, is questionable in value with the proper release of Grindhouse looming soon on the horizon.

Planet Terror is now available on DVD.

E-mail SoCalMovieEditor@aol.com by Oct. 26 for your chance to win a copy of Planet Terror on DVD, as well as an official Grindhouse Cherry action figure.