Quentin Tarantino has famously said that he considers Death Proof to be his worst movie. A cross between a slasher and a car chase movie, Death Proof stars Kurt Russell as a sadistic stunt driver who targets young women in his souped-up “death-proof” stunt car. In a directors’ roundtable hosted by THR, Tarantino said, “Death Proof has got to be the worst movie I ever made. And for a left-handed movie, that wasn’t so bad, all right? So, if that’s the worst I ever get, I’m good.” The fact that Tarantino never wants to make a worse movie than Death Proof shows what a high standard he holds himself to.
Death Proof was Tarantino’s half of the double feature Grindhouse. Regular Tarantino collaborator Robert Rodriguez directed the other half, Planet Terror, and the intention was the give audiences a throwback to the classics of exploitation cinema. Grindhouse received mixed reviews, with the consensus being that Tarantino and Rodriguez emulated the old-school schlock a little too closely. Tarantino is so precious about his filmography that he has planned to cut himself off after 10 movies to avoid going downhill, and he’s come to regard Death Proof as the worst film he’s ever made — and wants it to stay that way.
Death Proof Was Quentin Tarantino's Least Successful Movie
Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino’s lowest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. Aside from The Hateful Eight, which has a 74% score, every other Tarantino movie has an 80% approval rating or higher on the Tomatometer. But Death Proof has a lackluster score of 66%. While that isn’t “rotten” by the Tomatometer’s standards, it is significantly lower than the near-universal praise met by the rest of Tarantino’s work. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics’ consensus reads, “Death Proof may feel somewhat minor in the context of Tarantino’s larger filmography, but on its own merits, it packs just enough of a wallop to deliver sufficiently high-octane grindhouse goods.”
On top of being Tarantino’s least favorably reviewed film, Death Proof is also his only box office bomb. All of his other movies were commercial hits that easily recouped their production and marketing costs. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and even his relatively different Once Upon a Time in Hollywood all earned blockbuster numbers to compete with the big franchises. Not only did Death Proof fail to become a hit of these proportions, but it didn’t even turn a profit. Time reported Grindhouse had a budget of $67 million and grossed just $25 million at the domestic box office.
Is Death Proof Really A Bad Movie?
Just because Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino’s weakest movie, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Its script isn’t as groundbreaking as Pulp Fiction, it doesn’t revolutionize its genre like Django Unchained, and it’s not packed with subversive surprises like Inglourious Basterds, but it is a spot-on homage to the B-movie style bolstered by some breathtaking car stunts. The dialogue scenes in between the vehicular action sequences drag on a little – and the conversations aren’t as sharply written as Reservoir Dogs’ “Like a Virgin” debate or Pulp Fiction’s “Royale with Cheese” discussion – but the car chases are more than thrilling enough to make up for it.
Death Proof promises an exciting car chase movie, and it delivers one. But Tarantino has made a concerted effort to go above and beyond with his subsequent films. Inglourious Basterds was a meta-study of cinema’s role in World War II. Django Unchained used Spaghetti Western tropes to tackle the ugliest chapter of American history. The Hateful Eight challenged audiences with no clear-cut heroes or villains. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino left established genre conventions behind with a snapshot of a changing film industry in 1960s Los Angeles. Whatever Tarantino’s final movie will be, it has a lot to live up to.