Quentin Tarantino has described one of his movies as the weakest of his career, going so far as to say he would retire before making another film like it.
Death Proof was released during a phase of cinema that Tarantino has often criticised – he has spoken unfavourably about the late 1990s and 2000s, describing it as an era of over-production where quality was compromised in exchange for quantity.
According to the director, this period led to an abundance of studio-backed projects that were either too safe or too experimental, and he has suggested that the environment may have affected how his own film was received – and how he now views it.
In a 2012 director’s roundtable, he 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.”
Released in 2007 as part of a double-feature collaboration with Robert Rodriguez under the title Grindhouse, Death Proof follows a stuntman who uses his “death-proof” car to stalk and kill women, only to meet his match in a group of determined female characters.
Tarantino has said that while the concept remains strong, the execution didn’t meet his expectations, and it didn’t land as successfully with audiences as some of his other work.
At the time of release, Death Proof drew mixed responses. It was praised by some for its practical stunt work and its nods to 1970s exploitation cinema, but also faced criticism for its slow pacing, long dialogue sequences, and split narrative structure.
The film unfolds in two halves, each focusing on a different group of women who encounter the central villain. While the final act features an energetic car chase that many see as a highlight, the earlier scenes left some viewers unimpressed.
Tarantino has since acknowledged that part of the film’s uneven reception may have come from the structure of the Grindhouse project itself. As part of a double bill, his film followed Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a fast-paced zombie action flick with a very different tone.
This contrast may have made Death Proof seem slower and more dialogue-heavy by comparison, especially for viewers expecting non-stop action.
Stylistically, Death Proof is a deliberate throwback with aged film stock effects, missing reels, and other visual cues to replicate the feel of grindhouse cinema. While these elements were intended to evoke nostalgia for a particular era of filmmaking, they also contributed to criticisms that the film leaned too heavily on nostalgia as opposed to originality.
Death Proof is, unsurprisingly, Tarantino’s worst-rated film on reviewing platofrm Rotten Tomatoes, where it holds a 66% score – against the rest of his catalogue that sees every movie boast over 80% marks (except for The Hateful Eight’s 74%).