Line #72 Film/DeathProof


1	[[quoteright:213:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DeathProof_7415.jpg]]
2
3	''Death Proof'', the more [[SpeechCentricWork dialogue-oriented]] half of ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'', is a Creator/QuentinTarantino film in which an aging stuntman uses his souped-up stuntcar to kill women on the open road. Little does he realize that a few of his second bunch of victims are ''stunt''women... and among them is Creator/ZoeBell (''playing herself''), who also doubled for Creator/UmaThurman in ''Film/KillBill'' and Creator/MelanieLaurent in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' in real life. Boy, is Stuntman Mike in for a world of hurt...
4
5	The German release ended up being the final wide release movie for the ill-fated HD DVD format (the final ever release was ''Deadlands 2: Trapped'', at a 500 copy run).
6	----
7	!!These eight women are about to meet one diabolical trope:
8	* ActorAllusion:
9	** Creator/EliRoth previously hit on Jordan Ladd in ''Film/CabinFever''. [[spoiler: She dies in both before he can get very far]].
10	** Abernathy claims that the director of their movie cheated on her with Daryl Hannah's stunt double. Lana Frank is played by Monica Staggs - who doubled for Creator/DarylHannah in both ''Film/KillBill'' films.
11	** Narrowly averted in the climactic scene. The car crashes through a sign for a drive-in where ''Film/WolfCreek'' is one of the films. Creator/JohnJarratt, who played Mick in ''Wolf Creek'', was considered for Stuntman Mike.
12	** [[Creator/KurtRussell Jack Burton]]'s tank top (white tank top with a Japanese Rising Sun and a Samurai) from ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'' can be seen hung up on the wall of the bar where the first segment of the film takes place. It is right above Jungle Julie, slightly to the right of the [=AMi=] Jukebox.
13	* AintTooProudToBeg:
14	** When Stuntman Mike has kidnapped [[spoiler:Pam]] and trapped her in his car, she reacts angrily at first and threatens to kill him. When she realizes she can't escape, she tearfully begs Mike to let her go and that she won't tell anyone. He mocks her situation before giving the death blow.
15	** And in the end it is [[spoiler:Stuntman Mike, lying among the ruins of his no longer death proof car, who is screaming in pain, and pathetically begging the girls (whom he just tried to murder) to "help him". They beat him to death instead.]]
16	* AllMenArePerverts: Stuntman Mike, well he needs no explanation. Dov and Omar are desperate to get the girls drunk so they can screw them. Nate whines to Arlene about only making out with her. Cecil Lewis, whom we don't even meet, sleeps with another woman on Abernathy's birthday. Lee's boyfriend gets turned on by watching her pee. All of Kim's boyfriends have been stolen from another woman. The one exception seems to be Warren the bartender - who just happens to also be the director of the movie.
17	* AllWomenAreLustful: The women themselves aren't exactly prudes either. Jungle Julia essentially whores her friend out over the radio, flirts shamelessly with anyone (including Shanna's own father) and has her legs on display everywhere. Arlene does the lap dance out of an attack on her ''pride''. Kim has a habit of stealing other women's boyfriends. Lee allows a man to watch her pee so he can get off to it.
18	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Averted with Stuntman Mike's gunshot wound. It causes him a great deal of pain that he can't ignore, and renders his entire arm pretty much useless.
19	* [[AsHimself As Herself]]: Zoë Bell in a rare non cameo appearance that isn't a [[AdamWesting parody.]]
20	* AsideGlance: After the first set of girls drive away from the bar stone-drunk and Stuntman Mike has lured another victim into his own car, he momentarily glances at the camera and smirks before going on his killing spree.
21	* AttentionWhore: Stuntman Mike accuses Butterfly of being this, noting that she likely expected guys to be pestering her all night after Jungle Julia's radio broadcast.
22	%%%* BadassDriver: Stuntman Mike and Kim.
23	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played straight and averted, depending on which girl you're talking about. Played straight - [[spoiler:Shanna]] is thrown from the car and lands on the road apparently undisfigured while [[spoiler:Lanna Frank]] hits the dashboard amid broken glass that doesn't cut her face. Also [[spoiler:Zoë]] makes it through the first car chase without a single scratch and barely any dirt, despite getting thrown off the car into a field. Averted - [[spoiler:Pam's]] face gets covered with blood as she is killed. [[spoiler:Jungle Julia's]] leg gets [[DeathByDisfigurement sliced off in the crash]] and the [[spoiler:spinning wheel of Mike's car]] rips [[spoiler:Arlene's]] face off.
24	* BerserkButton: After Mike [[spoiler: attempts to run them off the road to kill Zoe, even though Kim wounded him, the three girls are very quick to decide their only course of action is to personally kill Mike. Kim in particular becomes more and more bloodthirsty for Mike's death the longer the chase goes on.]]
25	* BigWHY?!: Stuntman Mike cannot understand why anyone would possibly want to do him harm.
26	* BlackAndGrayMorality: Abby and her friends aren't terribly nice people, being foul-mouthed and playing some pretty cruel jokes on Lee (who is [[BrainlessBeauty an airhead]] but doesn't do anything otherwise to deserve that treatment) and then dumping her as collateral with a seriously sleazy guy (while lying about her being a porn star) so they get to be insanely reckless with a car. And of course, the villain is definitely worse...
27	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: The second group of girls has Zoe as the blonde, Kim and Abby as the brunettes and Lee as the redhead.
28	* BobFromAccounting: Stuntman Mike has a gag where he reveals that his brother is Stuntman Bob.
29	* ButtMonkey: Lee, being the [[TheDitz ditz]] of the group, is always the target of some jokes, even being scared by Zoë, when she mistook her for an Australian and Zoë pretended that was her BerserkButton.
30	* CallBack: Stuntman Mike drops a DoubleEntendre on Butterfly saying "I just got lucky", echoing the same quote made by Nate earlier. In both cases, the guy gets Butterfly to do something kinky.
31	* TheCameo: Quentin Tarantino as Warren the bartender. Dakota Block, her brother and Earl [=McGraw=] in the middle of the film. Also the Crazy Babysitter Twins from ''Film/PlanetTerror'' show up during Butterfly's lap dance.
32	* CameraSniper: Stuntman Mike watching the second group of girls from his car. They walk in slow motion as Stuntman Mike adjusts the camera focus to follow them.
33	* CarFu: A ''large'' chunk (roughly the last six minutes of the movie).
34	* ChekhovsGun: Kim's literal gun, which she places in the Challenger's glove compartment and whips out to shoot Mike.
35	* ChekhovsHobby: Zoë's ability to always land on her feet. The girls talk about it in a joking way, but it saves her life later on.
36	* ClusterFBomb:
37	** While Kim may drop the word "bitch" a lot, Abernathy outdoes her in the amount of shits and fucks she drops.
38	** Arlene is a [[{{Pun}} fucking]] ''[[MoreDakka machine gun]]'' in the bad-language department.
39	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Kim says that Abernethy has never watched a car movie as she prefers {{Chick Flick}}s.
40	--> '''Kim:''' Y'all grew up with that ''Film/PrettyInPink'' shit.
41	--> '''Lee:''' [[{{Squee}} I love ''Pretty In Pink'']].
42	* CompensatingForSomething: Lee and Abernathy watch Stuntman Mike burn rubber out of the service station in his Dodge Charger R/T 500 and conclude, "Little dick." Given that he gets his kicks by [[PhallicWeapon killing women with his car]], and is later shown sitting with the hood ornament between his legs, they may be right. Even Earl [=McGraw=] comes to a similar conclusion when discussing the aftermath with his son.
43	* ContinuityNod:
44	** The reappearance of Earl [=McGraw=]. See above. Also, Jasper the redneck seems to be the same person that pays Buck and attempts to rape the Bride from ''Film/KillBill''. Furthermore, Earl is shown discussing Stuntman Mike's "accident" with his son, who also appeared in ''Kill Bill''.
45	** Dr. Block makes a quick appearance in the hospital, showing that this takes place before the events of ''Film/PlanetTerror''. Additionally, in Planet Terror there's a shout-out to Jungle Julia in loving memory.
46	* CoolCar: Cool and totally [[TitleDrop death proof]]… as long as you're in the driver's seat, that is.
47	** ''And'' you have to be buckled in. Once he gets shot and is forced to unbuckle in order to reach the bottle of whiskey in the glove compartment, the car isn't death proof for Mike anymore. Several times while the girls are chasing him, ''fully intent on killing him,'' he clearly wants to buckle up but can't, both due to his injury and the girls not giving him time to do so.
48	** Also [[spoiler: Mike's 1969 Dodge Charger in the second half of the film, and of course the white 1970 Dodge Challenger, especially for fans of the film Film/VanishingPoint. Lampshaded by the fact that the girls want to drive it solely because it resembles the car from that film.]]
49	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Abby. [[spoiler:She disapproves of Kim's gun and complains when they are going to do a stunt. After Stuntman Mike pissed her off enough, she suggested killing him. And later, it is actually she who kicks his head in]].
50	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Pam, Julia and Butterfly suffer these in their respective deaths; the former dies from get thrashed around in a death box with no seat belts while the latter two both die from blood loss due to [[AnArmAndALeg getting her leg violently ripped off]] and [[FacialHorror getting her face simultaneously ripped off and crushed by a speeding tire.]]]]
51	* CurbStompBattle: The end; Creator/KurtRussell gets knocked around by Creator/ZoeBell, Creator/RosarioDawson, and Creator/TracieThoms, until Zoë roundhouses him on his ass, and Rosario ax-kicks his head in.
52	* CurseCutShort: Kim slamming the door cuts off the end of Abernethy's "I gotta take a piss".
53	* DecoyProtagonist: Exaggerated with Arlene/Butterfly and her friends, [[spoiler:who are all massacred by Stuntman Mike and the film then switches to an entirely different group of girls.]]
54	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The entire first half makes you ask when something, ''anything'' is actually going to happen. As per HalfwayPlotSwitch below, this is deliberate -- low budget films had a lot of filler of people talking because action scenes were expensive.
55	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:Stuntman Mike. He gets a kick out of murdering helpless women, but as soon as his next intended victims turn their fangs on him he runs with his tail between his legs.]]
56	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: During Arlene's lap dance scene, Pam and the Crazy Babysitter Twins from ''Film/PlanetTerror'' can be seen getting into it.
57	* FanDisservice: Jungle Julia's long luscious legs [[spoiler:getting ripped off in a car crash]].
58	* FauxAffablyEvil: While stalking his victims, Stuntman Mike takes the guise of a cheesy but occasionally charming guy to hide being a murderous pervert. After getting run off the road, he tries to give his second batch of would-be victims a cheery salute for surviving, but ''they're'' not playing around.
59	* {{Fanservice}}: The opening has a long shot of Julia's underwear-clad bum. The extended cut also includes Butterfly giving Mike a lap dance (subverted in the theatrical cut with a "Missing Reel" over that scene). And if you've got a foot fetish, you're in luck, because so does Tarantino.
60	** As Zoe, Kim and Abby stride line abreast towards Stuntman Mike to [[spoiler:give him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]], the camera focuses on their shapely bottoms.
61	* FinalGirl: Quentin himself noted during interviews about this film that he is a ''major'' fan of Carol Clover's writings on slasher films. As such, part of the thrill of the first half involves how he consciously [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope in particular: Arlene/Butterfly is set up from the beginning to be a played-straight Final Girl in a standard slasher--especially how she's portrayed as rather "apart" from her friends, and not as open in her sexuality. [[spoiler: Alas, she ends up ''dying'' with the others--which, as Quentin anticipated, is a ''big'' shock to a smart audience....]]
62	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: When Pam realizes that Stuntman Mike isn't actually going to give her a ride home, there's a super close up of her eyes. One second before Stuntman Mike hits the gas and speeds off... With Pam locked in the passenger side.
63	* FiveTokenBand: The second set of girls. Abernathy is a Latina (her actress is also part Native American), Kim is African-American, Zoe is a New Zealander, and Lee is a [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]].
64	* FoodPorn: Stuntman Mike really is enjoying those delicious nachos...
65	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Completely subverted. [[spoiler: The first half of the film features the characters talking about their trip to an isolated cabin with no boys allowed, setting up a seeming slasher-plot with the girls trapped at the cabin and having to fight for their lives. They don't ever get there, and are brutally killed off by Mike at the film's halfway point.]]
66	* FourGirlEnsemble: The second set of girls. Abernathy is the level-headed and savvy TeamMom. Lee is the HeadTurningBeauty and most feminine. Kim is a tomboy obsessed with car movies, and who carries a gun. Zoe is not necessarily ditzy but is impulsive and ends up in silly situations (she once fell down a ditch even after Abernathy pointed it out to her).
67	* FruitCart: In the final car chase, the girls are amused when they drive through an old boat sitting out in the middle of a field for no apparent reason. "[[LampshadeHanging Did you just hit a boat?]]"
68	* GoodScarsEvilScars: Stuntman Mike has a large scar running down his face. He's a terrible person. He also sarcastically claims he CutHimselfShaving.
69	* GrinOfAudacity: Zoë. While she is legitimately scared shitless during Stuntman Mike's attack on their car, she bounces back from being thrown off the hood and even quips "Whew, that was a close one!" before suggesting that they all go after Mike.
70	* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Halfway through, the movie is filmed with a very different style, [[spoiler:with very different characters]], in a very different place. It was almost like watching a sequel in the middle of the first movie! The film itself foreshadows this plot switch. During the opening, the film briefly shows one of the films was originally called ''Thunder Bolt''. Reading an interview with Tarantino reveals that this is actually exactly what's supposed to be going on. A bit of TruthInTelevision -- the shoestring nature of the B-movie industry meant a lot of half-finished productions. These might be finished by an entirely different crew, or by just editing in footage from another unrelated half-finished production. ''Film/MonsterAGoGo'' is a classic example of this technique [[EpicFail going utterly wrong.]]
71	* HealItWithBooze: Stuntman Mike sterilizes his wound with some liquor, screaming as he does so. Then he [[INeedAFreakingDrink drinks from the bottle to calm his nerves]]. Cue SpitTake when he sees the girls in their car speeding up in his rearview mirror, intent on revenge.
72	* {{Homage}}: Overall, the film apes other "CoolCar chase-porn" movies like ''Film/VanishingPoint'', ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' and ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974''.
73	* HumiliationConga: [[spoiler:As mentioned above, this is what Abernathy, Kim, and Zoe do to Mike at the end.]]
74	* IAteWhat: Booze version. Warren orders a round of Chartreuse shots for Julia's table. Arlene barely gets half the shot down her throat before gagging, sputtering "What the ''fuck'' is that?!?"
75	* IllBeYourBestFriend: Zoë makes this offer when talking Kim into helping her do an incredibly dangerous car stunt. Kim replies that she doesn't need a best friend who lives on the other side of Planet Earth (given that Zoe is from UsefulNotes/NewZealand).
76	* {{Irony}}: Lampshaded by Stuntman Mike. Arlene was furious at Jungle Julia's little statement about her on the radio, expecting to be pestered all night by perverts looking for a lapdance. But no one has approached her at all, wounding her pride a little.
77	* JabbaTableManners - Watching Stuntman Mike [[EstablishingCharacterMoment noisily and messily slurping down his plate of nachos in his introduction]] is enough to tell you that this guy is going to be a creep.
78	* TheLadette: Discussed when Kim makes a comment about most girls not having seen ''Film/VanishingPoint''.
79	--> '''Abernathy:''' Most girls? I'm sorry, what the fuck are the two of you?
80	--> '''Kim:''' We're gear heads, of course we watched it. Y'all grew up watching that ''Film/PrettyInPink'' shit.
81	--> '''Lee:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Aw, I like]] ''Pretty In Pink''.
82	--> '''Abernethy:''' What? You've never watched John Hughes movies?
83	--> '''Kim:''' Of course I did. I'm a girl. But I also watch car shit, too.
84	* LegFocus: Jungle Julia rides in the car with her feet hanging out the window. Many of her billboards show off her legs too.
85	%%%%* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Shanna as the light to Julia and Arlene's dark.
86	* LongHairIsFeminine: Going hand in hand with RealWomenDontWearDresses. The first group of girls all have very long hair, elbow-length at the shortest. [[spoiler:They die]]. In the second group of girls, they have much shorter hair to indicate their [=Ladette=] tendencies (except for Lee, but she isn't included in the car chase). [[spoiler:They don't die]].
87	* LoudGulp / SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud - Lee actually says "Gulp" when she realizes her friends have left her with Jasper.
88	* MaleGaze:
89	** The very first scene; the camera tilts up Jungle Julia's ass as she walks to the window.
90	** In the bar, the shot starts on Arlene's ass as she dances to the music.
91	** Lee gets a shot where her ass is in the foreground.
92	* MarketBasedTitle - In-Universe. ''Death Proof'' was apparently released as ''Thunder Bolt'' in some markets, as suggested by the title card that appears for a split second before the "correct" title is superimposed.
93	* MatingDance: The lapdance Butterfly gives Stuntman Mike while lip-syncing to "Down in Mexico" by The Coasters. Afterward, Butterfly and Jungle Julia joke that thanks to the dance, Pam (who's taking a ride home with Mike) will end up getting laid.
94	* MayDecemberRomance: Defied. People keep joking that Pam is hooking up with Stuntman Mike, but she loudly protests that he's too old. Then he murders her.
95	* MinorInjuryOverreaction: After all his bluster, Mike cringes, whines, and sobs over the fleshwound he receives.
96	* MuggingTheMonster: A good chunk of the second half of the film is the group of friends establishing they are ActionGirl material, and Mike [[HumiliationConga discovers the hard way]] that trying to kill them was a very stupid idea the moment Kim whips out a handgun and shoots him in the shoulder, followed by a [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomp]] CarChase ''and'' [[CurbStompBattle Battle]].
97	* NiceMeanAndInBetween:
98	** The first set of girls. Shanna is the sweet, nice girl. Jungle Julia is rude, abrasive and snarky as the mean one. Arlene is in-between, with a rough edge but nicer than Julia.
99	** And in the second set - Zoe is easily the nicest and friendliest (treating Lee much nicer than the other two), Abernathy is the grumpiest (who also has a {{Jerkass}} move of telling Jasper that Lee is a porn star), and Kim is in-between - sassy and ball busting but not mean spirited.
100	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Mike [[spoiler: gets beaten up by the three girls at the end of the movie. Serves him right.]]
101	* NoSeatbelts: On the drive [[spoiler: to the cabin, Lanna, Shanna, and Jungle Julia aren't wearing their seat belts when Mike crashes his car into them, and Shanna ends up going through the windshield and onto the pavement in the crash because she's not buckled in. Julie and Lanna's injuries are also guaranteed fatal due to this fact. Subverted with Arlene, who is the only one buckled in. Not only does it not save her life, but she arguably gets one of the cruelest deaths with the spinning rear wheel of Mike's Nova ripping her face off as his car flies over theirs...]]
102	** Also demonstrated [[spoiler: in the second half. The Challenger the three girls are in didn't have them as standard equipment, and Mike has a custom belt installed in his Charger but he's unable to buckle back up due to his arm injury and the girls repeatedly rear-ending him.]]
103	* OhCrap: Mike when he gets shot. Mike when he's trying to treat his gunshot wound by pouring whiskey on it. Mike when he see's the girl's Challenger in his rearview mirror, right before they ram him. Mike when Zoe is beating the crap out of him with a metal bar. Mike when the girls drag him out of his overturned car and start beating him to death.
104	* OffOnATechnicality: Discussed. Sheriff [=MacGraw=] theorises that if the first murder went to court, this would likely happen to Stuntman Mike; he was completely sober, while the four girls were extremely drunk, and even their designated driver was smoking a joint as the car hit them. The murder of [[spoiler: Pam]] likely couldn't even get a reckless endangerment charge, since she was stood up by a date and asked him for the lift. Mike turning on the headlights before impact just makes it look like an unlucky accident.
105	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:
106	** Jungle Julia is always called that. The only one who uses her actual last name is Pam, who knew her in school.
107	** As part of the lap dance scenario, Arlene must pretend she only answers to Butterfly.
108	* PayEvilUntoEvil: After Mike's failed attempt to kill the second group of girls, he gets this ''hard''. Kim shoots him, Zoe repeatedly whacks him in the head with a metal pole, and when they finally run him off the road, he gets brutally beaten to death. And he has every second of it coming.
109	* PlotTwist: [[spoiler: Basically, the entire first half of the film. While the audience certainly knows Stuntman Mike is creepy, Jungle Julia, Shanna, and Arlene repeatedly talk about their planned trip to an isolated cabin with "no boys allowed," and the fact that Lanna is their designated driver to get them all there, leading the audience to expect that they're going to be stalked at the cabin, likely by Mike, in a familiar slasher film plot. This is only advanced further then the girls get in Lanna's car to leave. This entire set-up is almost gleefully subverted by Creator/QuentinTarantino when the film reveals that all the discussion was for nothing, and all four of the first half female protagonists are intentionally, and horrifically slaughtered by Mike long before they reach that isolated cabin.]]
110	* PoliceAreUseless: Double subverted. Sheriff Earl Macgraw quickly figures out that Stuntman Mike's first murder was premeditated and he was probably getting off on it. But he can't prosecute him for the following reasons: he wasn't drunk driving, Pam was stood up by her date and asked him for a lift, the other girls were all drunk or high, and Mike turned his headlights on right before the car crashed.
111	* PrefersGoingBarefoot: While she is seen occasionally wearing sandals, Jungle Julia frequently goes barefoot. She takes off her sandals in the bar and props her feet on a chair, and is always barefoot when riding in cars. She's also barefoot in her apartment before Shanna and Arlene arrive.
112	* PsychopathicManchild: At his core, Stuntman Mike is basically a mean-spirited child in an adult's body.
113	* ReallyGetsAround: Jungle Julia, who is said to sleep with boys she used to pick on in school, apparently getting her billboards via the CastingCouch. Not that she minds this reputation...
114	--> '''Jungle Julia:''' Black men and a whole lotta motherfuckin' white men have had plenty of fun adoring my ass. I don't wear their teeth marks in my butt for nothing.
115	* RecycledSoundtrack: As is frequently the case with Tarantino films. The entire soundtrack is made up of non-original music. One notable piece in particular is the brassy 1970's music that plays during the vehicle chase at the end of the film, which is from an obscure 1970's Italian film, "A Special Cop in Action."
116	* SassyBlackWoman: Tarantino said that he wrote Kim essentially as a [[DistaffCounterpart female version]] of Creator/SamuelLJackson.
117	* SexSignalsDeath: Inverted. The first girls, in spite of acting all wild, are actually pretty uptight about sex (especially Arlene/Butterfly), and they die. The second group, on the other hand, are very open about their sex lives, and they not only survive, they [[spoiler:kill the bad guy]]!
118	* SlashersPreferBlondes: Stuntman Mike rattles up three blonde victims. Notable is [[spoiler:Pam, played by Creator/RoseMcGowan with blonde hair. She was a brunette in ''Planet Terror'', where she lived]].
119	* ShakingHerHairLoose: Zoë as she prepares to play ship's mast.
120	* ShapedLikeItself:
121	** "Why's he called ''Stuntman Mike''?" "'Cause he's a stuntman."
122	** "What's a cheerleader movie?" "A movie about cheerleaders."
123	* ShockingMoments: [[spoiler: Jungle Julia, Shanna, and Arlene, who we've been following as the protagonists from the start of the film, are suddenly all viciously killed off at the film's halfway mark, introducing us to four completely new protagonists.]]
124	* ShoutOut:
125	** The girls discuss how the 1970 white Dodge Challenger is the exact same kind of car as the one in ''Film/VanishingPoint''. They go on to discuss other car-chase classics like ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974''.
126	** The "angry duck" hood ornament on Mike's car is Mr. Horsepower, the logo of Clay Smith Cams, a famous hot rod shop in Buena Park, CA and is identical to the hood ornament on Rubber Duck's truck in Film/{{Convoy}}.
127	* SinisterCar: Stuntman Mike's car is a souped-up monstrosity that tears through other cars while leaving its psychotic driver unharmed. Anyone unlucky enough to ride in its passenger seat also gets pulped by Mike's crazy driving, as the passenger seat has all of its safety features removed.
128	* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Shanna and Julia in their first scene in the car. Arlene thinks they're actually fighting before Shanna assures her it's just playful banter between them.
129	* SouthernBelle: Shanna has a southern accent and a very sweet, flirty personality.
130	* SpeechCentricWork: The film is very talky, even for a Tarantino film. This was part of the pastiche of grindhouse films, which were often very talky because they had little budget for anything else.
131	* TheSociopath: Stuntman Mike is completely devoid of any kindness or empathy and sees killing people as a fun way to pass the time.
132	* SoftSpokenSadist: Stuntman Mike.
133	* SpitTake: Stuntman Mike has one during his INeedAFreakingDrink moment when [[spoiler:he sees the girls' Dodge Challenger in his rear-view mirror, fully intent on ramming him at full speed!]]
134	* StockScream: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbYsoEasio The Wilhelm Scream]] is heard after Stuntman Mike runs over the first car.
135	* TheStoner: All of the girls (except Pam) from the first group.
136	* SugarAndIcePersonality: Jungle Julia is bitchy, cold, and passive-aggressive to everyone but sends texts to her boyfriend saying "I miss you" and smiling genuinely when he texts her back kisses.
137	* SureLetsGoWithThat: When Jasper asks if the movie Lee is making is a porno, Abernathy starts to say no but then turns around and says yes.
138	* TemptingFate:
139	** Driving in the middle of the night, drunk, high out of their minds, blasting loud music, and sticking their legs out of the windows, they were practically begging for an accident.
140	** Stuntman Mike laughs when he thinks he's shaken off Kim and the others. Seconds later he's rammed off the road.
141	** Downplayed with Stuntman Mike who claims his car is "death-proof". [[spoiler: In the end of the film, he gets chased by Kim, Zoe and Abernathy, who wreck his car and later drag him out and beat him to death.]]
142	* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Virtually all of Kim's dialogue. Zoe even has to add "bitch" in there when imitating her.
143	* TokenMinority: Julia, the biracial girl, is the only minority in the first half of the film.
144	* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Kim states that she does love John Hughes movies in spite of being TheLadette.
145	* TownGirls:
146	** The first set of protagonists. Arlene is a LadEtte who curses and smokes, and with a thick tomboyish 'noo yawk' accent (Butch). Jungle Julia is a glamorous celebrity with beautiful hair and luscious legs, with a hidden sweet side (Femme). Shanna may be a SouthernBelle, but she's also a HardDrinkingPartyGirl that's a notch in between (Neither).
147	** In the second set of protagonists, the first three girls introduced are Kim, Abernathy, and Lee. Kim is TheLadette and a stuntwoman who loves cars (Butch), Lee is a naive Hollywood actress and the only one who wears a skirt (Femme), and Abernathy is a make-up artist but she also wears pants, cowboy boots, and has more of a sassy attitude compared to Lee (neither).
148	** The three final girls in the car chase scene are Kim, Zoe and Abernathy. Kim is still the Butch as the aggressive driver and ScaryBlackWoman. Abernathy becomes the Femme, because she's a mother and a make-up artist without the stunt credentials of the other two. Zoe is a reckless stuntwoman like Kim, but is more cheerful and wears a pink T-shirt (Neither).
149	* TrunkShot: A Tarantino trademark, played with: it's a shot of Kim and Zoë from under the hood.
150	* VillainousBreakdown: Stuntman Mike gradually loses his tough guy act the minute three of the girls in the second half of the film fight back.
151	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Lee is left behind with Jasper, the redneck who owns the Dodge. We never find out what happened to her, or what happened when the girls returned the ruined car.
152	* WholePlotReference: Basically the Cronenberg ''Literature/{{Crash}}'' remade as a action thriller.
153	* YeahShot: The film ends with one after Stuntman Mike gets the shit kicked out of him.

Context Film / DeathProof