It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he purports to be "death-proof".
Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell co-star as the women he targets.
The film was originally released theatrically as part of Grindhouse, a double feature that combined Death Proof with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror.
After Grindhouse underperformed at the domestic box office, Death Proof was released as a standalone feature in other countries and on home media.
In a bar, Julia reveals that she made a radio announcement offering a free lap dance from Arlene in return for addressing her as "Butterfly", buying her a drink, and reciting a segment of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
Aging Hollywood stunt double "Stuntman" Mike trails the women to a bar and claims the lap dance.
Fourteen months later, three young women, makeup artist Abernathy Ross, stunt driver Kim Mathis and actress Lee Montgomery, are driving through Lebanon, Tennessee on break from a film shoot.
Zoë tells them she wants to test-drive a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the same type of car from the 1971 film Vanishing Point and has found one for sale nearby.
The story for Death Proof developed from Quentin Tarantino's fascination for the way stuntmen would "death-proof" stunt cars so a driver could survive horrific, high-speed crashes and collisions.
This inspired Tarantino to create a slasher film featuring a deranged stuntman who stalks and murders sexy young women with his "death-proof" car.
"[8] Eli Roth, Planet Terror leading actress Rose McGowan, and Tarantino himself appear in the film.
When her name was featured on the film posters opposite Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan, she realized how big the role was.
"[10] An extended, 127-minute version of Death Proof was screened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
Death Proof was released in the US and Canada alongside Planet Terror as part of a double feature under the title Grindhouse.
[14] The Dutch poster artwork for Death Proof claimed that the film would feature "coming attractions" from Robert Rodriguez.
The website's 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.
Roger Ebert gave Grindhouse 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that while Death Proof was the more enjoyable half of the bill, it was still marred by overlong scenes of expository dialogue.
"[24] In 2022, American writer and critic Nick Newman placed Death Proof on his Sight and Sound list of the greatest films ever made, calling it "Tarantino's first historical-revisionist movie, whether he knows or wishes to acknowledge, and one he's disavowed despite how well it compacts everything at which he's a genius — fitting contradiction for the most exciting and perpetually underestimated director of my lifetime.
Whatever his reservations, a fan club comprising Claire Denis, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Arnaud Desplechin, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Bertrand Bonello, Claude Lanzmann, and myself simply cannot be wrong.