Death Proof (2007)
Two separate groups of women are stalked at different times by the scarred stuntman Stuntman Mike, who uses his specially reinforced “death proof” car to turn murders into apparent accidents. In the first story, he targets a group of friends in Austin, Texas, and in the second, he pursues a new group of women in Tennessee. The film shifts from stalking and terror to a violent revenge chase when the second group fights back.
Narrative Score
Full Plot & Ending Explained
Intro
The film opens in Austin, Texas, where radio DJ Jungle Julia Lucai celebrates her birthday with her friends Arlene, Shanna, and Lanna, spending the evening drinking, flirting, and going out together.
Turning Point 1
At the bar, Jungle Julia talks about her on-air dare that promises Arlene a free lap dance if someone addresses her as “Butterfly,” buys her a drink, and recites a line from Robert Frost; Stuntman Mike, an older former stuntman, overhears everything and begins fixating on the women.
Turning Point 2
Mike follows the group and lures Pam, a friend of the women, into giving him a ride; once she is in his modified stunt car, he reveals the vehicle is “death proof” only for the driver, then deliberately kills her by slamming on the brakes and smashing her head into the dashboard.
Turning Point 3
Mike then uses his car as a weapon to ram the women’s vehicle head-on at high speed, killing Jungle Julia, Arlene, Shanna, and the others in the car while he survives with little injury, and Texas Ranger McGraw later concludes that Mike engineered the murders but cannot charge him because the women had been drinking while he was sober.
Turning Point 4
Fourteen months later in Lebanon, Tennessee, Mike targets a second group: Abernathy Ross, Zoë Bell, Kim Mathis, and Lee Montgomery, who are on a film break and stop at a store where Mike quietly watches them from his car and later begins stalking them on the road.
Turning Point 5
Mike chases the women through a long, aggressive car pursuit, repeatedly trying to intimidate and strike their vehicle, but the group fights back with remarkable courage and coordination, turning the chase into a battle instead of an easy kill.
Turning Point 6
During the final confrontation, Zoë leaps onto Mike’s car and hangs on as he drives; Kim shoots at him, Zoë and the others force the cars to stop, and when Mike stumbles out injured, the women swarm him and beat him savagely.
Ending
Abernathy delivers the final crushing blow to Mike’s head, killing him and ending his murderous spree with the second group triumphant.
Cross-checked against Wikipedia and other public film references. View on Letterboxd ↗ The Narrative Score above is an experimental 5-axis rating, not a critic score.