On of my favorite vampire movies!
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Directed By: Robert Rodriguez (Desperado)
The Prologue
We were entering the later part of the 90′s, and on the heels of Scream, horror had gotten a lot better. And what we got in 1996 was just what the world needed, a very bad ass and cool horror film, From Dusk Till Dawn. But not just an ordinary film, this was a film that came from the connection of Robert Rodriguez (director) and Quentin Tarantino (writer). While the two’s work together was just getting rolling, you can see their prints clearly in this fun film and they mix together near perfectly. And now lets all be honest with ourselves here, Salma Hayek being half naked never hurt anyone either.
The Movie
Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his younger brother Richard (Quentin Tarantino) are on the lam after a bloody bank robbery in Texas. They escape across the border into Mexico and will be home-free the next morning, when they pay off the local kingpin. They just have to survive ‘from dusk till dawn’ at the rendezvous point, which turns out to be a Hell of a strip joint. And we know Mexico is popular for many many things, but after seeing this I suppose you could add vampires to that list as well.
So we have George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, and many more in a film written by Quentin Tarantino (who also co-stars), and directed by Robert Rodriguez. There was just noo way at all this movie was going to suck. QT and Rodriguez lace this movie with their trademarks from start to finish, and the Tarantino dialogue keeps things interesting even during the slower moments of the film. And there really aren’t that many slow moments anyway. The film starts off as a cool crime film and around the halfway mark turns into a gory vampire horror film. While perhaps the crime aspect is a bit better than the vampire stuff, you can’t deny the overall quality of the movie as a whole.
While The Gecko Brothers aren’t what you would call “likeable”, you can see the good in Seth. The man is a professional and he’s clearly never did anything he wasn’t forced to do when it comes to killing. The younger brother, Richard…well, not soo much. None the less you do find yourself looking over any terrible thing Richard does as the film moves along, almost in the same way that Seth himself does. And when the vampires come into play you are clearly 100% on Seth’s side as his family does battle along side the hostages turned allies in the Fuller family. And when the action does pick up, we have some GREAT natural gore effects that is dearly being missed in horror 85% of the time today.
Another gem of this film is things don’t go your typical way, which leads to some unpredictability. In other words, it’s your typical Quentin Tarantino story. That of course means you have a great story with great characters and you are just never too sure how things are going to all play out. And we can’t discredit the directing and editing skills of Robert Rodriguez either. All the stars are in the right place, and all things come together nearly perfectly here to create one of the better (yet underrated) horror films of the 90′s. This wouldn’t be the most notable film these two legendary directors worked together on, but it’s for a film nobody should go on without having seen at least once.
The Conclusion
It’s cool, it’s fun, its unpredictable, and it’s very very gory. What else could a fan of films ask for?? It’s not just one of my favorite vampire films, it’s one of my favorite films in general. Now if you wish to get a look at this bad boy yourself, Echo Bridge has it as a stand alone blu-ray or in a double blu-ray set HERE with the sequel.
The Rating (8/10)
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