From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez | 104 minutes | action, fantasy, horror, thriller | Actors: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Ernest Liu, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson, Michael Parks, Brenda Hillhouse, John Saxon, Marc Lawrence, Kelly Preston

‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ opens with a scene clearly written by Quentin Tarantino (Tarantino wrote the screenplay for this film). Strong one-liners and the brothers Seth and Richard Gecko (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) make a dazzling entrance. As a viewer you will subconsciously draw a comparison with the dialogues between Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) or Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) in ‘Pulp Fiction’. Those dialogues are also of the same quality.

As with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ also contains several storylines, which come together again at some point. After the introduction of the Gecko brothers, who have robbed a bank, follows that of Pastor Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel), his son Scott (Ernest Liu) and daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis), who travel around America together in a camper. The characters are presented with less spectacle, but again with sharp dialogues. The confrontation between the two sides is inevitable. Forcing the pastor and his kids to smuggle them across the border into Mexico, the Gecko brothers resort to topless bar Titty Twister, where they get more than they expect. The fantastic dialogues and one-liners are excellently performed by a cast that we often see in films by Rodriguez and Tarantino. The acting performances are all fine, but George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino steal the show. Although the performance by Salma Hayek (as the dancer Santanico Pandemonium with snake) is also welcome. She makes sure that a hall of rough bikers stare at her with open mouth. This scene is well known.

Just as a painter has a recognizable style of painting, the film makers also have their own style. For example, we see Quentin Tarantino’s well-known foot shots (Richie and Katie in the camper and the scene in which Richie drinks beer from the foot of Santanico Pandemonium). A trunk scene is also present. As for Robert Rodriguez, we naturally recognize his Mexican input, such as with ‘Desparado’ and ‘El Mariachi’, but also the way the explosions take place.

The vampires (because the Titty Twister turns out to be populated by these leeches) are otherwise well equipped with make-up, but have green blood. This comes across as ‘unrealistic’, but it was more or less necessary for the American film rating. Besides the action and horror elements, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ also has a lot of humor in it. This is reflected in the dialogues but also in the action scenes. A good example is the transformation of Sex Machine (Tom Savini) into a vampire.

‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ is a film that has a bit of everything and cannot be easily pigeonholed. The filmmakers have found the perfect balance and that makes this film a must see.