Retro Cinema: From Dusk Till Dawn

When I first saw From Dusk Till Dawn back in 1996, I remember being surprised by its schizophrenic nature. The first half of the film plays much like a Quentin Tarantino crime drama, which should be no surprise I guess since QT did write the screenplay. But this is supposed to be a horror movie, right? Fear not, because in the second half the film morphs into a high octane vampire bloodbath that has more to do with Dawn of the Dead than Reservoir Dogs. Robert Rodriguez directed this sort of double feature within a single feature, and looking back now the film can be seen as a warm up to Tarantino and Rodriguez's 2007 Grindhouse. Even the title From Dusk Till Dawn, was a phrase used to promote all night shows at drive-in theaters back in the day.

George Clooney stars as cold-blooded S.O.B. Seth Gecko who has been sprung from police custody by his psychotic and misogynistic brother Richard, played by Tarantino. They've just robbed a bank and both men are killers, but Seth kills only when its in his best interest, while Richie just likes to kill people. Since Clooney was best known at the time for playing hunky yet sensitive E.R. doc Dog Ross, this was quite a leap for him. After the film's opening scene in a secluded Texas grocery store where the store owner and a Texas Ranger's murders are added to the Gecko's resume, the brother's hole up in a fleabag motel. A family of three led by Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel), a minister who has lost his faith in the wake of his wife's death, are taken hostage by the Gecko's and forced to transport the brothers across the border into Mexico. The plan is for Seth and Richie to meet up with their contact Carlos at a bar called The Titty Twister, a den of iniquity that caters to bikers and truckers.
Carlos will transport the brothers to El Ray, a safe haven for criminals, in exchange for 30% of their take from the bank hold up. Seth promises Jacob that he and his family will be set free once Carlos arrives, but just when it looks like everyone will get what they want, a barroom brawl erupts in which Richie has a knife driven through his already injured hand. The blood brings out the bloodlust in the bar's employees, all of whom are vampires, and everyone begins to have a really bad day. These are not your elegant Anne Rice style vampires, but shape-shifting bloodsuckers who behave like pack animals. Our heroes, along with a handful of other patrons who survive the initial onslaught, band together to keep the vamps at bay.

Tarantino's usual nods and inside references are there. Jacob's son Scott wears a "Precinct 13" shirt, which is obviously a reference to John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, a siege film to which From Dusk Till Dawn owes quite a bit. Even the cast includes B movie favorites like Tom Savini, John Saxon, and Fred Williamson. There are also references to other Tarantino movies, like the inclusion of Big Kahuna Burgers (from Pulp Fiction), and despite the character's death here, Texas Ranger Earl McGraw, played by Michael Parks, also shows up in Kill Bill Vol. 1, Death Proof and Planet Terror.

The two halves of the film each have their own style of pacing. The first part is marked by suspense and tension, while the second is all out action, and neither lets the viewer's attention wander for a second. The only time the film's pace ever slows down is for a magnificently bikini-clad Salma Hayek to perform a show-stopping snake dance. It stops the film dead, but I find it difficult to complain. There's nudity, gore and monsters galore, so it's hard not to love this one. This was my first chance to see the film since it played theaters, and I can see making a viewing of From Dusk Till Dawn a Halloween tradition.