RetView #75 – From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Title: From Dusk Till Dawn
Year of Release: 1996
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Length: 108 mins
Starring: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Tom Savini, Danny Trejo, Michael Parks
There’s been a long-running debate as to whether or not From Dusk Till Dawn qualifies as a bona fide Tarantino movie, who was then riding the crest of a wave on the back of his masterful Pulp Fiction (1994) which he wrote and directed as he had his 1992 breakthrough Reservoir Dogs. Though he played a supporting role and From Dusk Till Dawn definitely benefited from his involvement, Tarantino’s creative input was limited to a screenplay writing credit, the original idea coming from Robert Kurtzman whose career had started in the special effects departments of Night of the Creeps (1986) and Predator (1987), and handed Tarantino his first ever paid gig, for which he was paid $1500. Universal Pictures originally considered Tarantino’s screenplay as the follow-up to Demon Knight (1995) but ultimately produced another vampire film, Bordello of Blood (1996), instead. With it’s slick production values and all-star cast, From Dusk Till Dawn was very much a movie for the MTV generation, a sentiment underscored when it cleaned up at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, winning in three separate categories including Best Horror Film and Best Actor for George Clooney. Interestingly, Tarantino was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor at both the Golden Raspberry Award and the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. The film was banned in, Ireland with Irish Film Censor Board head Sheamus Smith citing its, “Irresponsible and totally gratuitous” violence, which he felt was particularly untimely in the wake of the then-recent Dunblane and Port Arthur massacres. On January 27, 2004, the video release was passed with an ’18’ certificate.
Fugitive bank robbers Seth (Clooney) and Richie (Tarantino) Grecko hold up a liquor store, killing a clerk and a Texas Ranger (Earl McGraw, played by Parks. More about him later) in a shootout and go into hiding at a motel. Meanwhile, Jacob Fuller (Keitel), a pastor experiencing a crisis of faith brought on by the death of his wife, is on vacation with his teenage children Scott and Kate (Lewis) in their RV. They stop at the motel and are swiftly kidnapped by the Gecko brothers, who force the family to smuggle them over the Mexican border. In Mexico, they arrive at a banging strip club in the desert called the Titty Twister, where the Gecko brothers plan to meet a contact, Carlos, at dawn. During a bar fight, the bar employees reveal themselves to be creatures most commonly referred to in literature surrounding this film ‘vampires’, though they have very little in common with other cinematic portrayals. They attack the patrons, killing most of them, including Richie, and what was already a very tense evening (for the Fuller family, anyway) is elevated to a whole new level.
This can best be described as a horror comedy, with plenty of Easter eggs and nods to other works by Tarantino and/or Rodriguez. For example, Seth Gecko’s line, “All right, Ramblers. Let’s get rambling!” is a direct quote from Reservoir Dogs (1992). Chronologically From Dusk Till Dawn takes place after both Kill Bill movies (2003 and 2004) and Death Proof (2007) since minor character Earl McGraw was alive in those and was killed in this movie. Due to the heavy number of special effects, the film had to be strictly budgeted. Only six full body vampire suits could be made for the climax that called for many dozens of vampires. In the final film, the same six actors play all of the vampires getting killed over and over. In some shots, dummies, puppets and cardboard cut-outs were placed in the background to create the illusion of a large host of vampires. In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, “The latter part of From Dusk till Dawn is so relentless that it’s as if a spigot has been turned on and then broken. Though some of the tricks are entertainingly staged, the film loses its clever edge when its action heats up so gruesomely and exploitatively that there’s no time for talk.” Meanwhile, in his review for The Washington Post, Desson Howe wrote, “The movie, which treats you with contempt for even watching it, is a monument to its own lack of imagination. It’s a triumph of vile over content; mindless nihilism posing as hipness.”
It’s fair to say that Tarantino’s work has always divided critics. Personally, I think it can be a bit hit and miss. Pulp Fiction is one of my favourite movies ever, and From Dusk till Dawn isn’t that far behind but a few of his other high-profile releases have been much-ado about nothing. From Dusk till Dawn was followed by two direct-to-video instalments, a sequel From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) and a prequel called From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (2000). Tarantino served as producer on both, and Danny Trejo was the only actor to appear in all three. There was also a TV series which ran for three seasons from 2014-2016 and a video game.
Trivia Corner:
Salma Hayek had a morbid fear of snakes, so when she read the script, she knew her phobia would prevent her from taking the part. Robert Rodriguez conned her into thinking that Madonna was ready to step in should she not accept it so Hayek spent two months in therapy trying to overcome her fear. She didn’t have a choreographer for her now-legendary dance, because according to her, it wouldn’t be possible to choreograph the live Albino Burmese Python Reticulus around her neck. Therefore, she made it up as she went along. Rammstein’s video for “Engel” is an homage to this movie.
