From Dusk Till Dawn

by Quentin Tarantino

Follows bank robbers Richie and Seth on their violent, macabre journey to cross the border for a meeting with their Mexican crime partners

Genres: Horror, Film, Fiction, Fantasy, Media Tie In, Crime, Vampires

178 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an Academy Award- and Palme d'Or-winning American film director, screenwriter and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and stylized violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (Vol. 1 2003, Vol. 2 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Reviews

[Paul Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this script back in high school because I was a such a fan of the movie (really a perfect film for high school boys), but wanted to go give it a re-read before revisiting the film. It's mostly pretty accurate to what they filmed, with a few small omissions. Tarantino so effectively makes the crime drama aspects just fly, that by the time we finally get to the vampire shit the movie doesn't have much time left and cannonballs even faster to the end. Fast paced and fun.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

never read it before but ... so good :-) :-)

[Vyshakh Aravindan · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Dusk Till Dawn is one of the strangest screenplays I've read in a while. For the first half, it feels like a tense crime thriller about two dangerous brothers on the run. Then, almost without warning, it transforms into something completely different.

The abrupt shift is both the screenplay's greatest strength and its biggest weakness. On one hand, I have to admire how bold it is. Even knowing the twist beforehand, I still enjoyed seeing how suddenly the story changes direction. On the other hand, it often feels like two different movies stitched together rather than one fully cohesive story.

The opening sections were easily my favorite part. The tension between the characters, the sense of danger surrounding the Gecko brothers, and the sharp dialogue kept me invested. Once the story reaches the Titty Twister, the screenplay becomes much more focused on action, spectacle, and chaos. While that can be fun, I found it less engaging than the crime-focused first half.

Tarantino's voice is still recognizable throughout, especially in the dialogue, but this feels more like an entertaining genre experiment than one of his strongest works. I never regretted reading it, and there are several memorable scenes that have stayed with me, but it didn't leave the same impact as some of his other screenplays.

An enjoyable and wildly unpredictable read, even if it never fully came together for me.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hope it was just the version I read but this screenplay seemed like it was written by a 12 year-old. There were numerous errors, terrible descriptions and "and then" action lines.

Very poor quality for a movie that was such a mainstream game-changer when it was released.

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Katia]

Movie: 1996

[Nathan Forester · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are quite a few differences between the original script and the movie, mainly the roles of Sex Machine and Frost were swapped around.

[Tina Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good screenplay. Some things are different from the movie but not as vastly different as the other 2 movies that Tarantino wrote but didn't direct. He had a lot more to do with this movie then he did with True Romance and Natural Born Killers though. I mean he's in From Dusk Till Dawn and he was an Executive Producer for it.

[Jared Busch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was too young to see this movie in the theater when it came out, so I had to buy the screenplay book. when I finally did see the movie, it actually disappointed me. I wonder how different it would have been if Tarantino had directed instead of Rodriguez...

[De'Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book but I like the Movie better because it added some good deails to the movie and there isn't a lot of descripton to me on it.

[Joseph Szabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not Pulp Fiction but it did make me smile.

[Tom Mutie]

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[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, over-rated, schlock comedy horror