This review is for one of my all time favourite movies, Robert Rodriguez' From Dusk Till Dawn, I must have seen this film at least 20 times by now and i've decided that now is the time for me to share my thoughts with you, my lovely readers. What makes this film so appealing to me and what makes me think you should check it out, well why not click the read more button and check out the review....
And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because I don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what I saw is fucking vampires - Seth Geko
From Dusk Till Dawn is a film I hold very dear to me, it was one of the first 18 certificate films I ever saw and also one of the first 'Horror' films I ever saw, so there's a bit of nostalgia hanging around this review. When I was 13-14 I thought this film was the shit, violent, foul mouthed and it had fucking vampires and tits, what would stop me from liking this. Now i've see this film maybe 15-20 times now and every time time I watch it, it makes me smile, just remembering back when I was a kid and how I faked being ill just so I could stay home and watch the video of it while everyone was either at school or at work. So as an adult and being legally allowed to watch it without having to pretend i'm ill is great because I don't have to sneak around or turn the volume down when some one's coming, it's great. It's not like it's a Taboo film or video nasty but at the time it was hailed as uber violent, which in it's self is wrong, and definitely not for the kids.
So the film starts off with this sort of grungy, deserty Peckinpah style, like The Wild Bunch or The Getaway. The sheriff arrives at the gas station and proceeds to chit chat with the clerk. However the sheriff is unaware that at the back of the store are the Gecko Brothers, Seth and Ritchie, currently wanted for a prison escape, multiple murders and a kidnapping. One thing leads to another and there's a shoot out. Seth and Ritchie manage to escape and jump in their car to find a place to lay low. Once at a motel, they pop the boot and we see the hostage. Inside the room, Seth makes Ritchie watch the hostage while he goes and checks on the Mexican border, when he returns the hostage is missing, Ritchie says she's in the bedroom and that is exactly where she is..but all over the walls and the floors too, we find out here that Ritchie is a rapist as well as a murderer. They Force a preacher and his two children to help them cross the border into Mexico and to take them to a bar called the Titty Twister where at dawn they're going to meet their Mexican contact. They make it across and find the bar. Now comes the WTF moment, we go from a well paced and plotted Crime thriller in the vain of a Walter Hill movie and then suddenly we're thrown into a fucking vampire movie that wouldn't be out of place in a grind-house theatre. So the fight for survival is on for Seth and the rest as they have to try and make it to dawn.
Ok, cast wise you have George Clooney, during his E.R days playing an ironic, in a way, character compared to his E.R character. In this instead of saving lives in the E.R he sends them there, but Clooney is the fucking man in this, giving his best Charles Bronson meets Steve McQueen impression and pulling off the coolest cinematic anti hero since Snake Pliskin made the Eye patch bad ass. Clooney's Seth Gecko may seem like a bastard but like he says he “might be a bastard but he's not a fucking bastard”, while he takes his jacket off to reveal this kinda awesome tribal sleeve tattoo and jumps in a Porsche. But it's Clooney's delivery of Tarantino's dialogue that makes his performance so good. He's given some truly brilliant lines and delivers them with effortless ease much like McQueen again and Clint Eastwood. And while he does start the film off as an asshole only looking out for number one and two (Ritchie) by the end he's this kind of badass sympathetic character, towards Juliette Lewis' Kate at least. This was the movie role that made George Clooney's movie career and it's obvious why he's become such a well respected actor and strange how he's never returned to this kind of film instead focusing on more straight films such as Michael Clayton or the Ocean's 11 movies. But this where I I love Clooney as a lead.
Mr. Quentin Tarantino himself stars as Richard Gecko, Seth's slightly unstable brother, a mental case who grinds his teeth and loves 'a raping', but while QT has always been blasted for his acting ability, he's pretty fucking good here. The scene's between Richard and Seth in hotel room are brilliant as well as the opening gas station scene. So credit due to Q.
Harvey Keitel plays the mean mother fucking servant of god, Jacob Fuller, who along with his daughter and adopted son are kidnapped and forced to transport the Gecko's across the border into mexico. As always Keitel is on his game, playing against type as a preacher and not a criminal. He is kind of the angel on Seth's Shoulder where as QT is the Devil on Seth's other shoulder. He, in a way keeps Seth sane as he's the only one with the balls big enough to stand up to him. As always Keitel is on form and is a joy to watch.
Juliette Lewis, Pre insane rock chick but post Natural Born Killers, plays Kate Fuller, Jacob's daughter who, along with her father is still grieving over the loss of her mother. Here she becomes turns from a teen or what ever young age she's supposed to be into a strong woman. I've never had a bad word to say against Miss Lewis and she's great here. Another film in which she gives a truly remarkable performance is a film called The Other Sister. It's a drama but her performance is really on top form.
Filling out the rest of the cast is the usual trio for a Rodriguez movie, Cheech Marin, pulling a Peter Sellers and playing not one, not two but three roles, the first as the border patrol man, then as the pussy guy...apple pie pussy, and finally as Seth's Mexican contact Carlos, then we have Machete himself, Danny Trejo playing the vampire barman Razor Charlie and finally we have Miss Salma Hayek as Satanico Pandamonium, the head vampire, who in a scene lasting at least 5 minutes, probably performs the sexiest dance ever committed to film. We also have Blaxsploitation legend Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson as frost, the badass Vietnam vet, all stogies and stakes and we round off the cast with make up FX master Tom Savini as the brilliantly named Sex Machine.
So not only do we have a great Tarantino script but also some brilliant camera work and editing from Robert Rodriguez. I think it works well to have a director who shoots his own stuff without using a monitor, you get the right look and feel of the directors vision.
The FX make up from the clever people at KNB FX, misters Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzman is fucking amazing, the vampire make up is great and very different from just fangs, they're given a more creature look. One even has a stomach that opens, ala The Thing, that has teeth.
So when you factor in all the, and im using this word again, Badass elements, you're left with a brilliantly acted, directed and written vampire film that defies vampire convention and leaves you wanting more. Unfortunately we were given more in the down right awful Texas Blood Money and the passable if a bit weak Hangman's Daughter which stars Michael Parks. So is From Dusk Till Dawn a worth while watch? Hell fucking yes, It's One of my favourites and also just a great vampire film that hit's you with a major WTF moment when the vamp reveal hits. This mother fucker gets the full five star treatment.
Oh and remember.....Everybody be Cool....You Be cool.....
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