From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

3 out of 4

Starring: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Ernest Liu, Tom Savini

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Time: 108 mins

From Tusk Till Dawn owes something to Alfred Hitchock's Pyscho, that infamous thriller that introduced audiences to Norman Bates. Their similarity lies not in the level of suspense, or excitement, or even the horrific events that befall the protagonists. No - the legacy that Pyscho left for From Dusk Till Dawn is the ninety-degree turn into uncharted territory that twists, screws around, and plays havoc with viewer expectations. Pyscho started off as a human angst drama, about a secretary absconding with a large sum of money from her boss, before turning into a frightening serial killer murder mystery that kept everyone guessing and screaming. From Dusk Till Dawn begins in similar fashion, with a couple of crims in possession of a suitcase full of cash on the run from Texan authorities. They kidnap a preacher and his two children at a motel, then stop at a Mexican drinking hole. What happens here is almost beyond belief (can we say...vampires?), turning the movie into a series of non-stop horror confrontations. Indeed, the skew in the storyline is so bizarre that it will be brought up anytime someone talks about this film.

As befitting a project involving director Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi) and writer Quentin Tarantino (their third together, following Desperado and Four Rooms), From Dusk Till Dawn shows snippets of the clever, hard-hitting dialogue that Tarantino is known for, the massive shoot-a-thon sequences that Rodriguez is a specialist in, and the trademark gore and bloodletting that both are associated with. However, Tarantino's script doesn't really show much creativity, especially once the main characters reach that Mexican bar. It's as if he is willing to let the special effects and the action do the talking once the setup is over. Rodriguez, though a bit hesitant in the first half hour or so, does bring a sure hand to the proceedings once the vampires arrive. There is a thrill to the visuals, even if they are hard to describe without repeat viewings. Complemented by the usual array of gory special effects like lots of bloody flesh, torn limbs, severed heads, and melting bodies, the vampire scenes, while seemingly nothing to do with the first half of the film, do keep your eyes glued to the screen.

In one of his first movie roles since gaining stardom on the TV series E.R., George Clooney is Seth Gecko, a notorious criminal who has just escaped from prison with the help of his brother Richard (Tarantino). With a load of cash in a suitcase, they kidnap former preacher Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel), his daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis) and son Scott (Ernest Liu), and use them to get across the border into Mexico. The Geckos have a rendezvous with Carlos (Cheech Marin), an associate, at dawn, but first they have to survive the night at a bikers' bar out in the middle of nowhere. Here they are witness to a seductive dance by the luscious Satanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek), who stirs sex-crazed Richard's loins. All hell breaks loose when the Geckos find themselves in trouble and start putting bullets into some of the locals. Fangs are bared, and the fight is joined!

The first half of the film describes how the Geckos got away, as well as trying to add a bit of background to Richard, Seth and Jacob. Richard is trigger-happy, addicted to sex, and a bit slow. He clearly defers to his quicker, smarter brother, though there is one Tarantino-esque moment when Richard repeatedly questions Seth on why Seth called him a "f...in' idiot" (or words to that effect). Clooney is in his element here as the fast-talking man-in-charge, a role he was to virtually reprise in later films like The Peacemaker, Out of Sight, and Three Kings. Tarantino, however, is a bit of a liability. He may be a great writer of dialogue, but his acting is only adequate. Luckily the film's focus is more on Clooney and the vampires, and not on him.

Similarly, the back story given to Harvey Keitel's preacher-who-has-lost-faith doesn't quite work either. While giving him impetus for an eventual redemption, by the time he comes around, you probably won't care. Keitel's low-key, self-doubting portrayal is almost a surprise, given his previous standout roles like the suave Mr Wolf in Pulp Fiction and the outraged Mr White in Reservoir Dogs. The talented Juliette Lewis is not given a lot to work with here, with a character that's not developed very much. Newcomer Ernest Liu seems a bit lost as Keitel's son, though, again, the character is under-developed. Special mention must be made of horror legend Tom Savini (the maestro behind the effects in George Romero's Living Dead series), who adds muscle and humour as the Sex Machine, a biker who inadvertently finds himself in the middle of vampire central. Comedian Cheech Marin has fun with three (yes, three) different roles, and there are spot-the-star cameos from John Saxon and Kelly Preston.

From Dusk Till Dawn will probably become a bit of a cult film in years to come. Its combination of vampires, blood, gore, decapitations, Salma Hayek, and some touches of Tarantino penmanship should ensure a dedicated fan club. While not to everyone's taste, if you don't mind a bit of visceral, energetic fun, you might just find yourself enjoying this film.

(c) Joe Wong (31 July 2000)