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FROM DUSK TIL DAWN
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars:
George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Surround
Video: Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Disney/Dimension Home Video
Features: See Review
Length: 108 Minutes
Release
Date: October 3, 2000
Film
****
From
Dusk Till Dawn
marked a very satisfying moviemaking collaboration. It brought together director
Robert Rodriguez, whose 1992 cult classic El
Mariachi still remains one of the most profitable films ever made, and the
writing wizardry of Quentin Tarantino, who had just won a most deserved Oscar
for his original screenplay for Pulp
Fiction. Although the two had collaborated in such previous projects as Four Rooms and Desperado, From
Dusk Till Dawn marks the strongest collaboration the two are ever likely to
make. Tarantino’s script blends together his unique use of dialogue with
homage to b horror movies. Rodriguez is a master of over the top action films. Desperado had its share of remarkable and outrageous shoot out
scenes, but the action scenes in this movie are even more over the top and
remarkable. The film was released to theaters in January of 1996, and I quickly
labeled it the first great movie of that year.
This is a movie that
ingeniously blends together numerous genres into one movie, though it’s clear
that film was to be primarily sold as a horror movie, and the best vampire flick
since 1985’s Fright Night. It’s also a crime drama, a comedy, and at
times, it has the go for broke quality of an exploitation film. From the
beginning, Rodriguez and Tarantino had set out to make a horror movie with a
more original tone, and a much stronger kind of narrative. Rodriguez pointed out
in an interview; “Part of the advantage to the movie that we’re making is
that there is no horror for the first half of the movie”. This strategy was
used in order to invest some time in the characters so that you actually care
about what happens to them in the end. Tarantino script pays homage to the works
of Stephen King, and pointed out when interviewed, “He’s the best writer of
characterization that there is, and you always end up caring about what happens
to the characters in his stories.” Well, Tarantino himself is a terrific
writer of characterization of films, as he proves with this original movie,
filled the quirkiest characters that you’ll ever see in a film of this nature.
The movie has one
knockout of a cast, led by a magnificent, hard edged performance from George
Clooney, who at the time when this movie came out, was saving lives on the hit
show ER, and had never had a major
starring role in a movie. Even before seeing this movie, and aware that I had
never seen what Clooney had done before, I knew he had something just watching
him in the ads for the film. After seeing his performance in this movie, I knew
for sure that a star was born. Clooney and Tarantino play Seth and Richard
Gecko, brothers and the country’s most wanted fugitives. The movie opens with
an exhilarating sequence that has the two brothers in a liquor store turning a
low-key hostage situation into a out of a control shoot-out, which ends itself
in a very outrageous manner. The Geckos are trying to make it to the Mexican
border to meet some partners in crime and elude the authorities apprehending
them. The two brothers soon cross paths with a family in a recreational van, who
they kidnap to help them get to the border. The family consists of Jacob (Harvey
Keitel), a former preacher who has somewhat lost his faith, his daughter Kate (Juliette
Lewis), and adopted son Scott (Ernest Liu). Seth assures Jacob that if he simply
does as he is told, him and his family will be set free once Seth and Richard
reach the rendezvous point.
They do reach the
border, and arrive at the rendezvous point, which is a Mexican bar and grill
located in the middle of nowhere. As it turns out, the bar turns out to be a
feeding ground for bloodthirsty Mexican vampires, led by the establishment’s
seductive exotic dancer (Salma Hayek). It is at this point in the film that the
horror genre kicks in, with a parade of superbly over-the-top exercises in blood
and gore overkill, which I found simply a giddy delight. You can instantly sense
the B movie quality as the film builds toward its climatic battle between the
humans and the vampires. Try and recall another movie where such weapons as a
handmade power saw, water balloons, and yes, super soakers, were used to fight
off the undead. You’d be lucky to find another moment like it anywhere else,
and it’s unlikely you’ll encounter another one like it anytime soon.
Another winning
element of the movie is the screenplay and the dialogue, written by one of the
greatest filmmakers the world will ever know, Quentin Tarantino. It’s clearly
his technique of writing and characterization that makes us care about these
characters, much like a Stephen King novel. I can certainly say that with
exception of a few other movies in the horror genre, acting, writing, and
character development was never delivered better in a horror movie than this
one.
Video: ***
I had previously owned the original DVD version of the movie,
and as far as I can tell, there’s no major difference in the video quality.
The quality itself is of top form, other than the fact that it isn’t
anamorphically enhanced, which is what Disney had been accustomed to doing with
the majority of their discs. For what it is, though, it is of clear and crisp
form.
Audio: ***
The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is also not that different
from the standard disc. The soundtrack and action scenes come through superbly.
At the same time, I would have given it a higher rating if some of the gunfire
could be heard, as I noticed in a few scenes, where a gun would go off, and yet
a shot could be heard, mostly because of the loud musical score. Other than
that, it’s a fairly good sounding disc.
Features: ****
Now here is where disc excels immensely: the features
department. Other than such discs as Scream 3 and Good Will Hunting,
Disney has never thrown this much into a DVD before, neither have they ever
issued a 2-Disc collector’s edition, which a lot of studios have started
doing. To start off with, on disc number one, there are 3 behind the scenes
documentaries, a superb commentary by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, a
series of deleted scenes, a trailer as well as numerous TV spots, two music
videos, a still gallery, and some of the funniest outtakes I’ve ever seen,
most of which consists of George Clooney screwing up his lines, and losing his
cool as a result. The second disc is the full-length feature movie Full Tilt
Boogie, which is a 90-minute documentary of what went on during the making
of the movie. Just about everyone who was involved in the project is included in
this film, with the exception of Salma Hayek and Harvey Keitel, who has a very
brief scene with Tarantino. By far the best assortment of extras to ever come
from Disney.
Summary:
From Dusk Till Dawn is over the top moviemaking at it’s best. With the help of a stellar cast, intelligent writing, and good directing, this is one horror film that truly delivers the goods, which is a lot more than I can say for most films in the genre.