From Dusk Till Dawn is one of my favorite vampires of all time and its definitely my favorite vampire movie that has a more serious tone. I remember the first time I even heard of the movie was when it won an award at the MTV Movie Awards. Before that I had no idea this movie was even a thing, but I remember it taking a long time to find the movie after that. I remember liking the movie the first time I watched it and my enjoyment has only increased with each watch.
From Dusk Till Dawn was directed by Robert Rodriguez. It was written by Quentin Tarantino based on a story by Robert Kurtzman. This was my first time seeing anything that was made by Rodriguez and Tarantino. This is definitely more of an outlier in Tarantino’s filmography which is a shame because he definitely has a way of writing horror. Rodriguez definitely plays to his strengths with the combination of action and horror in the movie. He also gets fun and interesting performances.
The cast is one of the most interesting things about the movie. The movie stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin, Tom Savini, Salma Hayek, Ernest Liu, and Fred Williamson. Cheech Marin’s multiple roles are a lot of fun. The one that’s outside of the Titty Twister is the most memorable of the three. Harvey Keitel’s performance is nuanced and one of the most interesting performances in the movie. George Clooney is so much fun as the obviously bad guy that you end up rooting for against the vampires. The rest of the cast is great but those three put in a lot of work. I also want to mention that I’m pretty sure that Salma Hayek has only gotten better with age.
The vampire effects from KNB effects are still amazing. No two vampires look a like and each of the cast that gets turned have distinct looks. Santanico Pandemonium has the most distinct vampire look with it being the most snake like. The kills in the movie are some of the most original kills in any vampire movie. The use of cg for the fire and melting of the vampires after they’re killed. The music by Graeme Revell is fantastic. It has that outlaw western feel that adds to the feel of the movie.
From Dusk Till Dawn is a vampire movie that is a lot of fun and plays against expectations the first time you see it. This would spawn two sequels and then in 2014 it was reimagined as a television series. While there are certain words that might make you cringe, they’re used by people that suck. You can stream the movie on HBO Max. I give From Dusk Till Dawn 9 cod piece guns out of 10.