From Dusk till Dawn (1996) Retrospective / Review

I've always said the guy can kiss my ass but I just changed my lifetime to about 30 minutes ago as I know that whatever is out there trying to get in is pure evil straight from hell and if there is a hell and those sons of [ __ ] are from it then there has got to be a heaven Jacob there's got to be like this you heard about that [ __ ] up Nampally bank robber salts being on the box all day it killed some people then they yeah kill four inches three cops on civilian supposed to be headed for the border we should bring him right in my way two more hours to get into El Paso which is right next to the border and stuff in a motel stop we're not actually gonna stop in a motel are we yeah what border we have a Motorhome we don't want to stay in those Roach Haven motels do we know what you think I want you you know that's what I want a [ __ ] room the border check things out call Carlos trying to run some sort of a rendezvous I don't know what you see if you could arrange a better deal and 30% it's your standard deal and I could change that for us you want sanctuary you gotta pay the price hi it's called the punch rather than I with a little hot water and I need your assistance we want the motor home just take it get out time to [ __ ] around so I'm gonna make this simple you take your kids and you get in that motorhome or I will execute all three of you right now the only things that I care about are me but some of a [ __ ] back there in the back and our money so you help us get across the border without incident you stay with us through the night without trying anything funny without trying to escape and in the morning I'm gonna let you guys go all [ __ ] in Mexico you little piece of [ __ ] yes come on okay troops some home stretch here's the deal this place closes at dawn Carlos is gonna meet us here some time before dawn now we are gonna go in there we're gonna take a seat we're gonna drink we have a bunch of drinks so if everybody just keeps playing it cool I'm talking to you to Richie and everybody's gonna get what they want I don't hear anything about I don't believe in Vampires because I don't [ __ ] believe in Vampires when I believe in my own two eyes and what I saw is [ __ ] vampire now let's kill that [ __ ] band welcome from dusk till dawn hit the big screen the 19th of January 1996 in the USA and was released throughout the year across the world getting its UK premiere on the 31st of May produced on a modest budget of 19 million dollars it made 25 million in the USA it's unclear how much it made worldwide I believe may have been screened in a limited capacity with some territories going straight to VHS it made a further 19 point eight million on home rentals directed by Robert Rodriguez who was making a name for himself as the next generation of action director for his efforts on El Mariachi and desperado he brought along his slick style fast paced editing and Academy award-winning writer Quentin Tarantino who delivered his signature rich dialogue Laden moments to give audiences a movie with two hearts resulting in a heist movie that descends into an over-the-top vampire gorefest young audience members loved the mix but older viewers and critics preferred it's more serious start with the gecko brothers on the run and cared less for its horror elements even though it wasn't a huge hit it brought George Clooney plenty of attention and kick-started his feature film career it luckily found the bigger audience on VHS and laserdisc and became a cult classic very quickly Miramax jumped at the chance to capitalize on the film with two sequels for the director DVD market and eighteen years later a TV series was produced which lasted three seasons the sequels and TV show will be discussed later in the video the script of the film originally came as a 5 page outline written by makeup and effects expert Robert Kurtzman from the KNB EFX group he had worked with Tarantino on Reservoir Dogs he pitched his idea to him and got him to write a script based on his pitch and paid him $1500 the script would be tailored to show off the craft of his work and his studio K and B K and be worked on army of Darkness and more recently The Walking Dead the 5 page outline focused heavily on the events at the titty twister and only a brief section was how they got there so Quentin expanded it heavily wanting it to pay homage to the driving and exploit movies of the past the script was eventually sold to a studio who are eyeing it up as a big-screen follow-up to tales from the Crips first movie demon night Tarantino was never really confident it would get made but luckily bumped into Robert Rodriguez at the Film Festival in 1993 they're very had similar tastes in films such as their love for Jackie Chan movies and exploitation flicks of the past he got Robert to read the script and he loved it Miramax who were producing desperado managed to secure the script and wanted Tarantino involved he said he would only do it if Robert were directing other directors had been approached - such as Renny Harlin and Tony Scott but they settled on Rodriguez they had a wish list of people they wanted for the character Seth gecko which included names such as Antonio Banderas Tim Roth Michael Madsen and Christopher Walken they all turned it down citing scheduling conflicts at that point Tarantino had just directed an episode on the popular show ER which George Clooney was part of the main cast he thought he would be perfect to play Seth and wanted to give George a chance to show a different side to him George had limited success with films at that point and this would be his first feature film in a lead role the George had some input for his character and suggested he have a tattoo as he had just watched Once Were Warriors he wanted a design on his arm that ran up his neck I think many people wanted to copy that design once they saw it and it's only revealed in full at the end when he takes his jacket off Quentin Tarantino decided to play a part in the movie and was cast as such brother Richard gecko which he is a schizophrenic and deeply paranoid he originally had more of the funny lines of dialogue and quips but gave most of the lines to Seth as he wanted to try and play a different character for once Quentin often played an extension of himself when it came to acting harvey keitel was cast as Jacob fuller who worked return Teena on this a lot dogs on pulp fiction Jacob is an ex preacher who has lost faith in God due to the death of his wife Harvey is barely recognizable at first with the beard in glasses and hat the county he was playing was radically different to the other roles he was known for Juliette Lewis who had already had great success as an actor with the critically acclaimed California Natural Born Killers and Strange Days plays Katherine Jacobs daughter Katherine is a somewhat naive character who doesn't get into any confrontations with the geckos becomes assess aid when the vampires Julie had taken a break from making movies for six months and was friends with Tarantino she managed to read the script and with it being an easy role with not much dialogue she felt it would be a good part plus you wanted the chance to work with Robert Ernest Liu was cast as Scott fuller onus didn't really go on to have an acting career and this was the only big movie he starred in I presume he has left the industry in the audio commentary to the film Tarantino and Rodriguez don't comment on Ernest and how he was cast so there is little information on him you may notice Scott wears a shirt that reads precinct 13 and nod to John Carpenter's film assault on precinct 13 Salma Hayek who had just starred in desperado was cast as a vampire queen santanico pandemonium her name came from an old Mexican exploitation movie that town teen are remembered when he worked at a video store Salma was apprehensive about taking the role given that her big dance routine involved a large snake Salma had a phobia of snakes but managed to overcome her fears for the dance number the comic legend Cheech Marin wound up playing three different characters in the film the border guard the promoter outside the bar and Carlos who the gecko brothers are aiming to meet in Mexico Cheech got the three parts thanks to the line reads during the casting process he dissed took on the other characters as no one had been cast to play them thus Tarantino and Rodriguez thought it would be a neat idea of him to play all three characters once the geckos and the fuller family enter the bar we are introduced to Fred Williamson who plays frost fred is a former professional American footballer he was a star of the blaxploitation genre and the action schlock series black Cobra makeup effects legend Tom Savini placed sex machine Tom was best known as a makeup artist in horror classics such as Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th I believe around this time Tom was trying to further his acting career and focus less on his makeup background but almost a master of using a whip so when you see him use it it's all for real one deleted scene has intake of a glass bottle effortlessly the gadget he has attached to his crotch was a prop from desperado for the smaller roles a regular or the directors Danny Trejo playing a vampire barman racer Charlie Michael parks plays a Texas Ranger Michael was in town Tino's mind when he wrote the part Michael from then on would appear in a number of town Tino's and Rodriguez's films he sadly passed away May of this year John Hawkes plays Pete bottoms a liquor store cashier who appears at the start of the movie the part was originally offered to Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi both turned it down due to their work schedule finally we have John Saxon with a small cameo as an FBI agent Stanley chase filming started in June of 1995 and finished in late August Robert was a fast filmmaker getting 30 to 40 setups done a day and crammed 15 weeks of shooting in 210 so it was an intense shoot for the crew during the production Rodriguez needed to think of a way to avoid the nc-17 rating which would kill its box office so a decision was made at the vampire's blood be green the MPAA totally understood what the film was doing and enjoyed the comedy so they were very fair with the director insisting that only very minor cuts were needed the movie opens in the liquor store with a local Texas Ranger hunting down Seth and Richie gecko who are fleeing from the FBI what the Ranger doesn't know is that the brothers are hiding in the store which in his paranoid state believes a clerk has given them away and kills the Ranger a shootout destroys to stall and the brothers escape with their hostage hiding in the trunk of their car not far away the full of family are on vacation in their RV Jacob wishes to stay in a hotel to sleep in a proper bed and arrives at the same hotel the gecko brothers are hiding Seth makes a mistake of leaving his brother alone with the hostage as he contacts Carlos his colleague in Mexico Ritchie rapes and murders two hostage to the shock horror of Seth who goes into a fit of rage desperately warning Richie this is not how he operates Seth after spotting the RV needs new hostages and forces the fullest to smuggle them over the Mexican border Seth gives them his word that they will be set free and unharmed they arrive at the titty twister a strip club in the middle of nowhere in Mexico where Seth has arranged to meet his contact Carlos at dawn Seth feeling good that he is now free wants to fill us to drink with him as the geckos approached a club they aren't allowed in for which he instantly loses his temper and beats up the doorman shortly after enjoying some drinks and watching the star stripper the doorman and a few of the bouncers attack Richie things take a turn for the worst very quickly as the employees and strippers are revealed to be vampires the gecko brothers aren't alone in their battle as the other customers fight back a biker named sex machine and a Vietnam War veteran called Frost during the fight Richie's bitten and with the realization and what they are dealing with Seth knows what's coming next from dusk till dawn comes with a wealth of visual effects and gore in charge of the vampire designs that make up work K&B tf-x group handle the effects with additional help provided by VI FX and illusion arts as usual with K and B you get the full works when it comes to limbs being pulled off throats being cut headless corpses gooey blood and exploding bodies basically the fight with the vampires is a glorious show real to exhibit what they can do if you watch The Walking Dead you will see that they have gotten even better at their craft dusk till dawn is over the top and Rodriguez was trying to do new things with the effects making it a challenge for the team to keep up with his demands and ideas one of the heads of K and B Greg Nicotero makes a cameo in the movie threatening sex machine with a knife well but Kurt's menu at hide Tarantino to write the script design the rat that Tom Savini turns into as his head gets pulled off it was an animatronic puppet that is clearly very limited in its movements and they cut around it quickly to avoid giving away too much it's only on film for a few shots but it goes to demonstrate how mad and crazy the ideas were VI FX provided the digital effects work most of the CG Counsell and morphing techniques which were used a lot during the time with the first turning up in Willow here it's used to good effect with the best shot being when you see Salma Hayek transforming to a vampire and also her death scene when you see her dissolve and burn away they repeat this effect a few times and they are actually pretty inconsistent the death of frost as a vampire is a bit wonky as is the scene when seth has to kill his brother Tarantino Compton that readers of the magazine Fangoria weren't too impressed with the digital work but loved the practical monster effects which is as you might expect the movie ends with a map painting with added foreground miniatures by illusion arts the map was handled by robert stromberg who painted it on a glass with a live-action element which was a reprojected plate rodriguez kept this matte painting and has it hanging up in his house all in all the practical monster effects and makeup work is really good which is what I come to expect from K&B the digital work is of its time and has dated in areas but the movie was on a limited budget so you can forgive its shortcomings also of it being a throwback to exploitation flicks you don't expect the effects to be of the highest quality [Applause] [Music] from dusk till dawn comes loaded with tunes from ZZ Top Stevie Ray Vaughan the Mavericks the leftovers the blasters Jimmie Vaughan and the Chicano rock band Tito and tarantula who appear asta band in the titty twister bar as well as on the soundtrack the music is very much focused on Texas blues with the Maverick song foolish heart and the blasters track Dark Knight being my favorites there were two music videos produced one for ZZ Top and the other tito and tarantula I'm sure these may have played on music channels at the time but were featured on the laserdisc and subsequent DVD releases when Tarantino directs he rarely uses an original score and opts for existing tracks and music with Robert Rodriguez in charge however we get an original score by new zealand composer Graeme Revell Graeme is a superb and well seasoned composer having worked on The Crow the Riddick series Strange Days hard-target and Sin City to name just a few the school doesn't take effect until the vampires begin to attack the score takes on a familiar sound - James Horner's work on aliens and even Joseph lo Duca score - the Evil Dead movies Graeme frozen chorus chance to give it that operatic and haunting sound it works wonderfully for the action and horror elements sadly only two tracks turned up on the soundtrack release and the rest was filled with contemporary songs and a few tracks of classic dialogue such as the line from Clooney everybody be cool there are bootlegs of graem's work floating around the internet but with most of the music turning up in the end so totalling about 25 minutes so there isn't a lot of original score but what he did produce is worth listening to hopefully in the future we'll get a remaster all these music with the Texas blues tracks included the original album is still very easy to get hold off the physical CDs are very cheap and you can stream it via Amazon or iTunes definitely worth getting hold of if it's not in your collection now we did get a video game based on the film but not till five years later and only released on the PC this third-person shooter is based on the events that transpire after the movie so it's not technically based on the film but serves as a sequel Seth gecko has been charged for the murders of his brother and the fuller family he is now an inmate of the Rising Sun high-security prison a converted tank a floating off the coast of New Orleans vampires infiltrate the prison by posing as inmates and attacking kill the guards Seth needs to escape in order to do so you have to take out these vampires so pretty simple premise I had no idea that this game existed but I thought I should check if there was one produced just in case I made this review and someone says always forgot about the PC came doing a quick search and I found it I worked for a video game store years back when this came out and don't ever recall seeing it if you look at the graphics the characters are a bit rubbish but for the time the graphics engine seems smooth and the details of the levels seem very acceptable it's adequate for its time looking back through old reviews the scores were average on this game complaints of sluggish controls and a weak story but ultimately not a bad game if you've never played this before it's not going to be a hidden gem but if you are found the movies and TV show that it may pique your interest to play it that's if you can get your PC to make it work because it's a 16 year old game with this movie being a success on VHS and laserdisc dimension films wanted to push forward with a sequel at the time DVD was increasing in its popularity and had replaced VHS as the dominant format to watch movies on from dusk till dawn to Texas blood money would be an early test release for the direct-to-video market the sequel was released in March of 1999 the plot basically has 5 criminals who get together to rob a bank in Mexico one of them is on their way to the rendezvous point Easton was upon the titty twister bar which is now back in operation and doesn't appear to have sustained any of the damage from the original he looks a tad cheap inside with its design and Danny Trejo is back to smite being killed in the last one as the gang gets their meeting point they tend to steal the money from the bank while battling the vampires reviews at the time labeled it as goofy cheap and half-baked I was quite excited to see the sequel and watched it soon after its release I found it incredibly dull it's got some cool actors in it such as Robert Patrick and the quick cameo Cambell but the script lacks a great dialogue that Tarantino brings and the visual flair of Rodriguez from dusk till dawn three the hangman's daughter came to DVD in 2000 I believe shot very quickly after the second film was released it serves as a prequel to the original movie set in Mexico in the early 1900s it begins with the escape of Johnny Madrid a dangerous local outlaw from the gallows who then kidnaps to Hanlan's beautiful daughter Esmeralda with a little help from his friend Rhys a female outlaw from the US with the hangman and his local posse on their trail 20 meets with his gang as night falls all parties coincidentally seek shelter in an isolated in which is run by vampires Esmeralda is revealed to be the half-human half-vampire princess santanico pandemonium whom the vampires want is their heir critics witness harsh on this new entry but it certainly wasn't a major improvement for me it had the slight edge due to its western setting and offered a back story to the vampires and the origins of the titty-twister bar in March 2014 the TV series based on the franchise derived on the El Rey Network and Netflix three seasons were produced totaling 30 episodes it tries to capture the tone of the first film and introduces new characters and back stories the first couple of episodes expand on the first half of the original movie serving as a remake of those scenes I managed to watch a couple of episodes and didn't think it was that bad it's well shot and captures each photograph extolled the first movie is strange seeing the gecko brothers in small suits just made me think of the craze I haven't had a chance to watch the remaining episodes of season 1 but I enjoyed what I've seen so far many reviews say it gets better halfway into the series and being commissioned for three seasons they certainly found its audience it was received better than the direct-to-dvd sequels so if it tickles your interest it is still available on Netflix I saw from dusk till dawn when it hit VHS I had no idea what the film was about I hadn't seen any trailers and with it being an 18 rated movie it certainly wasn't on my radar to see at the cinema one of my old friends from school was big into movies and that's a young age he had a subscription to Empire magazine so he was quite clued up on what to watch he managed to get the VHS shown in the film and it became one of my favorite movies during my teenage years I still think it works extremely well to this day having to Jean was mixed together felt so if freshing to me I certainly wasn't cleared up on the exploitation references throughout but to me once it flipped on this serious heist movie to this crazy Sam Raimi type of horror I was just blown away it was gory bonkers with its execution and loaded with humor being 15 years old at the time I felt like this was the right age to see it I was so happy come late 1999 when I was studying film and TV as my interest had moved on to film I got hold of a laser display and picked up a special edition release of the film it was my first experience with in-depth special features all the extras now have been ported to DVD and blu-ray over the years even the commentary on the blu-ray starts with them talking about laserdisc I don't believe I had seen Pulp Fiction or vessel war dogs at a time when I watched dasa tug dawn so I was unfamiliar with don t know and his work my teenage years were more focused on videogames and less so about movies so dusk till dawn was my introduction to Quentin and he started writing his dialogue was witty rich engaging and funny with Quentin's character being a paranoid schizophrenic he's fast delivery and overthinking does play out really well Quentin is a superb director and clearly wants to be an actor as well but throughout these movies the audience know where his skillset lies and it's certainly not in acting he's not awful by any means I think he probably did his best work in this movie you get the impression he is really putting all his efforts into this part which he is written to be a horrible person we witnessed a dark side of him and it's disturbing we are shown very early on the different attitudes of bothers have towards their business and how they operate it's very much like Seth lets Ritchie tag along because he is family but detests what his brother does which he's mentally ill but you get the impression that Seth thinks he can take care of him and feels responsible for him I suppose he's blindsided by his love for his brother the geckos are not rogue characters they aren't good guys who step outside the law and it's pretty clear where they stand in society but because of their performances and the dialogue you are interested in how things are going to pan out for them it's that typical villain trope the bad guys on film are often more interesting than the clean-cut good guys once the brothers get into Mexico which he has less to do and say we see him become a vampire but beforehand he has little to no dialogue Tarantino as we all know from and listening to him on commentaries he is a motormouth and always has something to say so having his own counter but with little words was surprising I found out while listening to the commentary to the film that Tarantino realized that he hadn't given himself anything to say but couldn't be bothered to rewrite the whole scene and just let Harvey and George take over and discuss their issues with each other at the time George Clooney was well known for his role on ER and I was aware of him as he had to starred in Batman and Robin when dusk till dawn came out on VHS but this movie was my first real experience of witnessing his acting chops so to speak I avoided Batman of Albin at the cinema due to its behind reviews when you see him before with Seth you can see that he is a superstar and a high-caliber actor he does the comedy moments with ease and strikes that balance of the hard-edged account to that Seth is and nails it perfectly there isn't one thing that you can fault with his performance he is a villain we mustn't forget that but there is a good side to him and he isn't out to hurt people like his brother the rape and murder of the hostage is horrific and definitely the most realistic moment in the movie it's totally played straight like a drama and only gives you quick flash frames of what Seth is seeing as he discovers the results of his brother's actions when George Clooney has a stone talking down to Richey it may be the finest part of George's performance Robert Rodriguez I've not had a chance to talk about on my channel in any great length mainly due to not covering his films until now him and Tarantino are different in their methods of shooting but their passion for cinema especially exploitation flicks action and horror is completely synched it's like seeing two best friends team up to deliver a film that they really wanted to see and knew which audiences they were trying to please there are flourishes of Roberts dynamic style in the first half but the craziness is kept at bay until everything goes to pot coming introduction on the vampires at which point it goes full on Rodriguez Witte pans Dutch angles people getting thrown all over the place clearly inspired by Sam Raimi's work but with a slice of Hong Kong cinema thrown in for good measure the humor throughout the film to me is one of its strong points now it's not forced or slapstick in any way well when the vampires attack it gets silly with his execution but a large majority of it is played very straight and subtle there are some parts where you can miss out a funny line of dialogue but catch it on second viewing the arguing between and Richie and seeing Seth get his own way provides hilarious results Clooney plays up just enough but never goes too far for it to be ridiculous it's just smart dialogue and shock delivery it's hard to highlight humor without sharing sings isolated and the video becoming this montage of funny scenes but take it from me if you haven't seen it you'll definitely laugh your ass off waits in Mexico Mexicans in addition to the comedy there are still great character moments even when everything descends into chaos in the third act for example Seth and needing to persuade Jacob to believe in God once more because as the vampires come from Hell he figures there must be a heaven and thus he needs to help with someone on God's side it provides a great moment of redemption for Jacob and they solace that he finds in an unlikely ally Jacob is a broken man when we are introduced to him the loss of his wife has hit him hard and he seems to be escaping from his previous life and God on this trip with his kids once he is confronted with the gecko brothers he's often seen holding back his rage and anger behind this wall of a softly spoken man Seth is the one to break down that wall as he finally snapped some punches Seth Jacob unfortunately gets bitten and those his time is up but his faith in God has been restored and he blesses the water for it to become holy as a weapon against a vampire's there is this great moment with Seth once he realizes Jacob's been bitten he gets so angry because he feels responsible for the family he has unintentionally put them in this situation this shows you that Seth has a heart and cares about them many critics complained of xchange2 horror and fed it to Kuwait a serious edge of the first half but I like to see filmmakers surprise us and be unpredictable the posters and trailers showed you what it was going to be so you would have to go into this completely blind and then still be disappointed with the second act even though the second act goes a totally different route and changes tone there are still great dialog to take in there is hardly anything I can really fault with this movie I never tried to review a film with the intentions of finding anything negative over the years I've rewatch this film so many times I still really enjoy it to this day the funny lines and the dark themes are still very effective and haven't lost their punch you could definitely argue that Ernest Lou is the weakest link he doesn't seem very confident on camera and isn't given dialogue so he doesn't really have much to do he's not unwatchable by any means but when you put her next to Harvey Keitel you can see his lack of experience or command of the camera with it being a love letter to the drive-in and exploitation movies of the past it delivers on its homage but also provides something new and up-to-date without being a cliched callback to the past if you look at Quentin and Roberts future collaboration on the grindhouse movies I think they got too obsessed with trying to copy that genre and thus didn't really have the same impact as from dusk till dawn Planet Terror was the best of the pair but they got a bit self-indulgent what we've adding scratch and dust effects to the picture I think dawn is a better tribute to the exploitation genre the movie has a great cast but I feel if it didn't have George Clooney in it it wouldn't have been quite so memorable it's like if you take christoph waltz out of inglourious basterds it would have lost a key ingredient George is so integral to the whole thing for it to work for me if you had a good script with fantastic dialogue that you also need an actor to make it work Clooney really wanted to show off what he could do and he does it wonderfully from dusk till dawn is a highly recommended movie and certainly worth adding to your collection if you haven't picked it up yet if you do own it however then I hope I've encouraged you to watch it again all right now that we all agree that we're dealing with vampires what do we know about vampire crosses birth vampires we have a cross any Motorhome in other words no wait a second I mean just look around we got crosses all over the place all you gotta do is with two sticks together you got a cross yeah he's right peter cushing does that all the time so we got crosses covered what else wooden stakes in the heart been working pretty good so far actually our best weapon against satanic [ __ ] is this man he's a preacher a servant of God can take a cross and shove it up these monsters asses a sermon of God I can bless the tap water and make it a weapon what's this my guess this little dive has been feeding on bikers and truckers for a long time this is probably the shipments that they stole off the trucks well I say let's tear this place up off the whip so when they burst through that door make em wish they never did care about living a diet anymore I just want to send as many devils back the hell is that [Music] but it'd be called you be cool if you enjoyed the video you 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Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 362,029

Keywords: from dusk till dawn retrospective review, from dusk till dawn review, dusk till dawn, from dusk till dawn, retrospective review, oliver harper retrospective, ollyh82, oliver harper, movie, film, quentin tarantino, trailer, laserdisc, dvd, george clooney, review, retrospective, ending, documentary, KNB group, salma hayek, robert rodriguez, making of

Id: vS1_Vl4Qp4M

Length: 30min 48sec (1848 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 16 2017