Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis
Special Occasion: 25th Annual Halloween Film Salon!
“You’ve arrived on a rather special night. It’s one of the Master’s affairs.”
– Riff Raff, Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
In April of this year, we of the Edward D. Wood Jr. Memorial Film Society marked 25 years of celebrating underappreciated cinema. We’ve been meeting monthly since April 1992 when our kids were very young, and an evening of rented films with potluck was the most affordable option for getting together with friends.
In those days, we had to keep the sex and gore (in the movies, of course) to a minimum for the sake of our children (7, 5, and 18 months at the time) and those of our guests. We generally tried to maintain a family-friendly program, but we’d sometimes add a third feature after the kids were packed off to bed. We referred to this as “Testosterone Theatre.” That’s when we’d indulge our love of the scariest horror films, the grindiest grindhouse, sexy stuff, and other movies that weren’t suitable for the little ones.
Now our kids (and everyone else’s) are grown, and we’ve even gotten over our reluctance to watching this sort of thing with them. (In fact, they’ve given us some great recommendations!)
*****
The first feature on tonight’s special Halloween program was What We Do in the Shadows (2015). (Read my recent review here.)
Our second feature, #28 of the Fright Night Challenge, is the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino vampire gore-fest, From Dusk Till Dawn.
In a way, From Dusk Till Dawn is like a mythical centaur, two different creatures stitched together into one. The first half of the movie is a crime story, mad-dog killers/kidnappers/bank robbers on the run. Then once the characters are all brought together in one place and trapped there together, it switches gears and becomes a supernatural horror film.
Tarantino wrote the screenplay for this project, and his films are definitely not for everyone. But in addition to the blood and guts and profanity he’s famous for, he’s also a genius at creating brilliant dialogue amongst the exploding heads and severed limbs.
The Three Faces of Cheech
You’ll see a lot of familiar faces in From Dusk Till Dawn, especially if you’re a Tarantino or Rodriguez fan. Of course, there are the regulars, like Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, and Michael Parks (and even Cheech Marin in an unprecedented triple role!)…
And yes, that’s a young (just post-ER) George Clooney in his big screen debut. Tarantino himself is one of the leads, having handed off the director’s chair to Rodriguez to focus on his acting role.
Incidentally, makeup effects legend Pittsburgh’s own Tom Savini enthusiastically plays badass biker “Sex Machine,” and sharp-eyed Walking Dead fans may notice executive producer Greg Nicotero (another makeup effects guy who also happens to be from Pittsburgh!) in a small role as Sex Machine’s biker buddy.
*****
Again, From Dusk Till Dawn starts out as a straightforward crime spree movie. After a bank heist with multiple fatalities, the Gecko brothers, Seth (Clooney) and crazy Richie (Tarantino) are on the lam. A stop at a remote liquor store doesn’t go any better, ending with Richie killing a sheriff (Parks) and the clerk (future Oscar nominee John Hawkes), then blowing up the store.
It’s quite clear already that Richie is a murderous psychopath, and Seth isn’t always able to keep him under control. The brothers check into a motel with their surviving hostage from the bank job and discuss their plans to escape into Mexico.
Seth goes on a fast food run and returns to find that Richie has raped and murdered their hostage. Understandably, he’s pretty ticked off at Richie – now they’ll need new hostages to get across the border.
Soon the brothers find their next victims. They hijack an RV and force the family inside – former preacher Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel), his teenage daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis), and son Scott (Ernest Liu) – to take them to Mexico. There’s a tense moment at the border when customs officer Cheech Marin #1 comes on board to inspect the vehicle, but Kate’s quick thinking avoids disaster.
Seth directs Fuller to drive to a remote bar in the desert called the Titty Twister, where he’s meeting his Mexican contact. Business appears to be booming, as there are hundreds of trucks and motorcycles parked outside.
An incredibly crude (but effective!) barker – Cheech Marin #2 – is really selling it, shouting out what alcoholic and sexual delights potential patrons might find within. But he denies entrance to the Gecko party of 5, so Seth beats him up (with psycho Richie joining in after he’s already down), and they go inside.
Inside, the bar looks like the set of Nickelodeon’s Legends of the Hidden Temple, with the addition of flames erupting out of braziers, loud music (actually Rodriguez’s own band), and mostly nude dancers in Aztec-type costumes gyrating around all over the place.
After an argument with bartender Danny Trejo (who often appears in Rodriguez’s movies and just happens to be his cousin), the kidnappers and their hostages settle in for some drinks to wait for Seth’s contact to arrive… and of course, to enjoy the entertainment.
Soon the main attraction is announced – Satanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) glides out onto the stage wrapped in a huge white boa constrictor… and little else. The audience is transfixed. She dances sensually around the stage and onto the tables, eventually focusing on Richie, who is practically drooling.
Meanwhile, Cheech Marin #2 returns with backup and points out Seth and Richie, and they attempt to remove them. Predictably, Richie starts shooting, and a gunfight ensues.
Here is where the movie shifts gears, and “second half” begins. Satanico Pandemonium notices that Richie is bleeding profusely, and all hell breaks loose, in a manner of speaking.
She turns into a hideous vampire snake monster and jumps on him, biting him on the neck. Seth shoots her, but soon she and the dead bouncers (as well as the bartenders and dancers) rise again, lock the doors, and begin feeding on the customers.
Somehow Seth and the Fullers and a few of the surviving bar patrons manage to kill just about all of the vampires (including Richie). But they don’t have much time to enjoy their victory, because now the dead bitten customers start turning into vampires. Even worse, a huge swarm of vampire bats is trying to get in, and eventually they do.
The survivors make their last stand, fighting off the attacking vampires with improvised weapons. In the end, only Seth and Kate are left with the monsters closing in around them.
All seems lost, until they notice beams of sunlight coming in through cracks in the walls. They start shooting holes in the walls, but it isn’t quite enough. Then Seth’s connection Carlos (Cheech Marin #3) arrives, and they get him to blow open the doors. Sunlight streams into the building, multiplied by a disco ball, and the vampires burst into flames, with the building exploding as Seth and Kate escape.
As Seth and Kate go their separate ways, the camera pans back to show that the bar is the top tier of an ancient Aztec temple. Behind it is a canyon filled with decades worth of trucks and motorcycles left behind by the victims of the Titty Twister vampires.
*****
As is the case with all Tarantino and Rodriguez movies, there is a treasure trove of interesting backstory…
- From Dusk Till Dawn was Tarantino’s first paid writing gig. He was paid $1500. He wrote the screenplay after winning the Oscar for Pulp Fiction (1994).
- He got the name for Salma Hayek’s character, Satanico Pandemonium, from a Mexican horror movie on the shelf in a video store.
- When Hayek found out she had to dance with a large boa constrictor, she nearly passed on the role because of her extreme fear of snakes. Two months of intensive therapy helped her overcome her aversion.
- The growling noises made by the vampire dog were provided by Rodriguez’s infant son.
- The movie was almost cursed with the dreaded NC-17 rating because of the amount of gore… so they made the vampires bleed green blood instead of red, which somehow satisfied the censors.