From Dusk Till Dawn

By: Nate Boss 11.01.2008

The Movie Itself:
From Dusk Till Dawn has always been my best example of a movie that has the perfect combination of direction, cast, writing, and performances, but still cannot pull it off into a timeless classic. Perhaps the film’s amazing opening sequences (and eventual spiral into mediocrity) are the reason I feel as such; it took nine years for a film (Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects) to capture the essence of From Dusk Till Dawn’s opening and prolong it through the entire movie. Regardless of if the film blew it’s load too early, From Dusk Till Dawn is still worth it’s weight in vampire goo.

The story is as straightforward as....well, something not very straightforward. Seth and Richard Gecko (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, respectively) are on the run from the law after Richard springs Seth from a courthouse in Texas. After holing up in a sleazy hotel, they hold the Fuller family (Juliette Lewis, Harvey Keitel and Ernest Liu) hostage for a ride across the Mexican border in their RV. Their destination? The Titty Twister, another sleazy locale, full of the roughest cliche bar patrons around (including Tom Savini from the Romero zombie films fame, Danny Trejo, and Fred Williamson). Why is this not straightforward? Because the entire bar becomes a slaughterhouse for a group of crazed vampires that lure their victims in to steal their trucking cargoes!?

I’ll admit, I feel the film is firing on all cylinders up until the first vampire bite. What starts as a brutally violent look at a pair of unsympathetic criminals becomes a slimy gorefest full of nonstop squirting and biting. The vampire acts of the film aren’t bad by any means; they are, in fact, quite enjoyable, but I never have been able to feel that it matches the fast pace and great dialogue of the first act.

Director Robert Rodriguez (and his constant collaborator Tarantino) do put forth a fun film, that defies it’s genre(s). The performances are great (Lewis and Keitel in particular, and Cheech Marin in a trio of roles is fabulous), the gore is nasty and unrelenting, and the sex appeal is high, due to an incredibly sexy cameo by Salma Hayek as Satanico Pandemonium. While some parts of the film are predictable, like Liu as Scott Fuller being the epitome of a red-shirt with his super-soaker and water balloons, the result is still worth a few viewings.

Special Note: This Blu-ray is distributed by Alliance, out of Canada, and is not available in the USA, where the rights are owned by Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s Dimension line. A domestic release had been announced, but was pulled without notice, and no new release date has been specified. Lastly, just like Sin City, the packaging has an error concerning what audio tracks are on the disc, as the DTS tracks are actually DTS-HD-MA.
Rating: 7/10

The Presentation:
The video for From Dusk Till Dawn is absolutely great. The film has a strong three dimensional feel from the get-go. Textures on clothing, or on the wall of the hotel room are highly defined. The white hair’s atop Clooney’s head, the finger hair on Tarantino’s gun pointing hands, Hayek’s snake’s scales, and Savini’s frizzy mop are all amazingly detailed. Pores on character’s faces, including razor burn on Clooney, stand out beautifully. And best of all, the titties in the Titty Twister are almost twistable in their detail!

As for the technical stuff, there was no sign of Edge Enhancement on the print. There was some occasional dirt specs or other imperfections from time to time, but nothing overly distracting, and the layer of grain is VERY light and non intrusive. Some backgrounds are very blurred, but they appear to be due to the camera focus, not the transfer. This is a top notch video transfer!

From Dusk Till Dawn’s audio is no slouch, either. The opening shoot out scene is absolutely spectacular, with bullets roaring non stop and the thumps of the occasional body hitting the floor sounding sickening in their detail. The soundtrack thumps with the best of them, and the surround speakers get a fairly decent workout for a 12 year old flick. My only complaint would be that, at times, Tarantino’s lines are difficult to hear, but that is mostly due to the at times subdued performance, not due to the disc.
Rating: 9/10

The Extras:
Like the fellow Alliance title Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn doesn’t contain any of the DVD extras. Not even a trailer.
Rating: 0/10

Overall:
Fans should not hesitate in bringing in a copy of this Blu-ray from Canada. While lacking in the supplement package from the fairly loaded 2 disc Dimension Collector’s Series DVD, this release makes up for it where it counts: pure performance.
Rating: 6/10