From Dusk Till Dawn

10/10!!!!!

"From Dusk To Dawn" is a 1996 horror/action film directed by Robert Rodriguez, and written by legend Quentin Tarantino. It has been a cult classic ever since its release, and is a notable work by both critics and horror fans. I personally love the movie for its sharp wit, crazy battle scenes, and awesome acting.

The movie begins in a gas station where a cop and cashier talk. At first the conversation is about the hot weather, but it goes to the subject of two bank robbers known as the "Gecko brothers." The cashier then shows the cop to the bathroom, and while alone, the two criminal's pop up with women they have as hostage. The men try to keep the cashier quiet, but he fails to do this so the brothers kill both men. I thought this beginning was amazing, because it set the viewer up for craziness, and it was extremely well done. 

On the other side of the story, we meet the Fuller family. The father of this family is named Jacob, and he is a former pastor that has lost his faith in God since the death of his daughter Jen. The family is then kidnapped by the Gecko brothers, and are led on the road. Everyone stops at a club, and they are exposed to vampires. The rest of the movie is the battle between these monsters, and a fight to survive. 

The thing that struck me the most about "From Dusk Till Dawn" was how diverse of a movie it was. There was moments where it was a crime/action film, with intense shootouts and heists, there were hilarious moments of comedy throughout the whole thing, and there also some terrifying scenes of horror. This really contributed to the greatness of the movie, because it made things stay interesting. 

The cast was really awesome, because there was a lot of witty performers that could also be intense. George Clooney was my personal favorite as Seth Gecko. There were moments where he had me laughing with his sharp sense of how to say a funny line, but then there were also moments that the viewer could see the pain he was feeling because of bad events. Quentin Tarantino was pretty awesome as Richard Gecko, because he really played a psycho well, and was also hilarious in doing so. Harvey Keitel was pretty neat as Jacob, because he was likable, yet stern at the same time. You could really sense the decency that he portrayed in the character, and it was very realistic when seeing him struggle with his faith. Juliette Lewis did a good job as Kate Fuller, because she was a character that was easy to be sympathetic for, yet she had a toughness about her that was good for the female lead. Ernest Liu was pretty cool as Scott Fuller, because he just gave a simple performance as a likable guy, and he did it well. I thought that the cameos were pretty awesome, including Salma Hayek in her most seductive performance ever, Tom Savini in a hilarious and heroic role, Cheech Marin as three funny characters, and Danny Trejo as a bartender. 

The special effects in this film were pretty crazy, and in the style of a classic B-Movie. The gore was plentiful; coming from both the humans and vampires. It looked very fake, but was cool regardless, and made the movie one of the bloodiest I've ever seen. The makeup of the vampires was pretty weird, and looked unlike from any I've seen before. The prosthetics were very well done, and I give major credit to the specialists. Outside of the horror effects, there were also some very nice action ones too, including humongous explosions. 

The climax of the film was really intense, with a humongous showdown between the vampires and humans. It is known by the characters that some of them won't make it, but they will stick together until the end. I loved how this showed a redemption in the character of Seth, because instead of being the ruthless criminal, he was actually starting to care for the others. In these scenes, there were a lot of shocking deaths of certain characters, and each one was painful to witness. The ending itself was very good, because it wasn't exactly what I expected, and it left the audience on a note for interpretation. 

This movie is definitely worth the time of every movie buff. It is exciting, hilarious, and horrific all at the same time. I personally find this to be one of the coolest movies ever, and I promise that it will not disappoint.