From dusk till yawn

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2003)

"From Dusk Till Dawn" works as a thrill ride; if it were a rollercoaster, it'd be named the "Vomit Comet." It also serves as a showcase for what was, at the time, the state of the art in makeup/splatter/morphing effects. It falls short in most other respects.
For one thing, its structure makes it almost two separate movies: before the Gecko brothers arrive at the Mexican bar, it's another Tarantino crime-spree road picture a la "Natural Born Killers"; afterwards, it's "Vamp" meets "Dawn of the Dead." Quentin Tarantino, who stars, opposite George Clooney, as the more unstable of the two criminal brothers, also scripted; evidently, he knows how to write action movies, but less about how to write vampire movies. (Let alone horror movies, which are much more subtle than terror/action flicks.)
As with all of Tarantino's works, this one is highly derivative. In addition to "Vamp" (vampire strippers) and "Dawn of the Dead" (bikers vs. the undead, even going so far as to cast Tom Savini as one of the bikers!), FDTD features squirt guns full of holy water a la "The Lost Boys"; has a character carve a cross into the tip of a bullet, which echoes both "Curse of the Undead" (a vampire Western of the late '50s!) and "Taxi Driver"; mentions Peter Cushing by name; and product-places a character wearing a "Precinct 13" T-shirt.
At one point the question arises as to whether anyone has actually read anything about vampires, or whether they're relying solely on movie knowledge: a fair question, and one that could be asked of Tarantino himself. The refreshing possibility that maybe the story will adhere somewhat to actual folklore is sadly thrown away. While certain folkloric traditions have it that vampirism is contagious, it's never described as incubating within minutes, as happens here. And of course, the film's vampire peril ends when sunlight obliterates them--an enduringly popular movie device, although folkloric vampires aren't harmed by sunlight at all. (Neither are certain classic literary vampires, including both Carmilla and Count Dracula.)
Then there's the cast. OH, dear. Much as I like Harvey Keitel, he's incredibly miscast as a Baptist preacher! True, the character's pastoral days are behind him, since he's embittered over the death of his wife; still, putting Mr. Keitel in a white shirt, a pair of horn-rimmed specs, and a dorky straw hat doesn't make a credible preacher out of him. Nor does it help that his character is so shallowly written: it's unconvincing that a man his age, who'd evidently been pastoring for some years, would completely blow off God on the basis of a garden-variety family tragedy. I would have accepted that he'd take a long sabbatical, a road trip with his kids, to clear his head and to come to terms with his loss--probably with a well-thumbed copy of C. S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed" close at hand. The character's sketchiness isn't surprising, though, given the evident lack of research on Tarantino's part: with millions of Baptists in the U.S., you'd think he could've easily found out that Baptists don't make the sign of the cross OR use holy water! This is just another example of how out of touch Hollywood is with ordinary American life.
As Harvey's daughter, Juliette Lewis plays EXACTLY the same character she played in "Cape Fear" and "Kalifornia": the teenager of budding sexuality. I'm not a big fan of hers to begin with, but I REALLY don't get how she landed all these "sexy" roles. She's an OK actress, but if I had a dog that looked like that, I'd shave his butt and make him walk backwards. I'd have loved to see Natalie Portman in this role instead.
Didn't catch the name of the black actor who plays the Nam vet; he's good, but again, his material is cheesy. When, during a lull in the action, he lights a cigar and begins a tale with the words, "I was in Nam," the audience I saw the movie with LAUGHED! As Harvey's adopted son, Ernest Liu looks appropriately bewildered--almost as overwhelmed as he must have been in real life, making his film debut in the company of Tarantino, Keitel, and Lewis. Salma Hayek plays Satanica Pandemonia--white snake and all!--the sort of role that might once have been played by Caroline Munro. And Cheech Marin plays three roles--adequately, but Peter Sellers he ain't.
All told, FDTD is a flashy but foul bit of fun, a trove of cliches culled from other (and better) vampire and action flicks. Regrettably, it contributes--along with stuff like "Bordello of Blood," "John Carpenter's Vampires," etc.--to the the ongoing trivialization of vampire films.