Up there with 'The Evil Dead' and 'Re-Animator'

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2003)

'From Dusk 'Til Dawn' is one of the greatest exploitation movies of all time.
As wild, creative and unique as any of the cult favourites of movie history, it has an extraordinary ability to cross genres. Gangster, road movie, action, horror, comedy... it's fitting that all of the lead characters are so different (preacher man, adolescent girl, Chinese boy, super-cool gangster, retarded killer... versus a bunch of vampires!)
The key difference here is that movies with this kind of outrageous energy are usually zero-budget labours-of-love... whereas this one stars George Clooney, Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis, and is scripted by one of the best writers in Hollywood.
But this is the key point. Despite it's budget and cast list, this is STILL AN EXPLOITATION MOVIE! It's not a cross-over mainstream multi-plex hit like 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Reservoir Dogs', this is genuine, anarchic, genre film-making.
So if your favourite movie is the F***ING SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION or worse, Star Wars, then GO AWAY! This film ISN'T FOR YOU! WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINION! We don't need you whining on about how it was 'two films in one', or about how you were 'really into it until all that weird vampire stuff happened'... Stick to your Adam Sandler DVDs, you were never going to understand this type of film!
Phew, that's better. I think I'll go and lie down in the dark now...