The Thin Line Between Suspense and Horror

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2001)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** From Dusk Till Dawn is one of those movies that surprised the audience big time. Starting out as a real suspense/thriller the audience will be taken to the edge of their seat.
But then half way the film the plot suddenly turns 180 degrees and we are in the middle of a great, funny, gore, horror movie. For those who didn't know what to expect it was a real shock. "How the hell can a great thriller like this turn into a cheap horror flick?" they must have thought.

Well the answer is simple. Because it is a Rodriguez-Tarantino production which proofs "you never can tell" what will happens next.
When I saw this one at the Cinema in the Netherlands, just a few people knew what they were going into. But most of them had no idea what to expect. So during the break (In the Netherlands most theaters have a 15 minute break halfway a movie) people in the Lobby were talking about this great thriller. The break started at the moment that the brothers, together with the camping family, reached the Titty Twister, just before they went in. Everybody was wondering what the twist would be. But I bet that even their wildest imagination didn't come close. After the interval the movie went on and within a few minutes everyone changed into vampires. Not long after that most of the audience walked out of the theater. They could not believe what was happening to the story. Such a sick twist. How was this possible? The people that stayed were in for a big treat. And at the end we all cheered and clapped our hands for a while. This was great.
The director took us from a great suspense movie into an even greater horror/comedy. He showed us that the distance between the two genres is in fact nothing more than a thin line. For those of you who think the same way about this great picture, you should buy the DVD Collector's Edition. It's full of great special features (incl Full Tilt Boogey, a full feature film about the making of this picture). I rewarded this movie a 10 out of 10 because I still enjoy it every time I see it