Entertaining action extravaganza with plenty of humor and gore.

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2009)

Seth Gecko (Oscar-Winner:George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Oscar-Winner:Quentin Tarantino) are vicious low-lifes criminals on the run. Seth is a professional bank thief, who kills if he has to but his brother Richard is much more worse... he also rapes woman for pleasure. The Gecko Brothers are hoping to cross the Mexican boarder somehow but they decided to kidnapped three middle-class people by the name of the Fuller Family (Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu) on their RV. The Gecko Brothers are supposed to meet their contact at a seedy bar in Mexico in the middle of nowhere titled "From Dusk Till Dawn". The Gecko Brothers and The Fuller Family, they kidnapped... they are amazed what kind of bar it is. But those dancers, the bartender (Danny Trejo), the band or the sexy owner of the bar by the name of Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) are not what they seemed to be... they are actually Vampires. They prey on Truckers and Bikers to feed or to turn others into Vampires. While Seth lost his brothers, while nearly everyone in the bar turned into vampires. Now Seth, The Fuller Family and two other survivors (Fred Williamson & Tom Savini) stay together to fight these creatures till dawn for survival.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez (The El Mariachi Trilogy, Spy Kids Trilogy, The Faculty) made an entertaining cheesy Horror/Action film with plenty of amusing moments and over the top gore. Director Rodriguez and Screenwriter:Tarantino (Kill Bill Vol.1 & Vol.2, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) certainly have fun with their casting choices. "From Dusk Till Dawn" is one of those movies, where the cast & crew truly seems to be having one hell of a time making this drive-in style movie. Tarantino certainly has an ear for terrific dialogue, especially during the first half of the movie. Which it is totally different from the second half. Although a minor box office disappointment and the critics give this mixed reviews... "From Dusk Till Dawn" went on to be a Cult Classic on Video.
DVD has an sharp non-anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Disc one has an enjoyable commentary track by Rodriguez and Tarantino, two featurettes (One of them has Commentary with Rodriguez and Make-Up Effects Artists:Greg Nictero) and more. Disc two has an very entertaining documentary titled "Full Till Boogie", an fun behind the scenes look with the cast & crew.
The Alliance Blu-ray has an sharp anamorphic (1.78:1) transfer and an terrific DTS 5.1 HD Sound. But sadly, the disc has no special features. "From Dusk Till Dawn" went on to produced two prequels with Rodriguez, Tarantino and Lawrence Bender involved as Executive Producers. But nothing tops the original... it is certainly one of the most remembered Cult Classic films of the 1990's. Don't miss it. Some familiar faces like Cheech Marin, John Saxon, Kelly Preston and more appears in bit parts. Although Marin plays three different characters in the movie. (****/*****).