from dusk till dawn ( director / editor : robert rodriguez ; screenwriters : quentin tarantino / robert kurtzman ( story ) ; cinematographer : guillermo navarro ; cast : quentin tarantino ( richie gecko ) , george clooney ( seth gecko ) , juliette lewis ( kate fuller ) , harvey keitel ( jacob fuller ) , ernest liu ( scott fuller ) , salma hayek ( santanico pandemonium ) , tom savini ( sex machine ) , fred williamson ( frost ) , cheech marin ( border guard / chet pussy / carlos ) , michael parks ( texas ranger ) , brenda hillhouse ( hostage gloria ) ; runtime : 108 ; dimension films ; 1996 ) reviewed by dennis
schwartz
it 's a love it or hate it film .
i simply hated it .
on its menu for fun , is a violent feast served up as charm and done in a tongue - and - cheek manner .
it 's a serial killer / horror film farce of nonstop over - the - top action and sleaze , involving decapitations , vampires , biker fights , extended gun play , and an array of gore that has to be seen to be believed .
a film that regales in its vulgarity and campiness for blood - and - gore , as
it goes out of its way to gloss over the clich ?
s of the conventional b - films .
it 's geared only for the cult film crowd , and will make its mark there one way or the other .
the plot involves two psychopath brothers , the older professional bank robber and killer seth gecko ( clooney ) and the perverted psychopath killer , richie ( tarantino ) , who kills for pleasure and is also a rapist .
they escape jail and go on a killing spree in wichita and then flee to a liquor store in a small texas border town .
they have just robbed a bank and killed a number of cops , they have also taken a middle - aged bank teller as a hostage .
in the liquor store they kill a texas ranger and the store clerk , and burn down the store .
stopping off in a flop - house motel , richie rapes and slaughters the hostage .
these scenes are all done with an eye for comedy and parody , if that 's possible .
on the tv news , it says they have killed 16 so far and most are texas rangers .
the brothers plan to get to mexico and meet carlos ( cheech ) , who will give them a place of sanctuary for thirty percent of their illegal take .
with road blocks and car searches at the border , the brothers commandeer a motor home of a vacationing family who stopped at their motel so that the father could sleep in a real bed .
there is the father , jacob fuller ( keitel ) , who just resigned as a minister because he lost faith ever since his wife died in a car accident ; his sexy 20-year - old , innocent daughter , kate ( lewis ) ; and , her shy brother scott ( liu ) .
it 's not explained how he happens to be chinese .
the story really becomes bizarre when they get across the border and get ready to meet carlos in a bar / whorehouse for truckers and bikers called the titty twister .
the place is open from dawn to dusk , thus the film 's title .
here 's where rodriguez has a chance to throw convention out the window and have some absurd fun , as the place turns out to be a vampire hangout .
it sells sex to its patrons , and has exotic stripper santanico pandemonium ( hayek ) do her alluring strip before turning into a vampire .
the brothers and their hostages have to fight their way out of the place , as the vampires keep coming and the killings become the film 's staple .
this supposedly clever script did nothing but turn me off , though there were a few funny moments in a film that was dripping with special effects and spent most of its script in finding novel ways to showcase its killings .
i 'll take a pass on this one
, it 's just not my style of a film .
the characters were as empty as the story , and the film was an easy one to forget .
the story really becomes bizarre this supposedly clever script did nothing but turn me off it goes out of its way to gloss over the clich ? s of the conventional b - films the characters were as empty as the story i 'll take a pass on this one i simply hated it