Horror Stack - From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Cast: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, Tom Savini

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 108 min

Horror Stack is a series dedicated to reviewing films within the horror genre specifically during October in order to get myself into the mood of the Halloween season. Whether I've seen them before or not at all, those stacks of horror film DVDs and Blu-Rays are never better than during October.

From Dusk till Dawn is a fantastic action/horror hybrid that pays tribute to all things 'grindhouse' and genre cinema in general. Excluding the anthology film Four Rooms, From Dusk till Dawn was the first true collaboration between director/writer buddies Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Sin City). Besides their affinity for genre films, gore, and expletives, the two filmmakers could not be more different than one another. 

Tarantino directs slow paced dramatic thrillers that feature oodles of dialog and odes to his favorite films. His films tend to be critically and commercially successful too, garnering numerous Academy Awards and cementing various actors' careers for good (i.e. Tim Roth, Uma Thurman, Michael Madsen, John Travolta, Christoph Waltz). He also works with fairly big budgets and only shoots on film. Tarantino is such an accomplished filmmaker that each new film of his is typically regarded as an event amongst film buffs.

Rodriguez on the other hand is a completely different filmmaker. He works cheap and always shoots on digital. He also works with impressive casts, but rarely crafts memorable characters for said actors. Rodriguez's cinematic odes to his favorite genre films tend to come off more as pastiches than legitimate homages (excluding El Mariachi trilogy). However, the man has a recognizable name, and a small group of film buffs admire the filmmaker for his DIY filmmaking techniques. Whereas Tarantino has consistently grown as a filmmaker, Rodriguez has slumped and fallen. 

George Clooney takes aim at John Hawkes gangster style.

However, neither filmmaker's importance should be taken for granted. Each played an important part in the initial low budget indie scene of the 90s, Rodriguez with El Mariachi and Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs. Therefore, it's nice that the two filmmakers drifted towards one another with From Dusk till Dawn in 1996. The film is the perfect split between the two. Rodriguez directed and brought all of his energetic camera work and eye for mayhem to the film while Tarantino starred and wrote the script. Even though one could argue that the film is both theirs, various elements of the film are more Rodriguez than Tarantino and more Tarantino than Rodriguez. The general consensus is that the first half is a Tarantino film while the second half is more a Rodriguez film. Regardless, From Dusk till Dawn is the true 'grindhouse' collaboration between the two and a more honest love letter to exploitation cinema than either filmmakers' future Grindhouse double feature.

Newcomers should be warned that From Dusk till Dawn is infamous for its third act twist in which the film completely shifts genres. Therefore, do not read any further if you wish to experience the film for yourself. You've been warned.

From Dusk till Dawn tells the story of the Gecko Brothers, Seth (George Clooney) and Richie (Quentin Tarantino), two notorious criminals who are currently making their way to Mexico in order to lay low after robbing a bank. The two hold a family hostage and force them to drive them to Mexico. The family, composing of Jacob (Harvey Keitel), Kate (Juliette Lewis), Scott (Ernest Liu), has no say in the matter and plays along with the brothers' game. After the group successfully crosses the border, they rendezvous at the Titty Twister, a trucker bar, until Seth's contact meets up with them. Unfortunately, the group picks the worse bar in the country, as the Titty Twister turns out to be a bar run by vampires! The rag tag group fights for their lives against an onslaught of vampires, along with the help of fellow bikers Sex Machine (Tom Savini) and Frost (Fred Williamson). 

The two brothers land themselves in Vampire Hell.

From Dusk till Dawn is an excellent blend of all things action, suspense, thriller, comedy, exploitation, and grindhouse. The film features not only an incredible cast of characters (courtesy of Tarantino's excellent writing), but also a plethora of gory special effects and amazing animatronic creatures. From Dusk till Dawn is such a great film because it features a memorable cast of characters with well defined backgrounds and characteristics. It's one thing for a film to feature head decapitations, murderous vampires, and buckets of gore. However, if you combine said elements of genre cinema with excellent characters, than you have a film that viewers will root for and get behind. Tarantino did this as well with Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained by creating genre films that homaged his favorite films of the past but also featured excellent characters that most genre films of the past never had. The cinematic rule learned here is: always have great characters, and you can get away with anything.

The Gecko Brothers are a tricky pair of leads for a film of this nature, as neither is morally upright or particularly redeemable. While Richie does nothing but creep his way through the picture until his death, Seth showcases a sense of moral righteousness even if he is a murderous thief. He seems to be against killing innocent people who harm him in no way. Look to his tough but honest regard for the middle aged hostage at the beginning of the film or Jacob's family. Seth will kill you if he has too, but ultimately doesn't want too. He puts on a tough act, but deep down is ultimately a redeemable character, just barely though.

Jacob is another interesting character who undergoes the same arc as Mel Gibson's character from Signs in that he gains his faith back in God. He starts off as a hardened widow who finds himself caught in a tricky situation when Seth and Richie threaten to murder his children. Fortunately, Jacob plays along with them and becomes an integral part in defeating the vampires. It's a God send that Rodriguez and Tarantino were not only able to create memorable characters, but were able to populate said characters with excellent actors like Clooney, Tarantino himself, and Keitel. 

When this is the cast of your movie, you really can't go wrong.

From Dusk till Dawn also features some of the best damn cameos and supporting performances this side of the 90s. Appearances by genre legends John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Parks (Death Wish V, The Evictors), Fred Williamson (Inglorious Bastards, Vigilante), and Tom Savini (Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead) spice up the film's genre infused proceedings. The film also features appearances by Rodriguez's good 'ol friends Danny Trejo (Machete), Salma Hayek (Desperado), and Cheech Marin in a tri-role performance as a border patrol officer, a vampire, and Seth's contact! Along with small appearances by John Hawkes, Kelly Preston, Greg Nicotero, and band Tito & Tarantula, From Dusk till Dawn has one of the best ensemble casts of any action film to date.

Rodriguez's eye for action is as spot on as his other 90s action pictures, El Mariachi and Desperado. It's a joy to see Rodriguez play with practical gun and gore effects in his action scenes as well, as the filmmaker would go on to ditch all things practical in favor of digital this and that in Once Upon a Tim in Mexico and the Machete films. From Dusk till Dawn is truly Rodriguez at his peak, working with both an excellent cast, crafting memorable action, and directing a great script by his buddy Tarantino. Even though Rodriguez would go onto create Sin City, arguably the best film in his entire filmography, From Dusk till Dawn is consistently my favorite film of his purely for its gung-ho story and senseless regard for reality or restraint.

Unfortunately, the film is held down by only a few minor flaws. As far as mythology building goes, From Dusk till Dawn has no interest in it. While the first half of the film is tight and to the point, the vampire portion of the film is filled with plot holes and nagging questions. For example, how is this the first time that any survivors have put up a fight against these vampires so easily? Has every biker fallen at every vampires' hand before? After all, Fred Williamson picks up vampires like nobody's business and stakes them to death as if he were taking out the trash. I guess it helps when you are George Clooney or Tom Savini, as you will most likely out live Biker #1 or Biker #2. Still, it's a frustrating question and one that pops up in your head once the vampire mayhem begins.

Also, why does each vampires' death vary so greatly? Some explode, some melt, some ooze goo, and others burst into flames. It's all fun and games to Tarantino and Rodriguez, but frustrating to those hoping for a semblance of rule establishment. The two filmmakers throw all care to the wind when Clooney rips the head off of a vampire only for its leftover body to turn into a physical rat creature! There is no explanation or precedent for it either! A decapitated vampire literally turns into a rat creature. Therefore, one must throw all reason to the wind in order to properly enjoy From Dusk till Dawn. It's just a slight betrayal by the two filmmakers to establish believable and legitimate characters in a world where anything can happen monster wise. 

Academy Award winning actor George Clooney ladies and gentlemen.

Besides the script's disregard for rule establishment concerning its monsters, From Dusk til Dawn also features Rodriguez's flaws as a fast paced filmmaker. The film is littered with continuity errors concerning Clooney's revolver shooting. Sometimes the gun can fire seven to twelve shots, and sometimes it can only fire a few before needing to be reloaded. Regardless, Rodriguez and Tarantino should have chosen a different signature hand gun for their lead protagonist to blaze away with.

Tarantino and Rodriguez would go on to direct a Grindhouse double feature in 2007, consisting of Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof. Whereas From Dusk till Dawn feels like an honest to goodness collaboration between two different artists, the two Grindhouse films feel awfully disparate from one another. Planet Terror is overstuffed with unnecessary characters and silly pastiche while Death Proof is a slow paced dialog fest with minimal exploitation elements. Therefore, viewers should turn towards From Dusk till Dawn if they want to see the true 'grindhouse' collaboration between Tarantino and Rodriguez, not that silly filth from 2007. Highly recommended amongst genre fanatics and Tarantino heads.

Rating: 8/10 - Mild flaws are the only thing keeping From Dusk till Dawn from being one of the all time great horror films. Still, it's easily one of the best horror films to come out of the 90s.

Franchise:

From Dusk till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez, 1996)

From Dusk till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (Scott Spiegel, 1999)

From Dusk till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (P. J. Pesce, 2000)

Predator-a-Thon, Part 3 - Predators (2010)

Director: Nimrod Antal

Cast: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walter Goggins, Laurence Fishburne

Country: United States

Production Company: Troublemaker Studios

Rating: R

Run Time: 107 minutes

I'm sure plenty of you are thinking, "No, Zach! Why did you skip over reviewing the two Alien vs. Predator films in your Predator-a-Thon?" Well don't worry, I'll get to them one day. It's just that I'd rather stick to the three main (and also good) Predator films for now. Besides, I only have so much time in my life and I'm not sure if I want to waste three and a half hours watching both crappy Alien vs. Predator films at this moment.

Predator fans haven't had it easy. The last standalone Predator film for twenty years was none other than Predator 2 from 1990. After the dismal AvP films and the wait since Predator 2, it seemed that the Predator franchise was finished for good. However, 20th Century Fox and director Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Til Dawn, Desperado) miraculously brought the franchise back to life in 2010 with Predators. Rodriguez had written a script for a new Predator film back in 1994 and never received word on it. When 20th Century Fox re-discovered his old script, they contacted Rodriguez and asked him to co-produce the film. I remember being so excited for this film back in high school because I had never seen an official Predator film in the theaters. A new rated R Predator film in 2010? It was my dream come true. 

It has now been four years since I first saw the film. And to be honest, I am shocked that this film is only four years old. Not only that, but everybody seems to have forgotten about this film. I haven't heard a single person mention this film to me in person or online in four years! This is surprising because Predators was both a financial success and well received by fans of the Predator series. What happened? It's as if this film fell off the planet for most people. I guess I am to blame as well because I am just now getting around to revisiting the film.

They should have called this film Humans vs. Predators. Just kidding. That joke sucks.

Predators opens as Royce (Adrien Brody) free falls from the sky into a jungle. When he awakes, he finds numerous other people around him. The group quickly puts together that they have been abducted and that they are all elite killers from various groups on Earth: the Mexican drug cartel, the F.B.I.'s most wanted, Russian Special Forces, etc. It's not long before the group discovers that the jungle they are in is not Earth at all, but a distant planet with an Earth-like jungle appearance. When the group is attacked by horned beasts, Royce deduces that they are being hunted. It's not long before the hunters, the Predators, reveal themselves and engage in a hunt to the death with the humans.

Predators is sort of a sequel and a reboot of the franchise at the same time. The film its smartly titled Predators in order to avoid the baggage of being called Predator 3 even though Predator 2 came out a whopping twenty years earlier. But that might be confusing because two AvP films came out before this film. So isn't it technically Predator 5? Regardless, Predators is an excellent title and a nice call back to James Cameron's choice to title the second Alien film Aliens since there is more than one extraterrestrial antagonist. 

Predators also introduces us to an entirely new cast of characters on a game preserve planet that we have never heard of before. Therefore, the film is trying to reboot the series while also carrying some continuity from the older films. Predator 2 is all but ignored as Predators countlessly homages and recalls Predator, even to the point of a character knowing about the events of Predator in Costa Rica in 1987. If the events of Predator are officially canon in this film, than I am going to assume that Predator 2 is also canon. Of course, they never bring up the events of the sequel but never disown it either.

Don't mess with these new super Predators.

Producer and writer Robert Rodriguez produced a very faithful sequel that revitalizes the franchise by bringing the events of the series back to the jungle that we loved so much from Predator. But this time, the Predators aren't going to Earth to hunt us anymore. The Predators are now abducting elite killers from Earth and transporting them to this game preserve planet. With the humans on their territory, the Predators can now hunt in packs and not have to worry about being on their own anymore.

The screen writers clearly love John McTiernan's original film. I don't blame the guys, who doesn't love that film? Therefore, the film packs a few references and homages to the original film in Predators. The score by John Debney sounds like an exact duplicate of Alan Silvestri's masterful Predator score. One of the human characters, a Russian named Nikolai, wields a heavy mini-gun that is clearly an homage to the mini-gun that Jesse Ventura's character uses in Predator. And during the film's finale, Adrien Brody takes off his shirt, wields a torch, and screams, "Kill me now! Come on! Do it!" These references are tied quite neatly into the film. Even though they aren't very subtle, at least they aren't painfully obvious and obnoxious either.

Much like the first two Predator films, Predators has a pretty expansive cast. While I commend the film for assembling a very impressive cast of well known contemporary actors (Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Walter Goggins, Topher Grace, etc.), I can't say the same for the characters that they play and the dialog that they have to speak. Let's start with the good. Adrien Brody does a fine job as Royce, the muscular bad-ass leader of the group who will sacrifice anyone for his own survival. He's no Arnold, but he looks bad-ass when he shoots a gun and packs a good gravely voice. I also love Hanzo, the silent Yakuza gang member. He doesn't say much but is easily the most bad-ass of the all of the characters in the film. I also enjoyed how the bulk of the characters are either criminals or anti-heroes. This is a far stretch from your typical mercenary or police officer. 

"I'm the crazy one."

Unfortunately, many of the human characters are one noted or plain annoying. Edwin (Topher Grace) and Stans (Walter Goggins), my least favorite characters in the film, are a doctor and a criminal sentenced to death. Even though I like these two actors, their characters are given all of the humorous dialog and neither of them are ever funny. When Goggins spouts "humorous" lines like, "You're ass is so hot," I tune out. Their dialog and characterizations are just too forced and unnatural. 

One thing that I did not see coming the first time I saw this film was the nice little plot twist. Topher Grace's character, Edwin, is a doctor. Everyone else wonders how he ended up with the rest of the group since he isn't one of Earth's deadliest killers. But by the end of the film, Edwin's true intentions and reasons for being chosen are revealed in a nice twist that puts a spin on an otherwise formulaic genre picture.

Predators introduces several new ideas to the franchise in order to expand the mythology even more. In this film, there isn't just one type of Predator, but two. The three main Predators in the film are super Predators while the one hanging on a stone at the Predator camp is a classic Predator. The super Predators have faces that look far different from your typical Predator and hunt in packs of three. According to Noland (Laurence Fishburne), the super Predators have a dispute with the classic Predators. This is an interesting concept because we have never seen Predators fight with one another.

This leads into a pretty cool action scene near the end of the film where a classic Predator goes head to head with a super Predator. While the fight isn't incredible or anything special, the idea of two Predators duking it out is just too cool to hate on. It's essentially two guys in rubber suits bouncing off one another and firing lasers from their shoulder cannons. Fans of movies like Godzilla: Final Wars or Alien vs. Ninja might get a kick out of this.

A samurai duel in a Predator film? That's more like it.

All of the other action scenes in the film are pretty good too. My two favorite scenes are the ambush at the Predator camp and the sword fight between a Predator and Hanzo. The first fight at the Predator camp is filled with gun fire and laser blasting from both parties. It's an awesome scene and it definitely gives you exactly what you want from a Predator film. Hanzo also uses a katana in a sword fight against a Predator and its hand blade. The scene is even shot in a open field filled with grass. It's an awesome homage to the kind of samurai duel found in Harakiri or Sanjruo.

20th Century Fox recently announced that a new Predator sequel is in the works by none other than action maestro himself Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Last Boy Scout, Iron Man 3). Black is an excellent choice because he knows how to write a good action film and he even appeared in the original Predator. With Black both directing and writing, I think that the franchise is in good hands. However, I am curious if the new Predator film will follow the remaining characters left at the end of this film? Black stated that he wants to take advantage of the pre-existing mythology in the series (always a miracle to hear in today's reboot heavy world). I just don't understand why a sequel to Predators wasn't confirmed but a new Predator film devoid of details was. I guess we will have to wait and see.

A Predator holds up poor Nikolai.

Predators isn't as good as the first two Predator films but at least it's a huge step up from the lousy AvP films. The film is a nice reboot/sequel that reminds audiences why the Predators were so awesome in the first place. Predators has solid action scenes, good special effects, and great cinematography and jungle settings. The film is quite spooky in some scenes and even really gory too. Unfortunately, the film has some forgettable characters, a slow first act, and terribly cheesy dialog. If you can forgive that, I think that you owe it to yourself as an action fan to check out Predators, one of the better action/horror hybrids of recent years.

Rating: 7/10 - Much like Gareth Edwards' recent Godzilla reboot, Predators is a flawed but serviceable step in the right direction towards bringing a once dead franchise back to the big screen.

Franchise:
Predator (dir. John McTiernan, 1987)
Predator 2 (dir. Stephen Hopkins, 1990)
Predators (dir. Nimrod Antal, 2010)

AvP Spin-Offs:
Alien vs. Predator (dir. Paul W. S. Anderson, 2004)
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (dir. The Brothers Strause, 2007)