MOTM May 2010: From Dusk till Dawn

[abraxas]

Seth and Richard Gecko are two professional thieves who have just pulled off a daring day time bank robbery and are now on the run from the law. Meanwhile A family of four is traveling across the country, by pure chance the two "families" wind up at the same 'flop house' of a motel. The two criminals have a hostage and are desperate for a way to get past the boarder patrol and make their way into Mexico. Carlos, the crime boss of a small town has arranged a meeting place, a local biker bar called The Titty Twister, the low life's who frequent the bar seek the six of them out and trouble ensues. The two capable killers find themselves outnumbered, but luckily they enlist the help of two bikers, Sex Machine (Tom Savini) and Frost, they all team up to defend themselves against a band of Vampires.

[HNT]

Awesome pick, man. I give it a 4. Can't really justify giving it a 5 as it is a flawed movie, but its just so much damn fun I can't go lower. It has great gore, sweet kills, interesting characters, and really cool actors from the top down (including several really sweet cameos). In a way, I see this film as related to Grindhouse, as it also clearly pays homage to the 70's exploitation films that Tarantino and Rodriguez love so much. And, the best part of the film is still Cheech Marin's p*ssy speech

[GL]

4 here as well. The opening were there's absolutely no clue that this will be a horror film (basically, from the opening credits all the way to them arriving at the strip club) should've been cut and just concentrated on them fighting off the vamps in the strip club, as that would've given it a 5 from me. Still, those early scenes are there so I can't go into a 5, and it's a 4 from me.

[abraxas]

You have got to be kidding dude, that was the best damn part of the film, thats what made it so great, and it was the entire point of the movie, without it its just Vampires, something that has been seen time and time again......come on man

[CT]

I felt the first half of the film set up the second half nicely. No vampires or horror but there was the suspense of the kidnapping which kept me intersted.

4/5 from me as well. Not perfect, but very good and entertainig. Haven't seen it in a while though.

[abraxas]

Exactly Chem that's one of the greatest things about it, that it could have just carried on with the beginning story set-up and it would still have been a very interesting and entertaining story.

[HNT]

Agreed. I am not entirely sure that the two halves of the film blend as seamlessly as I'd have like them to (that is a criticism that I have of the film), but I definitely think that the film is vastly improved by including the whole kidnammping angle. It sets up interesting character dynamics that made me more ivested in the rest of it than I would ahve been in a typical splatter film.

[Jen]

I say a 4 as well. In some ways, I actually like the first half better than the second half, because I thought it was really well done. I do however think that the rather abrupt shift in tone of the film is just a little bit awkward. Its almost like two different movies. But its a blast.

Oh and George Clooney was HOT.....

[7]

I'm with Jen on this one. I feel that the first half is superior to the second half. I understand that making the two halves of the film so stylistically different was Tarantino's intent with the script - but I just find the first half far more engaging.

[abraxas]

The story shift is justified because thats exactly what the characters were feeling, they didn't expect Vampires either, if that is removed then what would be the point in making he movie in the first place, and if that were the case it would have either been a general movie about vampires or a general movie about two thieves. Which isn't exactly a bad thing, at least for the first story-line, that was different, but the other would just be a vampire movie, nothing really special. But you put he two together and its perfect, so it does blend, because the characters weren't expecting it, it made it very realistic IMO.

[HNT]

I agree with you to a degree. Just not quite as much background on the bar, the reason for it, and how so many people can just disappear there without anyone figuring it out as I might've liked. I know that wasn't the point of the film, and I hear what you are saying, but I still think that they could've had two seperate halves to the film, still had the abrupt and shocking twist through Selma Hayek, and then just maybe when they are in the back room and they find all of the boxes they could find something with a bit more exposition than the film offers

[GL]

A straight-up vampire film, to me, is far more engaging and entertaining than watching two foul-mouthed jackoffs run around with a hostage family touring the countryside while the authorities track them down from a crime they committed. There's nothing in that part that appeals to me in any way, as I have no interest in those kinds of films and drive no enjoyment from those scenes since they go on and on indefinitely with no let-up from boredom. They needed to get to a strip-club inhabited by vampires in order to drive any kind of entertainment out of the film. It's simply the fact that these two halves occupy the same film which makes it seem like they were slopped together from two separate editing sessions on two different movies, and that's where I come from: they don't fit together at all, and the one section doesn't even appeal to me at all so I could care less about it at all.

Yet that also speaks volumes about the gloriousness of the second half that it earns such a high score despite starting off with such low marks.

[abraxas]

Damn Gl I thought I hated everything, you got me beat

[GL]

I don't hate everything (this is a person who can sit and watch a Polonia Brothers film and be perfectly fine) and in fact, there's far more out there I do like than I don't. If you to be accurate about it, I can't stand silent horror (I need to hear people talking, it's a comforting mechanism that I'm used to and to not be around it is off-putting) and anime horror (there's something about the style that just makes it impossible for me to get involved with it. I think it's the eyes, but I haven't cared enough to really find out for sure) but pretty much everything else is fair game. I watch everything, from the beginning of the "talkies" all the way up to the ones released last week from every country in the world, baring those two exceptions. If I don't like a film, I'm not responsible for that, and I tend to watch films based on their own merits from what they bring to the table. Yeah, sometimes that means I don't like the ones I'm supposed to as a horror fan, but I at least liked it at some point or find something worthwhile about it to bring up.

[CT]

I'm with Abraxas. The transition between the two halves was abrupt, but I didn't find it as stylistically abrasive as most of yas.