From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Intro

***The Development***

The Idea

• The idea was originally was from Robert Kurtzman who is cofounder of KNB EFX a famous Hollywood makeup and special effects company.
  • Kurtzman wanted to create a vehicle to showcase his company’s skills, he wrote an outline and then wanted to find a screenwriter to help him develop the concept.
• The name of the movie is taken from the signs found on drive-ins. These signs indicate the length of the shows, which ran “from dusk till dawn”. The movie is full of references to midnight movies and films which were often intended for teenagers to watch late at night from their cars.

In Come Quentin

• David Goodman a longtime friend of Kurtzman suggested a young writer to him, and it turned out to be the King of Dialogue himself Quentin Tarantino.  
• Tarantino was still working as a video store clerk. He wrote drafts to True Romance and Natural Born Killers showing them to Kurtzman who was impressed and hired him for $1,500. Making it his first screen writing gig.
  • He also told him he would do the FX for Reservoir Dogs.
    • He did the ear cutting scene!
  • The Film was rejected by everyone as they thought the film was too violent and vulgar.
  • Tarantino then went on to sell Reservoir Dogs and shot off like a rocket with Selling of True Romance, Natural Born Killers, and the iconic film Pulp Fiction.
  • Due to the success of Pulp Fiction everyone wanted to make a Tarantino Script
  • Originally Universal studios was interested in it as a sequel to Demon Knight but passed to make Bordello of Blood.

Robert is hired.

• According to Quentin Tarantino, Renny Harlin and Tony Scott were the first directors who showed interest in directing the film.
• Dusk Till Dawn was sold to Miramax.
• Miramax needed a director and Tarantino wanted Kurtzman to direct but he was unavailable.
• Rodriguez had met Tarantino at a film festival where both El Mariachi and Reservoir Dogs were showing.
  • After this meeting, the two would bounce ideas off each other and eventually work to together on several films.
    • With even Tarantino appearing in the smash hit Desperado.
    • Then going to co direct parts in the anthology film Four Rooms.
  • Tarantino showed Rodriguez the script and he signed on to direct.
• Rodriguez has stated he wanted to meld his vision with Tarantino’s while paying tribute to the horror genre.

Casting

• Casting Seth
  • Originally for the role of Seth John Travolta was pitched for it but decided to work on Pulp Fiction instead as he did not want to do a vampire movie.
  • The role was offered to: Antonio Banderas, Steve Buscemi, Robert De Niro, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, and James Woods — but they all turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.
  • Joseph Pliato was cast as Seth and is even in an early trailer for the film in 1991 before the involvement of Rodriguez.
  • Tarantino was watching ER and saw George Clooney’s Character Dr. Robert Mitchum, he thought it would be hilarious for a character that saved lives to be a person that sent people to the ER and offered him the role which he excepted
    • Clooney’s Idea was for the character to have the tattoo inspired by the film Once Were Warriors.
      
      
  • Ritchie
    • Tarantino originally was going to direct in between Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown but felt it was just too much and decided to step down and just play Richie.
    • Ironically Tarantino gave his character very little dialogue.
      • This was by accident and didn’t realize it until it was too late to do a rewrite.
    • Harvey Keitel was cast as Jacob Fuller due to his past relationship with Tarantino for working on Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
      • He received top billing.
    • Juliette Lewis was cast as Kate Fuller due to her friendship with Quentin Tarantino.
    • Ernest Liu was cast as Scott Fuller
      • Scott Fuller wears a shirt that says “Precinct 13” on it in stencil lettering. It is a nod to Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), which used the same style lettering on its poster. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are fans of John Carpenter’s films and did this to pay homage to his work.
    • Cheech Marin, having a relationship with Robert Rodriguez and having just done Desperado was cast in 3 roles. As the Boarder Guard, Chet, and Carlos.
    • Sex Machine was originally supposed to be muscular and scared but was cast as more slender and deadly character.
      • The Role was given to Make Up artist and legend Tom Savini.
        • Who has stated he had to do the hard job of watching Salma Hayek do the snake dance for 3 days.
        • Savini is a horror veteran, and it was essentially why he was cast.
      • Salma Hayek was cast as Santanico Pandemonium
        • Originally when reading the script, she was afraid of snakes and felt she couldn’t do it.
          • Rodriguez told her that Madonna was going to take the role then.
          • Hayek accepted and then went to therapy for two months to get over her fear.
        • Fred Williamson was cast as Frost a character who switched profiles with Sex Machine.
          • He was cast due to being in blaxploitation films and a respected actor.
          • Characters Name is never said in the film.
        • Razor Charlie was given to Danny Trejo
          • Fresh off his role in Desperado
            • Also, Cousin of Robert Rodriguez
          • Pete Bottoms was offered to Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi, but they couldn’t fit it into their schedules.
            • John Hawkes took the role.
          • Earl McGraw was played by Michael Parks.
          • The band is played by Tito and The Tarantula friends of Rodriguez and known from Roadhouse.

Crew and Issues

• The production of From Dusk Till Dawn was set back by various unfortunate delays. The exterior set of the strip club burned down and had to be rebuilt. Plus, there were dust storms at the filming location and the film’s use of a non-union crew led to threats of a strike.

*** Film Breakdown***

• Opening scene at Benny’s world of Liquor
• Earl McGraw is a sheriff buying his liquor at his usual store.
  • We begin to see the ruthless of Richie Gecko
    • As he lies about the clerk warning the sheriff after killing him and then shoots the clerk.
  • Even though the character of Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) is killed in this film, Parks played the role again in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Death Proof (2007), and Planet Terror (2007).
  • Pete Bottoms (John Hawkes) of Benny’s World of Liquor mentioned to Seth Gecko (George Clooney) that he should “get a fucking Academy Award” for acting natural. Fifteen years later, Hawkes was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in Winter’s Bone (2010)
  • Richie is shot in the hand.
• Drive to Hotel
  • Revealing of hostage in the trunk.
  • Marc Lawrence plays Hotel Owner
    • Known for Diamonds are Forever and The Man with The Golden Gun.
  • Tarantino trademark shot of looking into the trunk when they pull the hostage out.
  • Seth leaves to get food and find out what is check the temperature of their situation before doing so he tells the hostage she will live if she listens.
    • When he leaves Richie asks her if she wants to watch TV with him on the bed. Which she reluctantly does.
    • Newscaster is shown and played by Kelly Preston
      • The role was given to Kelly Preston as Taratino met her on the set of Pulp Fiction and offered her the role.
      • John Saxon as the FBI Agent
    • Introduction of Fuller Family
      • We learn Jacob has lost his faith due to the death of his wife and left his parish. He takes his children to Mexico to get away.
    • Death of Hostage
      • Seth comes back to find that Richie has raped and killed the hostage.
        • Seth becomes enraged and shows that he has some morales for not killing people that do not deserve it.
        • Richie shows his brutality.
        • The reveal of the body is shot with flashes.
        • Seth Attacks Richie and eventually Calms down.
      • Fuller Family is taken hostage.
        • They stop at the same hotel the Geckos are at due to Jacob being tired.
        • They first meet Seth in the parking lot before almost hitting him.
          • Richie comes to their room asking for ice bucket and they take the family hostage to Mexico.
            • What is in Mexico Mexicans.
          • Driving to the Border and Getting past the Border Patrol
            • Alright Ramblers lets get rambling (same quote used in Reservoir Dogs)
            • We find that Jacob lost his faith due to his wife getting into an auto wreck and suffering and dying.
            • Jacob says that he will get them across the border and Seth says that Richie will not harm them or let Richie harm his daughter.
          • Titty Twister
            • Based of the Kurtz compound in Apocalypse Now
            • Chet outside the door announcing the “Entertainment.”
              • He insults them and gets kicked by both Richie and Seth
            • Introduction of the Band.
              • Rodriguez and Oingo Boingo Drummer Johnny Vatos Hernandez played in the band as well.
            • Originally, Razor Charlie tells them they can’t be served there due to not being truckers or Bikers, Jacob tells them his RV is a truck and he is a trucker.
              • Seth becomes agitated due to someone touching him.
              • When the Geckos and Fullers are drinking at the Titty Twister, you can see a neon Chango beer sign behind Seth. Chango was the beer served at the Mexican dive bar in Desperado (1995), directed by Robert Rodriguez. Quentin Tarantino also had a small role in that film, and his character was served the same beer. Furthermore, the bartender that served Tarantino’s character Chango beer, was played by Cheech Marin, who plays multiple roles in this film.
            • Introduction of Sex Machine and Frost
              • Crotch Gun and Whip
                • Savini knew how to use the whip professionally.
                • Crotch gun first appeared in Desperado.
                  • Sex Machine’s crotch revolver has been the source of much debate as a terrible idea, because the recoil would be like punching yourself in the groin. In an interview with James Rolfe, Tom Savini (Sex Machine) justified the recoil issue by stating that during his time in the army in the Vietnam War, they tested the recoil of an M16 by placing it on various parts of the human body, including the chin and the crotch with no injury whatsoever. It could be belt fed; one cylinder holds bullets and the other holds the spent shells. Its resemblance to a revolver is just cosmetic, and the codpiece itself might be reinforced and padded to reduce the recoil, particularly since the firing pin and the trigger mechanism (the film shows that it was fired by a hand pump) would need the additional room.
                • Greg Nicotero: The long haired biker from whom Sex Machine (Tom Savini) steals the beer is the make-up effects supervisor. His character makes a further appearance in a deleted scene where in he is brutally murdered by Santanico Pandemonium when she sits on his lap (in human form) and seduces him into a false sense of security. Then a second vampiric snake-like mouth erupts from her own and bites his head off in an explicit fashion.
              • Drinking Whiskey
            • Snake Dance
              • Introduction of Salma Hayek
                • The name “Satanico Pandemonium” came from the title of a gory Mexican horror movie (Satanico Pandemonium (1975)) that Tarantino had seen on the shelves of the video store in which he worked.
                • Salma Hayek did not have a choreographer for her dance, because, according to her, you can’t choreograph the live snake she wore around her neck. So director Robert Rodriguez just told her to feel the music and dance to it. Rodriguez used the same tactic with Jessica Alba in Sin City (2005).
                  • Song was supposed to be Down in Mexico by the Coasters
                    • After Dark was used played by Tito and The Tarantula.
                  • All Hell Breaks Loose
                    • Richie and Seth is attacked by bouncer for attacking Chet
                    • Richie is stabbed and blood flows causing Satanico to turn into a vampire and attack.
                    • Green blood was used for the vampires to get the movie past the censors.
                    • Some of the body parts were from other films by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
                    • Robert Rodriguez operated the camera himself using a zoom lens. He would frequently zoom in during takes to make it appear as it were more camera set-ups, a technique he had developed while filming El Mariachi (1992). This is how the many jump cuts into extreme close-ups on actor’s faces were filmed.
                    • Death of Ritche and Battle of Bar
                    • Special Effects
                    • Sex Machine’s use of a whip to combat vampires is a reference to the legendary vampire killer whip of The Belmonts in Castlevania (1986).
                    • No thanks I already had a wife was improvised
                    • There was a special make-up effect in which one of the stripper-vampires has her stomach open into a large mouth. She shoves a bar attendant’s head into the large mouth and bites it off. The effect was so graphic that Quentin Tarantino didn’t even want to see it. The scene can be accessed in the deleted scenes section on the Special Edition DVD.
                    • Mentioning of Peter Cushing
                  • Sex Machine is Bitten
                    • Took 3 days for the vampire makeup for Savini.
                    • Howard Berger: The trucker vampire that bites Sex Machine (Tom Savini) is the make-up supervisor.
                    • Attacks Frost then turns into a Rat/Dog.
                      • Some of the growling noises of the vampire dog into which Sex Machine turns were provided by Robert Rodriguez’s baby son Rocket Rodriguez, who was just learning to talk.
                    • According to the DVD featurettes, when Sex Machine is throwing around the other characters, Tom Savini actually punched many of the actors, including George Clooney.
                    • Jacob is Bitten
                  • Final Battle
                    • Julius’ monologue was supposed to be in this film. This monologue began its life in an early draft of From Dusk Till Dawn, in which Jacob delivered the speech in anticipation of the characters’ final stand against the vampires. Well, it actually began its life in a Sonny Chiba movie.
                    • Due to the heavy number of special effects, the film had to be strictly budgeted so scenes would not have to be cut. This meant only 6 full body vampire suits could be made for the climax that called for many dozens of vampires. In the final film, the same 6 actors play all of the vampires getting killed over and over. In some shots, the dummies made for shots where vampires exploded as well as the puppets used for certain shots where placed in the background along with cardboard cut-outs to create the illusion of a large host of vampires.
                  • Carlos Arrives
                    • Christos as Danny and Mike Moroff (Shrug in Desperado) as Manny appear as Carlos’s Bodyguards.
                    • Erik Estrada was lined up to play Carlos the gangster that Cheech Marin plays at the end.
                    • In the original script, Quentin Tarantino had all of the Fullers and both Geckos survive the ordeal, but changed it to only one of each group surviving, because he felt it’d be more exciting with victims.
                    • Chronologically this movie takes place after both Kill Bill movies and DeathProof since Earl McGraw was alive in those and was killed in this movie.

***Critical Reception/Fan Theories***

• The film made 25 million on 19-million-dollar budget.
• Considered a Cult Classic and tribute to the horror genre.
• Ebert Loved the Film giving it three stars.
• Movie Spawned a sequel and a prequel as well as a Television Series that Rodriguez helped produce and Direct.
• Spawned a Video Game for Windows in 2001.

Fan Theories

• Frost was already a Vampire via housepainter on reddit.
  • It’s funny how long the show really went on before the vampires were revealed. These devils blend in for their own good reasons and devious tactics. Practically the entire Titty Twister was housed with vampires before the Gecko brothers and the hostage family even arrived. Some humans were present, but they didn’t outnumber the vamps, and were never going to.
  • But let’s start with Frost. For years I’ve been wondering what he meant about what he saw in Vietnam. He made it seem like he encountered something out of the ordinary in that specific time period. But it’s obvious it might’ve been a vampire or a nest of vampires, considering that’s what the movie is about anyway. But my thing is, how would Frost prevail from this horror? I’m pretty sure it caught him off guard(something he didn’t understand then) and he had no chance of defeating that type of threat at that moment.
  • I would imagine he was overpowered and the vampire turned him instead of just slaying him. Frost barely gave any shock or real apathy to the fact that they were actually around after Richie got bit. It’s like he was already just there for the party. He could’ve managed to keep the “vamp” condition in check for many years or just been in cahoots with the Titty Twister all along.
  • This could also be backed by the fact that he didn’t show any real worry or panic after getting bit by Sex Machine but rather annoyance. After this he taunted Sex Machine before questionably throwing him through a wall, releasing many more vampires. And somehow in seconds he’s already a vampire. This never made sense to me since every victim turned a little later. But Frost turned immediately after getting bitten.
  • Maybe his cover was blown anyway so he just plain transformed. His Vietnam story right before this happens was an allusion to the vampires. Frost was always mysterious and sly.
• [Fan Theory] Possible connection between From Dusk till Dawn and Killer Crow.

• Fans of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s first genre collaboration, From Dusk till Dawn may be familiar with Frost, the African American war vet, played by Fred Williamson. He recounts a war story to the survivors of the massacre at the Titty Twister before getting bitten by Sex Machine.
• Tarantino fans may also be aware of the director’s unrealized project, Killer Crow, a war film with a primarily African American cast. Quentin had this to say about the project in an interview with The Root.
• “There’s something about this that would suggest a trilogy. My original idea for Inglourious Basterds way back when was that this would be a huge story that included the smaller story that you saw in the film, but also followed a bunch of black troops, and they had been fucked over by the American military and kind of go apeshit. They basically — the way Lt. Aldo Raines (Brad Pitt) and the Basterds are having an ‘Apache resistance’ — the black troops go on an Apache warpath and kill a bunch of white soldiers and white officers on a military base and are just making a warpath to Switzerland. It would be called Killer Crow or something like that.”
• While Killer Crow takes place during WWII and Fred Williamson’s character fought in Vietnam, I don’t think it would be that much of a stretch to imagine the two stories being linked in some way. Perhaps in the same way that True Romance is linked to Inglorious Basterds by way of Lee/Donny Donowitz (Lee is filming a Vietnam war film during True Romance by the way).
• If there is a connection, that would also put Killer Crow in the same “micro-verse” as From Dusk till Dawn, Kill Bill and Grindhouse. Though that may necessarily contradict the micro-verse theory, as Killer Crow and Inglourious Bastards