Review #4: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)


This review was originally written in October 2016.

Day 4: From Dusk Till Dawn. I had some issues with the audio at the beginning (namely, the actors in the first scene were talking extremely quietly and I couldn't understand a word they were saying) but after that it was actually a very fun romp.

I had a few problems with the pacing. The trailers would have you believe the movie takes place in a Mexican bar, but they don't get there until halfway through the movie, and the big fight scene that happens there is over very, very quickly. And there were several scenes where it seemed like they cut out a significant amount of scene or just edited it really really weird- like when the brother comes back from the dead, first he looks all weird like a vampire, then there's two shots where he looks normal again (for a moment I thought maybe he was turning sane?) but then the camera cuts back and he looks weird again without any attention drawn to it. And that seems like it's going to be a significant part of the movie (George Clooney stops Tom Savini from killing him and makes a big deal about keeping him alive) but then it's all done and resolved within like a minute and a half. It really seemed like the scene was longer and they had to cut it out.

Also, I know the movie didn't take itself too seriously but the vampire mechanics are not even remotely consistent- they spend five minutes establishing headshots don't do anything and you have to stab them in the heart (even when the heart is separated from their body) and then Juliette Lewis spends the entire last fight scene shooting them in the head.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the last shot of the movie was absolutely awesome.

Rating: 7/10 condoms filled with holy water

Percentage of the dialogue that should have been louder: 100

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