From Dusk Till Dawn / From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Echo Bridge Entertainment – 195 minutes – 1996-1999 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 1.78:1 – DTS 5.1 / DTS-HD 2.0 Audio Mix

There are two types of people; those who think the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino team up From Dusk Till Dawn is complete crap, and then there are those who think the film is brilliant. Which side of the fence you stand on can either win you friends or enemies, but the fight will be interesting. The 1996 cult film From Dusk Till Dawn has been released as a solo Blu-ray, as well as being lumped together in a combo pack with the awful straight to video sequel From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, distributed by a company called Echo Bridge Entertainment. Up front you should know that if you love From Dusk Till Dawn, you are going to hate this Blu-ray.

THE MOVIES

From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn is two different movies; the first half is a thriller about two criminal brothers who are running from the law and the people they encounter. The second half of the film is a B-Movie vampire flick complete with cheesy make-up and effects. This sounds like a disastrous mix, but for some reason if you suspend all believability, it actually works.

Two brothers, Seth and Richard Gecko (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) are dangerous and wanted criminals who are trying to make their way to Mexico to avoid death or the slammer. The brothers siege an RV and the family inside of it, Jacob Fuller (played by Harvey Keitel) and his two kids (Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu) using them as a pawn to sneak across the border. They succeed and escape the US law, but in Mexico they meet a more dangerous fate in a local dive bar that is opened From Dusk Till Dawn. A wave of vampires (yes vampires) led by a beautiful Mexican stripper named Satanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) attack the brothers and the family, forcing them into a scenario which thy must either survive or die.

This film was written by Tarantino way back when he was a struggling screenwriter, and his stamp is definitely there, especially in the first half of the movie with its clever dialogue and tension filled situations. The second half of the film is all Rodriquez, with non-stop action quirky characters and over the top violence. This film was George Clooney’s first starring role in a film, and he’s actually damn good in it, holding up what could have been a disaster, because you actually root for his character despite that his a homicidal maniac. Tarantino does his thing, but he knows he’s not a great actor and was smart enough to sit back and let Clooney and Kietel do the work.

For the record, this film has one of the best opening sequences you’re going to see, and within minutes you know you’re watching a scene written by Tarantino. Like him or not, this guy writes great and memorable dialogue. Rodriguez for the most part of his career makes movies that are only for entertainment and his characters aren’t very diverse, so the first part of the film doesn’t seem like he directed it at all. When the vampires start jumping out an hour into the film, you know for sure this his movie, because his style and swift manner of editing are prevalent.

Overall, From Dusk Till Dawn is the perfect mid 90’s film, because it defined a time when smaller independent films were getting more attention that the big budget Hollywood factory movies and Tarantino and Rodriguez were major players in that game. Fifteen years later, this film has been watched by so many different audiences that it has earned its cult status. A few very bad straight to video films have followed, but without a Tarantino script they have no legs to stand up to the original.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

The original From Dusk Till Dawn had a lot going for it because it had the dual team-up of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, it was George Clooney’s first starring role, and it had Salma Hayek walking around with barely any clothes on. How could it fail?

But when you strip those elements away and all your left with is C- list talent, the result is the 1999 straight-to-video sequel From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money. The best decision Echo Bridge Entertainment made was to stick this flick in a combo pack with the original, because no one would buy this movie as a stand alone Blu-ray.

The cut and paste plot revolves around a group of criminals led by a guy named Buck (Robert Patrick) who plan a big bank robbery in Mexico, but are being pursued by a Texas Ranger (Bo Hopkins). Through a series of events, and after killing a big ugly bat, they gang meets up with some wild vampires and as you can imagine there is a lot of blood spilled in various mindless scenarios.

What’s the big problem with the film? It’s simply that the script sucks. Yes, it was written and directed by Scott Spiegel who co-wrote Evil Dead 2, but none of that holds ground here because film is completely unsatisfying. You will immediately miss the snappy Tarantino dialogue and the explosive action style of Rodriguez. The characters here are as flat as a board, but you can’t blame the actors because they weren’t given anything to work with.

There’s a reason From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money went straight to video, because you wouldn’t be able to sit in a theater and kill off 88 minutes of your life. A third follow-up was actually made, but thankfully it didn’t end up on this Blu-ray. Nowadays there are so many other places to get your vampire fix, so there’s no need to go back to Mexico.

From Dusk Till Dawn (Video & Audio)

VIDEO

Hmmm…something went wrong here. This Blu-ray is in 1080p in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio but it doesn’t look very high definition. I looked at my old standard DVD version and compared the two, and realistically the standard DVD had a better transfer. Yes, this film is over a decade old, but the source material is not that dated. Colors are either muted or overdone in some spots, and skin tones are on the red side. Some scenes look soft and there’s plenty of grain on the picture in the darker scenes during the finale. If you already have the special edition DVD and a Blu-ray player that up-converts the image, you’ll be better staying where you are.

AUDIO

Offering a Dolby Digital DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix, the sound quality is better than the image. Being that this is a film with a lot of activity such as gunfire, explosions and vampires biting necks, there are plenty of moments to dabble with your sound levels. Dialogue is well balanced, which is good because you will appreciate this for the first half of the movie. The second half of the film is the loudest with a combination of action related sound effects and intense music. The sound doesn’t make up for the lackluster picture quality, but it helps move things along.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (Video & Audio)

VIDEO

The 1080p image locked in a 1.78:1 frame is as basic as it gets. The colors are muted with a brownish tone and there are heavy grain issues. It’s obvious that this transfer was just a straight port from the DVD with little to no supervision. But when a film is this bad, why go through the effort? Don’t expect much and you won’t be let down.

AUDIO

The audio for the film is somewhat better, providing a DTS-HD 2.0 audio mix. Dialogue and sound effects are balanced well enough for the material. The sound design for the first film is better because they had more to work with, but Texas Blood Money does what it can to deliver the experience. No need to turn up the home theater system for this one, but at least the effort was made.

EXTRAS

Why are there no bonus features on this Blu-ray? Was there not enough space on this gigantic storage disc? The standard DVD for From Dusk Till Dawn had so many cool extras, including the Full Tilt Boogie documentary about the making of the film. This is a damn shame. There is zilch here for either movie, not even trailers.

BOTTOM LINE

From Dusk Till Dawn has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but it came out in a perfect time in the 90’s when the independent films made an impact and you weren’t being forced to see a film in 3D. The Blu-ray gives you two movies, but it’s only the original that you will want to see. The image quality for both films is minimal and no bonus features whatsoever have been included. If you can grab this one for under $10 bucks it may be worth it if you’re a fan, otherwise it’s a rental.

SCORES (Out of 5):

From Dusk Till Dawn

The Movie: 3.5

Video: 3.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 0.0

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

The Movie: 2.0

Video: 2.5

Sound: 3.0

Extras: 0.0

Bottom Line: 2.5