Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8865 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-03
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 281 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This box set collects From Dusk Till Dawn and its two lesser-known sequels, plus a wealth of associated material. None are horror classics, but taken as a trilogy the series offers above-average thrills and an interesting invented mythology.

The original is a trashy but fun crime spree/vampire movie, directed by Robert Rodriguez, with Quentin Tarantino doing one job too many as producer, writer and co-star. The crime movie half is suspenseful and flavoursome and the left turn into horror begins wonderfully, but the script makes the mistake of getting rid of the flamboyant monster villains too quickly, replacing them with an orgy of rubbery Evil Dead II-style effects. It never gets boring, there's a terrific Tex-Mex-Gothic soundtrack and Rodriguez stages shoot-outs better than anyone not called John Woo. It was a big enough hit to warrant sequels made for the video market, shot back-to-back in South Africa (doubling for Texas and Mexico).

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money begins as another cowboy noir, with ex-con Robert Patrick playing cat and mouse with Texas Ranger Bo Hopkins. It segues into horror as heist man Duane Whitaker runs into a bat on the highway and proceeds to turn his gang into vampires who engage during a total eclipse in a Wild Bunch-style bank raid-cum-shootout.

Switching genres and playing the prequel game, From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter is more distinctive. A cod-spaghetti Western, it takes a plot nugget from history as the aged Ambrose Bierce (Michael Parks, the Sheriff killed before the credits in the first film) tangles with vampires in Mexico in 1914 en route to his mythic disappearance. Though it has the best storyline of the trio, it still degenerates into a compilation of horror gags in its carnage-strewn climax.

On the DVD: From Dusk Till Dawn is identical to the previous collector's edition release, while the sequels here appear on disc for the first time in great-looking 1.85:1 widescreen, which shows off the attempts made by directors Scott Spiegel and P.J. Pesce to add visual quality to reruns of the original's plot.

A second disc included in the first movie's keepcase features "Full Tilt Boogie", a light but informative feature-length documentary about making an effects-heavy film on the cheap; there's also a Rodriguez-Tarantino commentary; alternate and deleted scenes (more gore effects); excerpts from the film intercut with on-the-set-footage and commented on by Rodriguez and effects man Greg Nicotero; the trailer; Rodriguez music videos; a still gallery; cast and crew bios. If you count the sequels as extras in their own right, it's not that disappointing that they only rate one tiny extra between them, a deleted snippet from The Hangman's Daughter originally intended as an after-the-end-credits punchline.--Kim Newman

Special Features
English
Region 2
Audio Commentary
Outtakes
Hollywood Goes To Hell Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Tito And Tarrantula After Dark
ZZ Top Shes Killing Me

Synopsis
This raucous collection includes all three FROM DUSK TILL DAWN movies, plus the bonus documentary feature FULL TILT BOOGIE. In the original horror hit, the criminal Gecko brothers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) are escaping to Mexico when they accidentally wind up in the Titty Twister, a seedy border bar that happens to be full of bloodthirsty vampires. TEXAS BLOOD MONEY, the sequel, follows another group of thieves and criminals (including Robert Patrick) into the same bar, while THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER serves as a prequel, set in the Old West decades earlier. FULL TILT BOOGIE is a behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of the original film, featuring special footage of director Robert Rodriguez and star-screenwriter Tarantino.

Customer Reviews

1 great film, 2 minors.
The first time I saw From Dusk Till Dawn, I thought I was watching a different film. The reviews said 'Vampire movie' I was not watching a vampire movie. at least, I didn't think so.
Which is probably what makes the film so bizarre. You are convinced that it is your standard crime movie. Until that fateful moment when...
Ok, I won't spoil it. Excellent CGI effects make this a superbly presented vampire film, different from all others.
The sequels are definitely worth watching, but neither can match the first.
The third film, The Hangman's daughter, is basically a remake of the first. It has a very similar storyline. The second film is not bad, but the lack of Rodriguez' and Tarantino's contributions are its downfall!
Everybody should at least own the first episode of these fine films, and if you like that one, buy the rest.

Salma Hayek is to die for
I didn't even know there were two sequels to this, that probably means they're awful. I liked From Dusk 'til Dawn very much, but didn't take it to seriously. In fact it's the only Tarantino movie I like. I think he's too over-rated as a director and writer. He gives me the impression he'd stamp his feet and throw a tantrum if a Hollywood studio said "no" to one of his films. He needs to chill and grow up a little.

FDTD has all you'd expect in a Tarantino flick: guns, blood, a few gratuitous deaths, more blood, a bit of horror, and oh yes, a multitude of swear words. Tarantino, one-dimensional? Never! Oh I almost forgot women, more specifically scantily clad women. And for me, this movie has one highlight: the dance Salma Hayek does with the snake and the wine. Maybe it's just me, but I think those few tender minutes have more eroticism, more passion, more sensuality, than exists in the entire porn industry to-date. She is just...sublime. Magnifique! So I was a bit disappointed when, a few minutes later, she turns into a vampire and subsequently gets staked through the heart. Alas, we never see her again. Boooooo!

It is a good movie, and worth watching again and again just for the ride. But if blood and gore, deaths, murders and schlock horror turn you off, don't buy it.

Peter Bronks' Review.
From Dusk Till Dawn Trilogy (Box Set) [DVD] [1995]
This is my type of film, horror with a touch of amusement.
The first film was excellent with Harvey Kietel, Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney. A Film about vampires in a Mexican bar. Superb!!!