--- title: "From Dusk Till Dawn" year: 1996 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/from-dusk-till-dawn" fi1m_id: "from-dusk-till-dawn" imdb_id: "tt0116367" tmdb_id: 755 wikidata_id: "Q196004" fi1m_score: 75 critics_score: 65 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-13" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:51.723403+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Directed by Robert Rodriguez · 1h 48m · MPA R · Horror, Action, Crime ## Identity From Dusk Till Dawn - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/from-dusk-till-dawn - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** from-dusk-till-dawn - **IMDb ID:** tt0116367 - **TMDB ID:** 755 - **Wikidata ID:** Q196004 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116367/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/755, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q196004 **Fi1m score: 75** · Critics 65 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* George Clooney looks as though he could organise this bloodbath, if anyone would stop shouting long enough > George Clooney gives this grubby crime-and-horror mixture enough authority to keep us watching through its excesses. Robert Rodriguez makes the violence inventive, but the second half is less compelling than the hostage-taking that gets us there. ## Synopsis Seth Gecko (George Clooney) and his brother Richard (Quentin Tarantino) are bank robbers heading for Mexico. They take hostages, bringing other people into a journey governed by threats and violence. Harvey Keitel plays Jacob Fuller, with Juliette Lewis as Kate Fuller and Ernest Liu as Scott Fuller. Robert Rodriguez directs from a screenplay by Tarantino, following the criminals and their captives through a story that combines crime, action and horror. Salma Hayek Pinault, Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo also appear in the cast. ## Review *From Dusk Till Dawn* is good, grubby entertainment, though its appetite for mayhem eventually gets ahead of its ability to hold our interest. Robert Rodriguez directs Quentin Tarantino’s screenplay as if giving this material respectable manners would be a serious waste of everyone’s time. That confidence carries a great deal of it, especially while the film stays close to its criminals and their hostages. George Clooney plays Seth Gecko, with Tarantino alongside him as his brother Richard. The brothers are bank robbers heading for Mexico, and taking hostages is part of their route there. Tarantino gives their exchanges enough bite to make spending time with them disturbingly enjoyable, even while other people are being threatened. We caught ourselves liking their company, and it made us uncomfortable. The early crime scenes sustain that awkward feeling because the dialogue is funny without making the men delivering it seem harmless. Clooney is the main reason this works. He gives Seth authority without asking us to mistake him for a decent man, and makes the dialogue sound like something a person might actually say under pressure. Tarantino is less assured, but Richard’s unpleasantness gives his performance a useful place to put its awkwardness. Clooney also provides some welcome steadiness in a film where the urge to be outrageous can make almost everything feel overemphasised. Guillermo Navarro photographs the sleaze with enough polish to make its appeal faintly troubling. Cecilia Montiel’s production design helps make this a convincing place for people with no intention of behaving themselves. Those choices work because the early hostage scenes need an ugly atmosphere as well as clever dialogue. The visual pleasure never quite lets us forget what sort of men we are following, which gives the crime material more weight than its jokes might suggest. The second half takes a turn we will not describe, and Rodriguez handles the change with more assurance than the script quite earns. As his own editor, he gives the action a force and speed that suit the material, keeping the violence inventive long after it has ceased to surprise. Individual sequences offer the pleasure of watching someone solve a complicated practical problem at speed. Graeme Revell’s music helps to sell the mayhem as entertainment, although it adds less personality than the actors do. The difficulty is that the film grows less interesting as it grows more frantic. Tarantino’s script gives up too much of the early crime drama’s tension, and the later excess cannot entirely replace the pleasure of listening to these people. Some of the gross-out humour feels aimed at an audience still delighted to discover that adults can be offended. Rodriguez’s skill keeps the action watchable, but there are stretches when another burst of violence offers little reason to pay closer attention. For an exploitation film, giving the audience something to wince at is part of the job, and Rodriguez takes that obligation seriously. The mixture of crime, action and horror is handled with a confidence that makes its unevenness forgivable if these are already genres we enjoy. At 108 minutes, though, it has time to exhaust some of its own jokes. Watch it for Clooney if the genre appeals; he will not make it suitable for the squeamish. *Fi1m score 75, published 13 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like it, and most of them like it for the same reasons. The reviews are warm about the first hour, the hostage-taking and the drive for Mexico, and about George Clooney, whose performance is picked out again and again as the film’s centre of gravity. Rodriguez’s inventive kills and the gruesome effects work draw praise, as do the dialogue and the energy of the thing. Several critics recommend going in knowing as little as possible. The reservations cluster on the second half. Even admirers call the vampire mayhem uneven or juvenile, and the spread is wide. The Hollywood Reporter finds the horror-comedy overblown and revolting rather than substantial, and the Los Angeles Times admires the fight choreography while dismissing the conceit itself as road kill. The New Yorker calls the second half cheesy and derivative. The 1996 notices are the coolest; later reviews are fonder, treating the genre switch as the point. ## Straight answers **Is From Dusk Till Dawn worth watching?** *From Dusk Till Dawn* is worth watching for anyone who already enjoys crime, action and horror mixed without much regard for good manners, and we scored it 75. George Clooney's authority as Seth Gecko carries the film through its excesses, and the early hostage scenes are the best of it. The frantic second half is less compelling than the crime drama that gets us there. **How long is From Dusk Till Dawn, and what is it rated?** *From Dusk Till Dawn* runs 1h 48m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror and action film. **Where can I watch From Dusk Till Dawn in the US?** *From Dusk Till Dawn* is streaming on The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. It leaves The Roku Channel on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is From Dusk Till Dawn, and is it suitable for children?** *From Dusk Till Dawn* is an 18 certificate in the UK and rated R in the US, and it is not suitable for children. It is a grubby exploitation film built on threats, hostage-taking and inventive, sustained violence, with gross-out humour designed to make the audience wince. The squeamish should stay away; it is for adults who know what they are letting themselves in for. ### Reviews we read (12) - **Empire**, Mark Salisbury (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a rollicking, slam-bang piece of entertainment that fuses guns and vampires for a blood-soaked blast. They single out the fun monster mash and strong performances, especially George Clooney's. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dusk-till-dawn-review/) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): This splatter-action horror delivers sharp dialogue, excessive violence, great effects, and bad taste with stylish verve as crooks take hostages and face vampires in a sleazy bar. Energetic filmmaking and engaging performances make it a hilarious, raucous gore-fest. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-rkwvrm/from-dusk-till-dawn/) - **Time Out**, TCh (80/100, inferred): The critic recommends going in blind for maximum effect and highlights the film's over-the-top mix of gun-crazy sleaze, macho mayhem, and vampiric strippers. Rodriguez is praised for inventive kills and turning Clooney into a star while giving Tarantino a decent performance. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/from-dusk-till-dawn) - **The AV Club**, Jesse Hassenger (75/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a fun, gory hybrid where the first half delivers tense Tarantino crime drama and the second unleashes Rodriguez's kinetic vampire action with gruesome effects and sight gags, singling out Harvey Keitel's performance as a standout grounding force amid the mayhem. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/quentin-tarantino-and-robert-rodriguez-first-joined-for-1844493564) - **The Independent**, John Lyttle (70/100, inferred): The film has nothing new to add to vampire lore and borrows its plots shamelessly, but it is hard to care because of the many treats, jokes, stunts and gross FX along the way. It exemplifies big, tired junky genre pictures played fast and furious and funny. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/entertainment/john-lyttle-on-film-5612906.html) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the first hour promising and down-and-dirty as the Gecko brothers take hostages and head for Mexico, but notes the film raises questions about its violent, profane style. She highlights George Clooney's star potential and the pitch-black satire in the early sections. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/19/movies/film-review-enough-blood-to-feed-the-thirstiest-vampires.html) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (70/100, inferred): The critic calls it a deliriously trashy, exuberantly vulgar exploitation picture that will appeal to teenage boys with its road-kill and vampire gorefest elements, while noting it provides potent box office potential for the target audience. George Clooney's star-making performance is singled out as a center of gravity amid the juvenile gross-out material. [Read](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/from-dusk-till-dawn-1200444406/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the first half a clever Tarantino-style crime/hostage story with strong dialogue and the second half a gory vampire mayhem sequence, praising Clooney's debut and some inventive touches while noting the film is a skillful but uneven pro job that the filmmakers could have elevated further. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/from-dusk-till-dawn-1996) - **The New Yorker** (50/100, inferred): The film is seen as a modestly berserk action picture that delivers expected unnatural disasters with confidence after an entertaining opening, though the second half turns cheesy and derivative of Night of the Living Dead. Rodriguez's wild action sequences and editing nearly redeem the sluggish first half. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/02/05/wet-and-wild) - **Los Angeles Times** (30/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a film nerd’s fever dream mixing mismatched genres and styles, with the first hour focused on bank-robbing brothers holding hostages and the second delivering frantic bloody mayhem. It praises the craftsmanship of the fight sequences but calls the overall conceit road kill. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-01-19-ca-26209-story.html) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Hunter (30/100, inferred): The film starts promisingly as a tense crime drama but turns into an overblown, grotesque horror-comedy that fails to deliver. Rodriguez's hyper-kinetic mayhem and excessive gore leave a lasting impression of revulsion rather than substance. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dusk-dawn-review-1996-movie-1076015/) - **Polygon**, Isaac Rouse (80/100, inferred): The critic recalls the film's shocking genre shift from crime thriller to vampire horror as a defining moment that turned him into a horror fan. He praises its audacious structure and enduring appeal as a cult classic that influenced later works. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/from-dusk-till-dawn-anniversary-30-years-ryan-coogler-sinners/) ## Details - **Director:** Robert Rodriguez - **Director:** Robert Rodriguez - **Screenplay:** Quentin Tarantino - **Story:** Robert Kurtzman - **Cinematography:** Guillermo Navarro - **Editor:** Robert Rodriguez - **Music:** Graeme Revell - **Production design:** Cecilia Montiel - **Costume design:** Graciela Mazón - **Producer:** Gianni Nunnari, Meir Teper - **Cast:** George Clooney as Seth Gecko; Quentin Tarantino as Richard Gecko; Harvey Keitel as Jacob Fuller; Juliette Lewis as Kate Fuller; Ernest Liu as Scott Fuller; Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium; Cheech Marin as Border Guard / Chet Pussy / Carlos; Danny Trejo as Razor Charlie - **Runtime:** 1h 48m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 19 January 1996 - **Genres:** Horror, Action, Crime - **Budget:** $19 million - **Box office:** $26 million ## Where to watch in the US - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-13.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Near Dark* (1987), Fi1m 82: Another grubby nocturnal outing whose dangerous company is half the appeal — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/near-dark.md) - *Assault on Precinct 13* (1976): For tense confinement and economical action that makes every threat count - *Braindead* (1992): For those who find elaborate practical gore funnier than anyone reasonably should - *A Bittersweet Life* (2005): A more controlled crime film with forceful action and costly loyalties - *The Mission* (1999): For criminals whose professional composure makes the sudden violence more effective --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/from-dusk-till-dawn