From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino based on a concept and story by Robert Kurtzman. Starring Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Tarantino, Ernest Liu, and Juliette Lewis, the plot follows a pair of American crime brothers (Clooney and Tarantino) who take a family hostage (Keitel, Liu, and Lewis) to cross the border into Mexico, but end up trapped in a bar, fighting off a pack of vampires. From Dusk till Dawn premiered on January 17, 1996, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and was released on January 19 in the United States. Initially, the film received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as well-made despite being overly violent. After achieving financial success at the box office, From Dusk till Dawn became a cult film and spawned a television series, sequels, a video game, and other media adaptations.
Runaway bank-robbing brothers Seth and Richie Gecko rob a liquor store, killing clerk Pete Bottoms and Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in a shootout. They accidentally destroy the building as they leave. At a motel where they are hiding, Seth returns from getting food to find Richie raping and murdering a bank clerk they took hostage, which enrages him.
Jacob Fuller, a pastor who is going through a crisis of faith due to the death of his wife, is vacationing with his two teenage children Scott and Kate in their RV. They stop at the motel and are kidnapped by the Gecko brothers, who force the Fuller family to smuggle them across the Mexican border. In Mexico, they go to Titty Twister, a strip club in the desert (with a small sign on the door that reads “Open Dusk to Dawn”), where the Gecko brothers will meet their contact, Carlos, at dawn. Carlos will escort them to a hideout at “El Rey”, a safe house for fugitives whose entrance fee is 30% of everything they own. When Richie complains to Seth that the price is too high, Seth tells him that it is not negotiable.
When they enter the bar, the bartender refuses to serve them and orders them to leave, telling them that only bikers and truckers are welcome and that they do not like or welcome outsiders into their bar. However, Jacob convinces the bartender that since the law requires him to have a special permit to drive his RV, he is technically a truck driver, convincing him to let them stay. Seth, upset that he was not initially considered good enough to enter, has developed a strong dislike for bikers and vans. During a bar brawl, the bar staff reveal themselves to be vampires and kill most of the patrons. Richie is bitten and killed by a stripper, Santanico Pandemonium, but Seth manages to kill her by shooting a chandelier above her, impaling her.
Only Seth, Jacob, Kate, Scott, a biker named Sex Machine, and Frostโa Vietnam War veteranโsurvive. The others are reborn as vampires, including Richie, forcing the survivors to kill them all. When an army of vampires, in the form of bats, gather outside, the survivors lock themselves inside, but Sex Machine is bitten, becoming a vampire and biting Frost and Jacob. Frost throws Sex Machine through the door, allowing the vampires inside while Frost turns into a vampire. Seth, Kate, and Scott escape to a storage room, where they are joined by a wounded but still alive Jacob, brandishing a handgun. In the storage room, they construct weapons from the truckloads of goods the vampires have looted from previous victims, including a stake mounted on a pneumatic drill, a crossbow, and holy water, which Jacob must restore to his faith in order to be blessed. Jacob, knowing that he will soon become a vampire, makes Scott and Kate promise to kill him when he changes.
