George Clooney’s Cult Classic Vampire Movie Takes a Bite Out of Streaming

There’ll be some dark nights on Peacock this month. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino‘s From Dusk Till Dawn is coming to the streamer just in time for the Halloween season. The two indie filmmaking mavericks combined their abilities to make one of the most memorable horror films of the 1990s.

Rodriguez and Tarantino have had a long and fruitful working relationship. They first met in Toronto in 1992 promoting their debut films: El Mariachi and Reservoir Dogs, respectively. Soon afterward, Rodriguez stepped in to help direct Tarantino’s scenes as the motor-mouthed Jimmy in Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino had a small role in Desperado. However, their first full-scale collaboration was From Dusk Till Dawn.

Rodriguez directed the film, using a number of his signature actors (including Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo), while Tarantino wrote the script and starred in one of the lead roles. The movie’s unusual structure (a tense crime drama that becomes a supernatural horror movie) presages their next major collaboration: Grindhouse. Taking From Dusk Till Dawn to its natural conclusion, the movie consisted of two shorter films, Rodriguez’s zombie splatterfest Planet Terror and Tarantino’s vehicular thriller Death Proof; they were combined into a faux double bill, complete with fake trailers and ads.

What Is ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ About?

The 1996 film opens with two criminal brothers, cool-headed Seth (George Clooney) and unhinged loose cannon Richie (Tarantino), cutting a bloody swath through Texas. They hijack an RV, taking its family of passengers hostage as they make their getaway to Mexico: father Jacob Fuller (Harvey Keitel) and his children Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott (Ernest Liu). Once they make it across the border, they hide out at a sleazy strip club/road house and wait for their contact, Carlos (Marin). Unfortunately, it turns out the bar is a next of vampires, led by the serpentine Santanico Pandemonium (Hayek). Together with fellow patrons Frost (Fred Williamson) and Sex Machine (Tom Savini), the Geckos and the Fullers will have to survive the night barricaded in a back room, with a horde of ravenous bloodsuckers waiting for them to make the wrong move…

A surprise success with critics and audiences, From Dusk Till Dawn earned $59 million USD on a $19 million budget. A direct to video sequel (Texas Blood Money) and prequel (The Hangman’s Daughter) followed. Rodriguez adapted the film into a TV series for his new El Rey network; it starred D.J. Cotrona and Zane Holtz as the Gecko brothers, and Eiza González as Santanico Pandemonium.

From Dusk Till Dawn is now streaming on Peacock. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Release Date

January 19, 1996

Runtime

108 minutes