My Review of "From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)"

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) was a horror classic for me when it first came out. I absolutely loved it but I was a teenage boy back then and now as an older man I have to reevaluate if it really was as good as I remembered it. This is one of those movies that I thought would stand the test of time but I was humbled after watching this. I definitely watched it with a little nostalgia but even the nostalgia couldn't make me love it like I used to.

The movie starts out quite demure. It's been a long time since I've seen this movie so it felt pretty fresh. It's a conversation with the local sheriff and a local gas attendant. They're just innocently discussing the matters in the news. The sheriff explains that there is a demented sibling duo out on the loose and they're murdering everyone in their path.

Soon as you know it the sheriff needs to go to the restroom and there are the demented siblings Seth and Richard. The two are escaped convicts and Richard is totally nuts. Pretty soon the whole gasoline station is up in flames and everyone is dead. What a way to introduce our lead characters.

Along for the ride is a small family Jacob, Kate and Scott. Since the murderous sibling are on the run they're headed to Mexico. In order to get there they need to threaten this small family to sneak them across the border.

It's weird because this whole interaction is pretty much half of the movie. They build their relationship with each other. I guess you kind of get a rapport with everyone even though Richard and Seth are the scum of the universe.

The movie really gets kick started when they finally get to a really shady and over the top biker/trucker bar. Everything ramps up to 100 really quick and this is the part that I kind of remember the most. The action sequences are quite fun. It's very over the top but extremely juvenile. You can tell a very immature male had written the antics that had happened at this bar. It's so absurd that I can see why people still love this movie like a cult classic.

Admittedly this movie is very much a B movie. It's not intended to be a very good movie. You have to be in the right frame of mind to really enjoy this one. It's supposed to be one of those it's so bad it's good kind of things. As a young man I loved every minute of this but as an older adult I can see all the problematic issues with this movie. Still there is some elements of charm to it.

The special effects are terrible but they have that character and charm that you only get with older films. Knowing more about movies I started to recognize certain actors and their significance in this movie. I didn't get that back in the day. Also, there are a lot of actors that really blew up after this movie came out. It's fun to see how young they were back in the day and how different they looked. They actually pay homage to a lot of things in this movie.

Overall, this movie may be bad but there's still a sense of charm and a je ne sais quoi about this movie that kept me engaged. I could still have fun with this and I can see how people can still get into it. Of course, I don't love it as much as I did when it first came out but I still have an appreciation for it. That's why I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. It is definitely not for everyone.