History Film / FromDuskTillDawn

* YouGotSpunk: Seth is genuinely impressed when Jacob gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, and insists they have a drink together.

-->'''Kate:''' Excuse me. ''Excuse me.''
-->'''Richie:''' What?
-->'''Kate:''' Where are you taking us?
-->'''Richie:''' Mexico.
-->'''Kate''': [[SouthOfTheBorder What's in Mexico?]]
-->'''Richie:''' Mexicans.
* CasualDangerDialog: The opening scene, Seth berating Richie about the events that happen while the gas station explodes behind them. The opening line said it all.

* RockMeAsmodeus: The satanic musician vampires in the bar, with imstruments made of living flesh.

** Earl [=McGraw=] tells the liquor store clerk that microwave food will give him cancer, before buying some alcohol and claiming he'll get "trashed" tonight.

-->'''Kate Fuller''': ''(from Richie's first person view, all tinted in a fushia hue)'' Richie, could you eat my pussy for me, please?

** Director Robert Rodriguez cameos as the lead singer of the bar band, played by his real-life band Chingon.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Frost, a KnifeNut 'Nam vet.

** Richie drinking alcohol from Santanico Pandemonium's bare foot]].

* PyrrhicVictory: In the first half of the film, Jacob wins a semantics argument that allows the group to stay in the bar. Come the second half... well, vampires eating everyone.

* PantyShot: An "around-her-ankles" example rather than the standard upskirt peek, but the border patrol guy still gets an eyeful when he spies Kate sitting on the toilet (pretending to defecate so that the agent will leave and not notice the Gecko brothers hiding behind the shower curtain).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Seth Gecko, who doesn't have any compunctions against killing hostages, chastises his AxCrazy brother Richie for raping everything in sight and using wanton violence to resolve problems.
-->I may be a bastard, but I'm not a [[StealthPun fuckin']] bastard.

''From Dusk Till Dawn'' is a 1996 film. It was directed by Creator/RobertRodriguez, written by Creator/QuentinTarantino and starring Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/QuentinTarantino, Creator/HarveyKeitel, and Creator/JulietteLewis.

* BigBad: Strange, semi-subverted example. Santanico clearly seems to be the leader of the vampires but [[IncrediblyLamePun she bites it]] halfway through and the situation becomes one more similar to a zombie movie (only with vampires) with the vampires as a mob of faceless undead monsters.

* TheCameo: John Saxon as a cop interviewed on a TV.

* CreatorCameo: Robert Rodriguez cameos as the lead singer of the bar band, played by his real-life band Chingon.

* LampshadeHanging / MadeOfPlasticine: Vampires have super-strength, but take hits like monsters made of Play-Doh, as noted by the cast.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The Gecko brothers are a bunch of scoundrels worthy of being hanged, drawn, and quartered, but, when compared to diabolical bloodsucking monsters, they are the guys you want to root for.

* BadassMustache: Frost sports one.

* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Santanico Pandemonium and the other exotic dancers turning into hungry vampires once they catch sight of Richie's hand bleeding.]]

** The staff of the Titty Twister, especially Salma Hayek, a 27-year-old (at the time) and at her attractive peak. Rapidly changes to FanDisservice when they turn into a bunch of monsters and start eating everyone.

* SinisterSouthwest: Two murderous bank robbers on the lam in the Texas badlands take a family hostage while making a run for the Mexican border. They succeed in crossing and make a clean getaway... only to end up in a strip club full of Aztec vampires.

The plot centers around the Gecko brothers, two dyed-in-the-wool criminals on the run from the police after a prison break in Texas. Causing death and destruction wherever they go, they eventually manage to sneak past the border with Mexico by taking a pastor and his two teenage children hostage in their RV. They go to a trucker bar, the Titty Twister, to spend the night as they wait for their rendezvous. What happens at this point is that what should be a very sudden and unexpected GenreShift occurs when it turns out that the bar is a front for a clan of vampires, and they have to fight for their survival through the night (hence the title). Of course, this has become [[ItWasHisSled widely]] [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoiled]] and as such, loses most of its effect (in fact, many people probably rented the film and wondered where the hell the vampires were for the first half).

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: An unusual inverted example. When the vampires reveal their true nature, the named ones with actual character and personality are ''all'' killed before the climax, including Santanico Pandemonium, who was seemingly being set up as the leader of the vampires and the BigBad. The climax ends up involving several waves of no-name {{Mook}} vampires, alongisde three converted allies.

* AnyoneCanDie: And boy howdy do they by the second half of the flick. Even the villains are not immune to this - [[spoiler:Santanico dies very quickly, much to her own astonishment.]]

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: ''Inverted.'' When the vampires reveal their true nature, the named ones with actual character and personality are ''all'' killed within minutes, including Santanico Pandemonium, who is seemingly set up as the leader of the vampires and the BigBad. The final battle is with a bunch of no-name {{Mook}} vampires and three recently converted allies.

* {{Mayincatec}}: [[spoiler: The Titty Twister is located on top of a long buried, thousand years old sacrificial pyramid.]] Its inhabitants merged with the Bat, ruler of the underworld and darkness in Mayan culture.

* AffablyEvil: Seth is a total bastard and an amoral thief, but he doesn't kill people he doesn't have to, can ''usually'' be counted on to keep his word and tries to avoid innocents being harmed.