open/close all folders
The Gecko Brothers
Seth
Seth Gecko
Played By: George Clooney
"I may be a bastard, but I'm not a fuckin' bastard."
- Affably Evil: He's 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.
- Anti-Hero: Seth is not a good person. He's a convicted criminal with blood on his hands who just so happens to be less prone to violence than his brother Richie. While he starts the movie as a Villain Protagonist, when the vampires enter the picture, he is the one who leads the others in fighting the monsters and sending them back to Hell.
- Awful Wedded Life: If his comment on Santánico's proposal of making him her slave has anything to say about it.Santánico: Welcome to slavery.Seth: No thanks. I already had a wife.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He and Richie have an equal hand in starting the conflict as the vampires.
- I Call It "Vera": "Mr. .44", his Astra Terminator .44 Magnum, which gets used by him and other characters against the vampires.
- Deadpan Snarker: Being a criminal in a movie written by Quentin Tarantino makes this a given.
- Determinator: Seth will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
- Drowning My Sorrows: When the group gets to the Titty Twister.
- More so after he stakes Richie. Jacob even has to tell him to knock it off with the drinking lest they be one man down when all hell breaks loose.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He really cares about and is remarkably patient with Richie.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Seth might be a crook and a killer, but he has his standards and is outraged by the discovery of Richie raping and killing their hostage.Seth: Do you think this is what I am? This is not me, I am a professional fucking thief, I don't kill people that I don't have to...and I DON'T FUCKING RAPE WOMEN! What you are doing, what you are fucking doing, what you are doing, IS NOT HOW IT'S DONE!
- He also refuses Kate's offer to join him on the road, clearly genuinely guilt-ridden over being indirectly responsible for her family's death and not wanting to drag her into any more of his dangerous lifestyle.
- When Jacob threatens to kill Richie if the latter makes any moves towards Kate Seth, despite loving his brother deeply, simply says "Fair enough."
- Evil Sounds Deep: He's an amoral thief and killer with a intimidating raspy voice.
- Heel–Face Turn: Seth starts out a Villain Protagonist in a Big Bad Duumvirate with his brother. After the vampires enter the picture, his skill, experience, and leadership turn him into the closest thing to a hero in the group.
- Heel–Faith Turn: He sees the light after his first encounter with the vampires.
- I Gave My Word: When Seth makes a promise, he will keep it. Subverted, however, because his crazy brother Richie won't necessarily keep it, and then Seth, although angry, will fail to punish him. So a promise from Seth that you'll be safe as long as you cooperate isn't actually worth anything as long as Richie is alive.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. He's an aggressive prick to just about everyone, but in the end he proves that deep down he's not a completely heartless. He even shows sympathy towards Kate, seeing how her entire family was slaughtered by the vampires.
- Noble Demon: See the page quote.
- Pet the Dog: He shows genuine sympathy towards Kate after she loses her family and gives her several wads of cash before the two of them part ways.
- Silver Fox: He may be a bastard (though not a complete bastard as seen under numerous tropes above) but he's still played by George Clooney.
- Tattooed Crook: He's a professional thief with some pretty sweet tattoos.
- Thicker Than Water: Richie causes Seth problems, but he loves him and protects him regardless.
- Villain Protagonist: Him and Richie may be the main characters, but are also violent bank robbers.
- Weirdness Censor: Defied. Seth instantly realizes the situation they're in and doesn't want to waste time being skeptical.Seth: Now I don't wanna hear "I don't believe in vampires." Because I don't fucking believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what I saw was fucking vampires.
Richie
Richard "Richie" Gecko
Played By: Quentin Tarantino
- And Then John Was a Zombie: After the initial fight with the vampires that he is killed in, he turns into a vampire and is put down for good by Seth.
- Asshole Victim: The only person who mourns his death is his brother.
- Ax-Crazy: He kills innocent people on a whim.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Just because he's more quiet than his brother doesn't mean he should be underestimated. He's much, much worse than him.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He and Seth have an equal hand in starting the conflict as the vampires.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He doesn't seem to be on the same plane of reality as everyone else.
- Easily Forgiven: Seth's reaction to his brother having raped and murdered their hostage while he was gone quickly fades from disgusted to 'don't do that again' and then hugs him and forgives him... sort of justified because we're apparently supposed to be shocked at the mildness of his reaction. It is also used to show Seth's blind love for his brother, as well as the fact that Seth is much more rational.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He may be reprehensible but he does seem to genuinely care about Seth. After his murder of Gloria, he seems more upset about making Seth angry than what he did. His last words before going full vampire are even "I love you too, Seth".
- Faux Affably Evil: He attempts to show kindness and seems sincere but it gets undercut by his violent nature.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses and is a thousand times more evil than his brother.
- Large Ham: When heated, he can be very theatrical. He is played by Quentin Tarantino, after all.
- Obliviously Evil: There are implications that Richie genuinely doesn't understand why his actions are wrong and his behavior is at least partially due to whatever mental illness he suffers from.
- Psychopathic Manchild: He's a rapist and murderer who comes across as bizarrely childlike at times.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He's a serial rapist.
- Sacrificial Lion: Is killed midway through the movie by vampires before the group fully realizes what's going on.
- Serial Rapist: The news report shown identifies him as a sex offender.
- Stupid Evil: To put it bluntly, most of the chaos the Geckos leave behind on-screen is Richie's fault, and if there is one thing Seth hates about Richie, it is the fact that he has to clean up Richie's messes.
- Villain Protagonist: Him and Seth may be the main characters, but are also ruthless criminals.
- Wild Card: Richie's deranged nature makes him impossible to predict, which causes some problems for Seth when he rapes and kills their original hostage.
The Fuller Family
Jacob
Jacob Fuller
Played By: Harvey Keitel
- And Then John Was a Zombie: He ends up getting bitten and turned into a vampire.
- Badass Preacher: He becomes one at the end of the movie.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: He threatens to shoot himself after being bitten and knowing that he will turn into a vampire, unless his family promises to kill him after the turn.
- Cool Old Guy
- Crisis of Faith: He is undergoing one after the death of his wife. Seth tells him to get his act together so he has the power to bless their weapons against the vampires.
- Dying as Yourself: After he is bitten by the vampires, he makes his children promise him to put him down when he turns. Unfortunately, when that time comes, Scott hesitates and gets himself killed.
- The Mourning After: He's first introduced as a man mourning the death of his wife.
- Papa Wolf: Makes it clear to Seth Gecko that he will kill Richie if the latter tries to rape his daughter.
Kate
Kate Fuller
Played By: Juliette Lewis
- Final Girl: She's the only survivor of the massacre besides Seth.
- Lust Object: Her innocent yet beautiful looks give her an apple pie sensuality that causes her to be lusted after by various hoodlums.
- Nice Girl: Kate is presented as one, and fails to understand her father's Crisis of Faith. And while she doesn't exactly mourn Richie's death, she does express some sympathy for Seth given that he had to kill his own brother.
- Took a Level in Badass: At the beginning of the vampire segment, she's hesitant to kill them. Toward the end, she kills her own brother before he can be turned into one.
Scott
Scott Fuller
Played By: Ernest Liu
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He ends up mauled by several vampires before getting blasted to pieces.
- Mistaken for Gay: When Seth Gecko encounters an older man in a hotel room with a young Asian male, he draws entirely the wrong conclusion.
- Not So Above It All: He shares his father's (former) Christian beliefs, but he's still a teenager, who can't help being Distracted by the Sexy lapdancers in the Titty Twister.
Titty Twister Patrons
Frost
Frost
Played By: Fred Williamson
- The Big Guy: He's big and strong enough to rip a vampire's heart straight out of his chest.
- Foreshadowing: He suggests stabbing a vampire with a shotgun and firing at the other vampires nearby, using the unfortunate impaled vampire as a “human” shield. Guess what happens to him when he gets turned.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Frost is gruff and a little unstable, but is generally a friendly guy and does his best to help out the other survivors.
- Major Injury Underreaction: After being bitten by a newly vampirised Sex Machine, his reaction is one of mild annoyance.
- Nightmare Face: When we first see him, he has a scarred face, which he later says was caused by a grenade in Vietnam. After being turned, he arguably gets the worst appearance
out of a horde of some of the ugliest vampires ever put to screen. - Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: With a shotgun.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: He spends his time in the Titty Twister pre-vampire attack trying to build a tower out of dominos, and his biggest reaction to Satanico’s dance is annoyance she knocked over the dominos.
- Scary Black Man: He's big, imposing, and kicks ass. Downplayed, in that he’s actually pretty friendly towards the rest of the survivors.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's a knife-wielding 'Nam vet.
Sex Machine
Sex Machine
Played By: Tom Savini
- Nice Guy: He’s generally friendly and affable towards everyone else.
- Off with His Head!: Seth uses his whip to pop his head off… but this doesn't kill him, but rather mutates his body into a rat-like form. He's ultimately done in by Kate firing some arrows into him.
- Phallic Weapon: Literally. He literally has a gun strapped to his groin that actually comes in handy.
- Zombie Infectee: He ends up getting bitten by one of the patrons reviving before he can finish burning the body. At first, he brushes it off as nothing until he suddenly hears a voice telling him to kill the others. Next thing he knows, he suddenly gains fangs and his hands mutate into claws. He tries to hide it, but ultimately turns and bites Frost from behind.
Vampires
Santánico Pandemonium
Santánico Pandemonium
- The Baroness: Oh hell yes. So much so that she currently provides the page quote for this trope.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Leads the vampires, but the Villain Protagonists have an equal hand in starting the conflict.
- Butterface: When she vamps out, she has a bald, scaled head with long fangs and red eyes, but her body still remains voluptuous as ever. She shows this twice during the movie, the first being when she bites Richie, and during her final scene when she's gloating about what she will do to Seth.
- Character Title: In the third movie, she is the titular Hangman's Daughter.
- Dhampyr: In the third movie, it's revealed that she is the half-breed daughter of the previous vampire queen with a hangman.
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: How she goes out, courtesy of Mr. .44.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: From a simple hangman's humble daughter to a powerful and fearsome vampire queen. Who could have seen this coming?
- Gratuitous Spanish: Her name, although it is quite an idiomatic trainwreck. Not only is her first name canonically badly spelled (the word is "Satánico", not "Santánico"), but it has also the wrong gender (a title for a female would be "Satánica", not "Satánico").
- Ms. Fanservice: Her iconic snake dance while wearing a skimpy outfit in the first movie.
- Spicy Latina
- Undead Barefooter: Not feeling discomfort due to being a vampire may be the reason why she goes barefoot.
- The Vamp: Literally.
Chet Pussy
Razor Charlie
Razor Charlie
Played By: Danny Trejo
- Exact Words: He allows the group to stay in the bar after learning that Jacob technically qualifies as a trucker.
