Vampire horror has strong language, nudity, gory violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
Characters are shot in the head and at point-blank range, blood spray and death. Character shot and stabbed in hand. Bloody injury shown. Character set on fire and dies. Character kidnapped and held against their will. Someone is raped and murdered. Dead body shown with bloody injury. Character elbowed in the face and knocked unconscious -- played for comic effect. Punches and kicks in violent altercations. Horror violence includes vampire attacks. Biting and blood. Characters melt and explode. Limbs ripped off. Vampires staked through their hearts and shot with arrows. Throat slit with broken bottle -- wound shown. Heart ripped from chest. Decapitation.
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Language used includes "s--t," "f--k," "f---ing," "motherf----r," "bastard," "son of a bitch," "d--khead," "goddamn," "t-tty," and "p---y." "Spic" and "Jap" used as racial slurs. Ableist slurs include "retard" and "mongoloid." "Pig" is used to describe a police officer.
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Reference to oral sex and paying for sex. Graphic references to female genitalia. Topless dancers in club. Vampires shown without clothes, but no graphic nudity.
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Characters drink in a bar, some heavily. Reference to getting high on cannabis. Character mixes what appears to be prescription pills with alcohol. Underage drinking.
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The main character is a professional thief who is motivated by money. Large amounts of money handled from criminal gain.
Diverse Representations
a little
The main character is White and male, but a multiracial family features among the supporting cast. The director is Latino. Female characters and people of color feature in supporting roles. Richard is a problematic character in that he is neurodiverse but also a violent criminal, which plays into dangerous stereotypes.
Helping others, showing bravery. However, the lead character is ultimately motivated by personal gain at others' expense and these positive traits arise from necessity rather than good nature.
Positive Role Models
very little
Seth is a violent criminal who is ruthless and selfish. He, along with his brother Richard, kidnaps a family. As events unfold, Seth does show them some loyalty and compassion. Richard is a dangerous sex offender who rapes and murders. Some supporting characters are kind and generous.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that From Dusk Till Dawn is an action-packed horror with extreme violence, strong language, and topless nudity. The film has become something of a cult classic and stars George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino as brothers Seth and Richard Gecko, who are on the run. After kidnapping a family, they encounter a group of vampires, which leads to gory and bloody violence. Much of the blood and gore is over the top, but there are also some distressing scenes. Characters are shot, stabbed, bitten, punched, kicked, and set on fire. Limbs are pulled off, throats are slit, and a heart is ripped out. A woman is raped and murdered off-screen. Frequent strong language includes multiple variants of "f--k," ableist slurs such as "retard," as well as racist language. There is also graphic sexual references and frequent topless female nudity Half of the movie is set in a strip club where characters are shown drinking heavily and becoming violent partly as a result. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
After robbing a bank Seth (George Clooney) and Richie Gecko (Quentin Tarantino) take an unwitting family hostage in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. But after the brothers force their hostages to help them cross the Mexican border, they encounter a group of vampires.
This Tarantino screenplay is more a joint effort than usual, adapted from a story by Robert Kurtzman and directed by his friend Robert Rodriguez in the first of their collaborations. From Dusk Till Dawn also stars Clooney in one of his earlier movie roles, clearly keen to break with his nice-guy image by being cast against type as a deadpan thief and killer, with Tarantino in tow as his predatory and violent brother.
Despite all the talent involved, it's fair to say that this 1996 film is regarded as a cult favorite rather than a classic. This is because the second half of the movie flips a switch that transforms it from a noir-ish getaway tale into a gonzo vampire flick. In the process it has to make do with less of Tarantino's snappy dialogue and give itself over to a raucous final act in which blood and gore paint the walls. There are no surprises left by the ending, but if you can get on board with a band of Hollywood heavyweights -- including a snake-toting cameo from Salma Hayek -- embracing an unapologetic genre movie, you'll find something to sink your teeth into here.
Did you find the movie scary? How did it compare to other vampire movies you've seen?
Talk about the strong language used. Did it seem necessary or excessive? Was it needed to make the story more realistic?
There is a lot of nudity in the film. Did you find it gratuitous? Why, or why not?
How was drinking and drug use depicted in the movie? Were they glamorized? Did the characters need to do these things to look cool? What were the consequences?
MPAA explanation:
strong violence and gore, language and nudity
Last updated:
October 1, 2023
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By Alistair Lawrence
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